appropriation. The Director explained that he was already making a topographic map of the entire country in obedience to the provisions of the law, and that ultimately, after many years at the rate of prog. ress then made, it would be finished, and that an irrigation survey could thereafter be made at a small expense; but if it was necessary to make the irrigation survey at once, it would be necessary to make a topographic survey in connection with it.

The following quotations are made from the report submitted by Mr. Allison from the Committee on Appropriations, Fiftieth Congress, first session, Report 1814, to accompany bill H. R. 10540.)

By the CHAIRMAN:

Q. Are you through with your general statement?-A. Yes, sir; but I want to speak something about the cost.

Q. That is what we want to hear you upon.-A. To complete the survey as we have been going on, without laying out the reservoirs, without laying out the sites for head-works and canals and so on, would take about $5,000,000. We have expended about $1,000,000, so that it would now take about $4,000,000 to complete that work.

By Mr. BECK:

Q. And what length of time -A. At the rate we have been going on it would take between thirty and forty years.

Q. With ample means how long would it take?-A. It could be done in ten years. Mr. STEWART. Is it necessary to wait until you work up all the geological data in order to make the preliminary survey with a view to reservoirs ?

Mr. POWELL. No, sir.

Mr. STEWART. That only refers to the local topography

Mr. POWELL. To the construction of the maps.

The CHAIRMAN. Major Powell is speaking only of the topographical survey.
Mr. STEWART. No, of the geological.

Mr. POWELL. Not of the geological, but the topographical survey which we are conducting over the country.

Mr. STEWART. Can you not vary your survey so that these reservoirs can be located more rapidly than that?

Mr. POWELL. We can, with the necessary appropriations. We could do it in six years if sufficient appropriations were made.

Mr. STEWART. You could locate the reservoirs in five or six years?

Mr. POWELL. Yes, sir; we could make the maps, outline the catchment basins, and lay out upon the ground the head-works, the canals, and the reservoirs in six years, with sufficient appropriations.

Mr. STEWART. Do you not regard that as the most urgent work?

Mr. POWELL. Yes, sir.

Mr. STEWART. Because then settlement can take place, and the geological part of the work could go on afterwards just as well.

Mr. POWELL. Oh, yes.

ology all the time.

We are pushing the topography very far ahead of the ge

Mr. STEWART. Then, if you had the requisite appropriations you could locate the reservoirs and make the surveys for settlement in five or six years?

Mr. POWELL. Yes, but it would take about $5,125,000 to do it.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Q. At the rate of about $1,000,000 a year?-A. That is my estimate.

Q That would complete the topography-A. It would complete the topography. I have made a second estimate. I have been working the last three days on it. Q. It would complete the surveys of the basins and districts?—A. Yes, the catch

ments.

Q. And locate reservoirs, canals, and so on -A. Yes, sir.

Q. In other words, the additional cost of this contemplated survey would be about

a million and a quarter dollars over and above what you are now doing in the way of topography-A. Precisely.

The CHAIRMAN. It will cost $4,000,000 to complete this area!

Mr. TELLER. Anyhow.

Mr. POWELL. Anyhow, for topography.

Mr. HALE. And it would take thirty years the way they are doing it now.

By the CHAIRMAN:

Q. Of course topography is the first thing?-A. Topography is the first thing. Q. It is the essential thing -A. And the chief cost.

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Q. If you run this whole area into a six years' term, you must spend your $4,000,000 for topography, and then the remainder of the work can be done for a million and a quarter-A. It could be done for a million and a quarter, according to my estimate, and could be done pari passu with the other work.

By Mr. HALE:

Q. In round numbers it would cost about a million dollars a year?-A. About a million a year; but we could not use a million this year, because the engineers are not trained yet; they would have to grow.

Thus it was with a full understanding by the members of the Appropriations Committee, and by the chairman of the present Irrigation Committee, who was present at the interview, that this appropriation of $100,000 was made to be chiefly expended in topographic work. It will be remembered that this appropriation was made on the 2d day of October, 1888. On the 30th day of December following the Director made a report to Congress on this subject, which was printed and referred to the Appropriations Committee for their information. It is a document of twelve pages. In it the Director reports fully how he has inaugurated the work of the irrigation survey, and how he is using a part of this $100,000 in topographic work. The following quotation is made from this report:

The necessary topographic work was placed under the charge of A. H. Thompson. A number of topographers already employed in the Geological Survey were selected as his chief assistants, and the force was largely increased by the employment of temporary field assistants, but no increase of the permanent corps was made. Under the direction of Professor Thompson the following described work has been done:

WORK IN MONTANA.

