the project facilities, now in construction, it will provide full irrigation service to about 21,800 acres of bench lands which make up the East Bench Irrigation District and supplemental irrigation service to an additional 28,000 acres of valley lands which constitute the Clark Canyon Water Supply Co. Historically, the area has been one in which the principal agricultural enterprise centered around livestock production. Low rainfall, a short growing season, together with limited and comparatively uncontrolled water for irrigation have thus far combined to discourage irrigated crop production with the exception of limited hay and pasturage and small isolated field crop ventures. Controlled water, under project conditions, is not presently expected to be available to any of the unit lands before 1965. Accordingly, except for the bench lands owned by the State of Montana as hereinafter noted, there has been no breaking up of the comparatively large ownerships characteristic of the ranching operations which predominate the area.

In the foregoing circumstances, there is no present basis for a comparative analysis of the effect the applicable modification of basic reclamation law may have exercised on the development of the East Bench unit. It can be noted, however, that the June 3, 1957, departmental report on the proposal to enact such legislative modification indicated that there had been some slight decrease in the number of ownerships of valley and bench lands in the unit service area. Valley landownerships appeared to bave decreased from 140 as ascertained several years earlier to 123, with a corresponding decrease in bench land ownerships during the same period from 52 to 47. It was also noted that, among the then currently effective ownerships, 25 owners held lands both in the valley and on the bench. Reference to the tabulations hereinafter set forth will indicate further ownership adjustments with the valley ownerships presently standing at 116 and bench land at 49. Among these ownerships there presently appear to be 23 which involve both valley and bench lands. The incidence of such combined holdings is of pertinency inasmuch as, under the applicable modification to the acreage limitation provisions of reclamation law, the owner who holds bench lands alone, or bench and valley lands combined, may receive water under the project without executing a recordable contract if said ownership is comprised of no more than 160 irrigable acres in total or, in those instances where the total ownership exceeds 160 irrigable acres, for no more than the equivalent of 130 acres of class 1 land determined as provided in the

statute.

Accordingly, currently available landownership data is presented in two tabulations. The first depicts the ownerships within the two water user organizations only (i.e., valley and bench lands) without regard to combined holdings. The second depicts the ownership situation with recognition of the incidence of combination holdings involving both valley and bench lands.

TABLE I.-East Bench unit landownership size groups by water user organization

TABLE II.-East Bench unit landownerships with recognition of combined holdings, valley and bench lands

1 State of Montana holding of 9,900 irrigable acres. State has designated 56 units averaging 177 irrigated acres per unit for future disposition.

13. Kendrick project, Wyoming*

The Kendrick project, in addition to its power features, provides irrigation water and drainage to approximately 24,000 acres of land which lie in an irregularly spotted pattern on the northwesterly side of the North Platte River between Alcova and Casper in central Wyoming. The project was authorized in 1935 with completion of construction on Alcova and Seminoe Dams following successively in 1938 and 1939. The first irrigation water was turned into the Casper Canal in midseason of 1946. During that first partial season, water was delivered to only 14 farms irrigating a total of 600 acres.

During the succeeding 10-year period, despite the increase in the area actually irrigated to slightly over 14,000 acres, it became apparent that an ultimate total of only 23,500 acres could be expected rather

*Map in committee file.

than the 35,000 acres initially contemplated. It was further recognized that this reduced total acreage, combined with the relatively low repayment capacity evidenced by the lands in question, required relief measures if the economic stability of the area was to be maintained. In considering this situation, studies revealed that the best use of Kendrick project lands appeared to be for the production of feed crops and livestock in conjunction with the use of the vast areas of adjacent rangelands. The marginal quality of the project lands, together with the short growing season and the strong tendency toward land seepage, limited the project largely to a hay and pasture economy and precluded the intensive cropping usually fourd under irrigation. In those circumstances, it was felt that application of the usual excess-land limitation of reclamation law would prevent the best use of project lands and would make it difficult, if not impossible, for the water user to have an economic size of farm capable of furnishing a reasonably adequate level of living. Accordingly, the substitution of the 480-acre provision was adopted as being most consistent with the needs peculiar to that project.

Landownership trends covering the period from initial water delivery through the period of acreage limitation modification to date are indicated by the following tabulation:

Trends in landownership, Kendrick project

The size pattern pertinent to farm operation on the Kendrick project since the effective date of the modified acreage limitation provision is shown by the following tabulation which indicates the number of farming operations conducted as full-time farms and as part-time or subsistence farms:

14. Lower Rio Grande rehabilitation project, Texas, Mercedes division* As authorized in 1958, work to be undertaken on the Mercedes division is essentially the rehabilitation of existing irrigation facilities, with some additional work designed to rehabilitate drainage works.

*Map not available.

