on both sides of the stream to Kearney, Nebr., and to cover lands on the divide between the North Platte and the Republican Rivers, between Smithfield and Hastings. Regulation is to be provided by a series of reservoirs with a total storage capacity of fully 800,000 acre-feet, located on the dry tributaries of the Platte River and fed from the canal diverting from that stream. Numerous possibilities of power production will be created by these works and are to be utilized in producing power for revenue purposes. The immense storage capacity contemplated is needed to impound nonirrigation season flow as the irrigation season will be relatively short, precipitation being normally adequate for at least one-half of the growing season. The area that can be irrigated by this plan is approximately 1,000,000 acres and its requirements will utilize the flow of the stream so far as it is economically practicable. The total cost of this project will depend very largely upon the compromises that may be adopted to hold costs to a minimum consistent with a reasonable irrigation service in an area where irrigation is merely supplemental, and upon the extent of power development. It will, however, not be less than $60,000,000 for the reservoirs, distributaries and power plants. The first unit of this project would be a canal 45 miles long, diverting from the North Platte River at Keystone, Nebr., and delivering water to the Sutherland Reservoir, together with outlet canal 28 miles long from the reservoir to a power drop of 161 feet head, where waters can be returned to the river for diversion by constructed canals supplying lands in the vicinity of Gothenburg and Lexington at a cost of nearly $6,000,000. Loup River.-The Loup River is a tributary of the Platte and is formed by three branches, the North, Middle, and South Loup, which drain about 13,540 square miles of land lying in the central portion of Nebraska. Three irrigation and power projects have been proposed for the development of this area, as follows: North Loup River public power and irrigation district located on the North branch consists of three main irrigation systems, namely, the Taylor-Ord, the Ord-North Loup, and the Burwell-Sumter canal systems, supplemented with a hydroelectric power system. The estimated cost is $2,990,000. Loup River public power district is located in the vicinity of Columbus, Nebr. This project consists of an electric power plant on the Loup River together with a diversion dam, a 35-mile canal with regulating reservoirs and 225 miles of high-tension transmission lines. The total estimated cost is $7,300,000. Middle Loup public power and irrigation district, consists of an irrigation system supplemented with hydroelectric power on the Middle Loup branch of the Loup River in central Nebraska. The project includes two large dams, 7 miles of main canal, a distribution system and hydroelectric plant. The total estimated cost is $2,093,000. REASON FOR EARLY DEVELOPMENT ON THE PLATTE RIVER SYSTEM There is need of a definite plan in the conservation and utilization of the waters of the Platte River system. The construction of the Casper-Alcova project on the North Platte in Wyoming is the first step in this direction as it gives to Wyoming a share in Platte River water to which the State is entitled. The Saratoga project should later follow to make this share more complete. In Colorado the area irrigated from the South Platte River has been developed to the greatest extent possible with private capital. Future construction will have to be financed from other sources which can be accomplished only through aid from the Federal Government. It is an area where valuable food crops such as sugar beets, potatoes, and vegetables grown for canning are now produced but where a better water supply is needed to obtain maximum crop production. The city of Denver has reached a point where it is in need of additional water for domestic use and to purchase water from agricultural areas will not help, as it means retrogression rather than progress. The solution of the water shortage for Denver and northeastern Colorado lies in transmountain diversions from the headwaters of the Colorado River which will provide supplemental water for areas inadequately irrigated and will permit a limited expansion of the irrigated areas and further growth of the cities and towns of the South Platte Valley. Below the confluence of the two branches there is need of an orderly system of development for the benefit of areas now inadequately irrigated and for the large agricultural area in Nebraska which has been unsuccessfully farmed without irrigation. On these lands the humus of the soil has been depleted by preponderance of grain crops, the fertility of the soil reduced, and unless steps are taken to remedy these conditions, this agricultural community may soon be faced with abandoned farms and deserted towns. In the lower Platte Valley there is sufficient surplus water available to change 800,000 acres of these farming lands into intensively cultivated, irrigated farms which produce food and forage crops that will not add to the troublesome agricultural surplus of crops. There is no section of the western Mississippi region that is more deserving of a definite program for the conservation and utilization of the available water supply than is this agricultural area in central Nebraska. It is, however, so large and the net change it will bring about is so wide-spread that it should be transformed slowly. The initial step in these developments should be: Completion of works under way: Casper-Alcova project, additional allotment required_ _ _ New projects to be undertaken: Transmountain diversions in Colorado-Moffet tunnel (initial Jones Pass diversion_. Grand Lake-Big Thompson diversion Platte River Valley, Sutherland Reservoir, feed canal and New works.. $10, 700, 000 600, 000 300,000 16, 000, 000 6, 000, 000 22, 900, 000 33, 600, 000 5. Navigation. The river has never been usable for navigation and because of the steep slope and deficient flow is not susceptible of improvement for that purpose. 