Work was commenced on the Continental Divide at the headwaters of the Columbia and Missouri Rivers early in October, one party surveying on the Columbia River side and another on the Missouri River side. The whole was under the immediate charge of Mr. E. M. Douglas. An area of 2,200 square miles has been surveyed. The topographic features of this country were delineated, the courses of the streams and the sites of all considerable bodies of water were ascertained, and the altitude, position, and general character of irrigable lands were determined. This is a region of abundant perennial streams, and many sites favorable for the establishment of storage reservoirs have been surveyed.

WORK IN NEVADA.

Early in November Mr. H. M. Wilson, with the parties nuder his immediate charge, previously engaged on topographic work in the gold-belt region of central California, was transferred to Nevada, near the headwaters of the Truckee, Carson, and Walker Rivers, and immediately began the work of an irrigation survey. This is a region where mountain waters are in great abundance, but where lands to which they can be economically conveyed are limited in extent. Up to the present time the survey of an area of about 800 square miles has been completed. Work will be continued as late into the winter as the season will permit and resumed early in the spring of 1889.

WORK IN COLORADO.

In the latter part of October, and immediately on the passage of the act, a party in charge of Mr. Anton Karl commenced work on the South Platte River. The season was too far advanced to enter the mountain region, so the survey was confined to the foot-hills and the plains extending eastward, embracing the city of Denver and a portion of the great agricultural district of Colorado. About 1,400 square miles have been discovered.

In this region the waters of the South Platte are already employed in the irrigation of many districts, and the entire volume of the river during the irrigating season is utilized in serving the lands for agricultural purposes. The future development of agriculture in this country is dependent partly upon such an improved construction of irrigating works as will prevent waste and loss, but chiefly upon the construction of reservoirs to hold the waters which through the remainder of the year now flow to the sea without performing their duty to agriculture. The topographic work in this region is now suspended, as it can not be economically carried on in the winter, but it will be resumed in the spring.

Early in October a large party, under charge of Mr. W. D. Johnson, was sent to Colorado to operate in the valley of the Arkansas, and work is being prosecuted with vigor. An area of about 1,500 square miles has been surveyed. It embraces some regions which have already been redeemed by irrigation, but which can be further developed by better utilization of the great flow of the Upper Arkansas and by the storage of waters in the higher mountains and the foot-hills. The upper portion of the Arkansas, unlike that of the South Platte, is well adapted to this purpose, as there are many valleys, morainal lakes, and basins that can be economically utilized for storage basins. On the South Platte much of the stored waters must be held in lakes created in the foot-hills and on the plains, while the waters of the Upper Arkansas can be held high in the mountain lands, where in many ways the conditious are more favorable and the engineering problems less difficult.

WORK IN NEW MEXICO.

At the time of the passage of the act above mentioned, parties under Mr. A. P. Davis were at work in New Mexico, making topographic surveys of certain mountain regions. These surveys were on methods adapted to the purposes of the irrigation investigation, and it was therefore only necessary to enlarge the scale and extend the work into districts of irrigable lands. The entire work of the season is therefore available. The region embraced is that drained by the Jemez River and other tributaries of the Rio Grande rising in the Tewan group of mountains. The most northern river of this series is the Chama, which has its confluence with the Rio Grande above Santa Fé. The most southern is the Puerco, having its confluence with the Rio Grande below Albuquerque, and between these rivers the Jemez and other streams join the Rio Grande. At the writing of this report an area in this region has been surveyed topographically having an extent of about 6,000 square miles.

From the above it will be seen that, although the act for the irrigation survey was not signed until October, and the season favorable for surveys in middle latitude was almost past, yet the work was immediately pushed with vigor, so that at the close of the calendar year five considerable tracts of country have been surveyed-one in Montana, another in Nevada, a third in the Platte Valley of Colorado, a fourth in the Arkansas Valley of Colorado, and a fifth in the drainage basin of the Rio Grande, in New Mexico.