The existing irrigation system and drainage works were acquired by the present Hidalgo and Cameron Counties Water Control & Improvement District No. 9, from the predecessor organizations which constructed them with non-Federal financing beginning about 1905. The district presently encompasses 68,000 acres of irrigable lands and it is not anticipated that any new or additional lands will be irrigated as the result of the rehabilitation work now being performed under the reclamation program.

Fruits, vegetables, and cotton are the major source of irrigated agricultural income. Prior to the major freeze in 1951, fruits, especially citrus, and vegetables, were the major source of cash income to farm operators. The loss of most of the valley citrus groves following the 1951 freeze resulted in a sudden change in crop distribution on irrigated land. Replacement planting of improved strains have, however, been made during the succeeding years and once again fruit and citrus production is becoming a major factor of income production. Vegetables, cotton, grain sorghum, and irrigated pasture likewise contribute measurably to the farm income.

Although delivery of district water supplies is being continued during the construction period, the planned rehabilitation work has not yet progressed to a point of completion where it is practicable to make a determination of the effect of operation under project conditions, including the modified acreage limitation provision as included in the authorizing statute. The pattern of landownerships within the Mercedes division, indicative of preproject conditions, is shown in the following tabulation:

Pattern of landownerships, Mercedes division, lower Rio Grande rehabilitation project

1 Although precise figures are not presently available, it is known that there is a high incidence of ownerships in sizes of 20 acres or less. Most such small tracts serve in a dual capacity as a homesite and a supplemental source of income. Eliminating these nonrepresentative units, the average size farm would appear to be approximately 80 irrigable acres.

The Seedskadee project area, in the upper Green River Basin of southwestern Wyoming, initially contemplated the irrigation of approximately 60,000 acres of new land. Of this total, 37,700 acres were in Federal ownership, approximately 20,000 acres were held in private ownership either by the Union Pacific Railroad Co. or by local grazing associations, with the remaining 3,000 acres owned by the State of Wyoming. Plans contemplated acquisition of the nonFederal lands either through exchange under provisions of the Taylor Grazing Act, or, in the event such an exchange proved impracticable of accomplishment, through purchase. With the project lands thus held virtually 100 percent in Federal ownership, project settlement was to have followed through reclamation-conducted farm unit sale

*Map not available.

program. The farm units for disposition would have been laid out at sizes coinciding as closely as practicable to 160 acres of class 1 land or its equivalent in other land classes, as provided for under the statutory modification to the acreage limitation of reclamation law applicable to the Seedskadee project.

Subsequent developments, however, have led to the indefinite deferment of the construction of irrigation facilities necessary to serve the proposed project service area. In connection with its consideration of matters relating to the Riverton project in Wyoming, the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 87th Congress, 2d session, stated in Report 1728, under "Conclusions and Recommendations": In addition to the problem involved in the third division of the Riverton project, the committee is keenly aware that a number of reclamation projects in Wyoming in recent years have required special legislative consideration including adjustment of repayment arrangements. *** The committee suggests that a thorough study of this matter is in order. This could be done effectively by the appointment of a review commission to study all reclamation projects in the State of Wyoming, existing and proposed.

Accordingly, further consideration of the development of irrigated lands on the Seedskadee project is awaiting the availability of the findings and recommendations of the five-member Wyoming reclamation projects survey team, activated in accordance with the expressed wishes of the committee.

16. Lower Rio Grande rehabilitation project, Texas, La Feria division* Rehabilitation of the irrigation and drainage works serving the irrigable lands of La Feria Water Control and Improvement District, Cameron County No. 3, as a reclamation program feature, was authorized in 1959. The district is located in the extreme western half of Cameron County, Tex., and includes 32,750 acres of land, 26,660 of which are irrigable. The lands are wholly within the delta portion of the Rio Grande Valley and are about 25 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico.

Fruits, vegetables, and cotton provide the major source of irrigated agricultural income on lands of the division. Although there is reportedly a trend toward larger operating units, the high productivity of the land, together with the specialized type of farming, combine to maintain the average farm size at a relatively low figure. Among the total ownerships on La Feria division, many fall within the size group of 1 to 19 acres. Such units, while producing agricultural income in varying degrees, are primarily homesites with the owner deriving the major portion of his income from other sources. If consideration of such nonrepresentative units were eliminated, the average-size farm in the district would approximate 80 acres.

Although delivery of district water supplies is continuing during the rehabilitation period, construction has not progressed to a point where any comparative analysis can practicably be made of the effect of operation under project conditions, including the possible effects of the statutory modification of acreage limitation provisions of reclamation law as applicable to the division. The following tabulation, however, is indicative of the size groups on district landholdings under preproject conditions exclusive of 580 acres of district-owned lands.

*Map not available.