After the Director had thus reported to Congress that an irrigation survey needed a topographic survey, had drafted a clause in such a manner as to authorize and direct that a topographic survey should be included in the irrigation survey, and had appeared before the Committee and explained the matter fully, the clause was incorporated in the bill and finally became a part of the act that was signed by the President. Thereupon, in good faith, and in compliance with the law, the topographic branch of the Irrigation Survey is organized and its work is begun, and thereupon the Director reports to Congress what he bas done, and fully and elaborately sets forth where and how he is doing this topographic work.

Still this history continues. The Director made a second estimate for an appropriation for the Irrigation Survey, in the same terms in which the first appropriation was made, and once more he was called before the Senate committee to explain his estimates. On this occasion he appeared with samples of his work, a topographic map and plans for reservoirs and canals, and he explained them to the committee, virtually saying, "This is what I am doing with the funds intrusted to my charge." The statement made on this occasion by the director was recorded by a stenographer and incorporated in a report of the committee to the Senate, and printed as a part of that report. (See report submitted by Mr. Allison before the Committee on Appropriations, Fiftieth Congress, second session, No. 2613.)

From a long and interesting statement made by the Director on that occasion the following extract is given:

The CHAIRMAN. Now go back a moment to this map. What will it cost the Government to locate the reservoirs and cauals and make the plan for them, which I suppose, in a general way, at least, would be done? They would be located absolutely, so that the men who chose to build these dams would know where to go precisely f Mr. POWELL. Yes, sir.

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The CHAIRMAN. If they chose to build a canal it would be laid out for them practically?

Mr. POWELL. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Ón a map and in the field, would it not?

Mr. POWELL. Not in the field.

The CHAIRMAN. You would not locate it?

Mr. POWELL. With a topographic map, laying it out on the map is laying it out in the field.

The CHAIRMAN. Practically?

Mr. POWELL. Practically. That is the advantage of a topographic map.

The CHAIRMAN There is a region to be reclaimed practically of 153,000 acres. What would it cost the Government to do that?

Mr. POWELL. I dare not make an estimate. I can not make an estimate from that one, because I have made a geological study of that region myself in the field. I knew just what I had to do. I knew where I had to go to make these plans. They were already practically made.

Senator HALE. You could do this much more easily and less expensively than in an unknown region?

Mr. POWELL. Oh, yes; that did not cost more than $8,000, for I knew all about it from previous study.

Senator HALE. You selected this place because you knew it ?

Mr. POWELL. Because I knew it. I did it in a hurry, so as to have something to show you.

The CHAIRMAN. That is, I take it, an illustration of what you propose to do throughont this entire arid region?

Mr. POWELL. Precisely.

The CHAIRMAN. Having conditions of reservoirs and water?

Mr. POWELL. Yes. You asked me for an estimate of what it would cost. I made the best estimate I could last year for the entire country and you published it; but you put into the law much more than I anticipated would be put into it, so that the cost of the work has been increased above my estimate. I did not anticipate that I should be called upon for plans of reservoirs, but only for putting upon the maps the sites. I did not anticipate that I should select the lands in such a manner that they could be designated to the Land Office. As the law stands, I have to go on the ground and discover the land-marks of the old land survey, so as to show what sections are to be reserved, and that has increased the cost of the work. My judgment is that, for the whole region, it will increase the total cost about $1,500,000.

The CHAIRMAN. What we propose?

Mr. POWELL. What you propose.

The CHAIRMAN. And that is a very important thing to do?

Mr. POWELL. It is a very important thing to do.

The CHAIRMAN. In having these men in the field selecting places for storage and so on, do you also find yourself able to utilize them in carrying on in connection with this work your regular geological survey?

Mr. POWELL. So far as the making of the topographic maps is concerned. The maps have to be made for this purpose as they would have to be made for the other, and all the map-making for this work is map-making for the other.

The CHAIRMAN. After this work is done would it be necessary to go over the same space in completing your geological survey?

Mr. POWELL. Yes, sir.

Senator HALE. Which would you naturally go over first?

Mr. POWELL. This work now, because they are pressing for it, and there is no reason why it should not go first.

The CHAIRMAN. I did not know but that the same men might do both.

Mr. POWELL. It must be understood that more than half of the cost is for the map. making, and that is done for both surveys at once.

Senator HALE. There you do not duplicate the work.

Mr. POWELL. There we do not duplicate it. That is more than half the cost of the whole work. The engineers who make these plans are not geologists, and geologists are not engineers. You can not get the same men to do the geological work and the engineering work.

Senator HALE. If a given region that is adaptable to this purpose had been gone over by your geological survey, would not that work really help you in this?

Mr. POWELL. That would have given me the maps and given me data which would have greatly diminished the cost of this work, or doing this work first will greatly diminish the cost of the other. It amounts to the same thing either way.

The CHAIRMAN. That is the point I wanted to understand; whether the work that you are doing here is not a saving of necessary work in your geological survey? Mr. POWELL. Precisely; it is.

Senator HALE. Either way that you work, whichever was done first would help the other?

Mr. POWELL. Whichever work is done first will help the other. The map-making is the first thing in each case, and the map-making is the chief cost.

The CHAIRMAN. Has not the House given you in the bill more money than you need?

Mr. POWELL. I wish to reach that point. There are eight States and Territories where agriculture is wholly dependent upon irrigation, where they raise nothing without irrigation; and there are six other States and Territories where they are chiefly dependent upon irrigation. If you give me $250,000 I can go into six of those States only; I must make a selection.

Senator HALE. You mean there are fourteen States and Territories in all?
Mr. POWELL. Yes, sir.

Senator HALE. And six of those are partly dependent upon irrigation?

Mr. POWELL. Yes, sir. With $250,000 somebody out there has to be disappointed. Their governors, their legislatures, their people are pressing upon me for this work They are petitioning me and writing me, and there is a pressure upon me. With $250,000 I have got to make a selection of six States and Territories and disappoint the other eight.

It ought to be understood why I say I can only go into six States. It seems to me to be important to take up three pieces of work next year and carry them on to such a point that I can exhibit to Congress next year what it means on a larger scale than I have shown here. So I propose on the Arkansas and a portion of the Rio Grande, and on the Walker River in Nevada, to put larger parties than elsewhere in order to get the work pushed in those regions as rapidly as possible. This shown to-day is on a very small scale indeed. I should need for that about $175,000 for those three places. Then I can take the remainder and put it in three or four other States and Territories, and for these I must make a selection for a little beginning, and show that I am trying to do something for them; that is all I can hope for. But with $350,000 I can go into all the States and Territories where irrigation is necessary throughout the region, and also go into California and Oregon. There is very little of California where irrigation is not needed, but I could go into all the States and Territories and into California and Oregon with an appropriation of $350,000.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you find at hand thoroughly competent men to organize these field parties and put them at the work?

Mr. POWELL. I can to that extent. I have been urged very much to make my estimate $500,000, but I said "I can not find the men in one year to do it." I have looked over the matter and I have found where I can get men in addition to what I have, so that I can utilize $350,000.

The CHAIRMAN. You want $100,000 more!

Mr. POWELL. I want $350,000. I have one other thing to ask for in the bill, and that is that the appropriation be made immediately available.

Senator HALE. You want the money to start right on, I suppose; you do not want to wait until July?

Mr. POWELL. I do not want to wait until July.

The CHAIRMAN. You had $150,000. Will not that run you until July?

Mr. POWELL. I had only $100,000. If you will make $30,000 or $40,000 available,

that will be sufficient.

Senator HALE. What have you left of the amount Congress gave you in the act of last year?

Mr. POWELL. About one-half.

Senator HALE. You have in hand $50,000 of the appropriation made last year!
Mr. POWELL. Yes, sir.

Senator HALE. That you can use right away, in the spring!

Mr. POWELL. Yes, sir.

Senator HALE. You wish $40,000 more to be immediately available?

Mr. POWELL. If I had from $30,000 to $40,000 more, I could do one thing which is all-important. The season of irrigation was already passed last year before the appropriation was made. The season of irrigation will be largely passed this year before the 1st of July, so that for this new work I will lose the observations to be made during the season of irrigation. I want to employ at once this spring in all the region of country river-gaugers, stream-gaugers, men who are gauging or measuring the amount of flow of those streams between now and the 1st of July, during the season of irrigation. I have money enough to keep all my other force at work.

Senator HALE. You can do this work to better advantage during the season when the streams are used for irrigation?

Mr. POWELL. The stream-gauging ought to be done then. The most important stream-gauging is that which is to be made during the season of irrigation. That is water which is not to be stored at all, you see.

After all this explanation, repeated again and again, explained in the clearest manner and exemplified by producing before the committee