6. Flood control. The local flood problems in the basin are not serious. Occasional local floods, from cloudbursts on small areas, have done some damage, but these are not of such frequency or of consequence as to justify works for their control. However, a study has been made for constructing a flood-control reservoir at Ashland, near the mouth of the river, which would control the outflow of practically the entire basin. The estimated cost of this reservoir, with a capacity of 1,400,000 acre-feet, is $38,800,000. It could be operated to increase the low-water flow of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, but subsequent studies show that this purpose could be better served at other available reservoir sites in the Missouri basin. There are, therefore, no prospective flood-control projects of merit in the Platte River basin. 7. Water power. The greatest concentration of power developments is in the vicinity of Denver, Colo. Here many water power plants are interconnected with a large steam plant of a public service company, and their excess output is absorbed into the company's distribution system. Because nearly the entire natural flow of the upper Platte River system, has been adjudicated to irrigation interests, water power developments in that region cannot be economically developed under present conditions except in combination with either existing or both existing and potential irrigation. These have been discussed under the heading of Irrigation. The development of power alone is, however, practicable at several sites, should future economic conditions justify it. A list of these sites follows: 8. Forestry. Of the 5 million acres of forest land in the Platte River watershed, about 4 million acres have a major watershed influence. These lands are located chiefly on the rough broken lands of the Rocky Mountains. Watershed conditions here are improving over the greater part of the area which is in the national forests and national parks. On the remainder of the area, largely public domain, watershed conditions are deteriorating because of excessive overgrazing, frequent fires, and overcutting. Good management of the lands now in public ownership is called for, with increased public ownership of private lands where watershed conditions are not being satisfactorily met. 9. Land utilization.-The Platte River Valley presents a variety of land-use problems. In the eastern section, characterized by very fertile soils, erosion is becoming a difficult problem on many farms. In the Sand Hills portion there is the problem of holding the sand from blowing, where the sod has been unwisely broken. On the plains extending east from the Rocky Mountains for 75 to 150 miles the climate is semiarid, especially at the lower elevations, and the major problems are those of restoring the poorer dry-farming land to grass, and also those generally associated with irrigation. It should be noted, however, that there is better drainage of irrigated land in this section than almost anywhere else in the United States. In the far western portion of the drainage area there is urgent need of controlling grazing on the desert lands; also, locally, of restoring the grass or forest cover in the mountains, now largely included in national forests. 10. River discharge and ground-water data.-Additional investigations should be undertaken in the Platte River Valley of stream flow and ground water in order to supplement data now available. The cost is estimated at $120,000. 11. The project. The project proposed for the Platte Valley includes: (a) Completion or construction of the following irrigation works: Casper-Alcova project (completion). Extension of Michigan, Colorado-La Poudre, and Hoosier Pass ditches... Jones Pass diversion. Grand Lake-Big Thompson diversion.. Sutherland Reservoir, feed canal and power plant.. Total.... $10, 700, 000 (b) The continued study of stream flow and ground-water conditions at an estimated cost of $120,000. (c) The provision of technical assistance and leadership in the solution of local problems of erosion control and land use. ARKANSAS RIVER 1. Description.-The Arkansas River rises in the Rocky Mountain region in Colorado, flows in a general easterly direction and empties into the Mississippi River near Arkansas City, Ark. Its length is 1,450 miles. Its drainage area is about 160,500 square miles and includes parts of the States of Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas. The fall varies from 0.6 feet per mile near the mouth to 40 feet per mile near the source. The maximum discharge at Arkansas City is about 830,000 cubic feet per second. The Arkansas, together with the White River, furnishes the increments which usually produce the maximum floods on the Mississippi River. The principal tributaries are the Fourche La Fave, Petit Jean, Poteau, Grand (Neosho), Verdigris, Cimarron, and Salt Fork Rivers. (See accompanying map.) Agriculture is the principal industry throughout the watershed. Industrial development is connected with the natural resources of the basin including coal and metal mining, oil and gas production, salt, gypsum, bauxite, and lumber. The total population of the watershed is 3,694,000. The largest cities are Oklahoma City (185,000), Tulsa (144,000), Wichita (111,000), Little Rock (82,000), and Pueblo (50,000) 2. Irrigation. The problems of this basin are regional. At its headwaters they are connected with irrigation because of inadequate stream flow, lower down they are connected with excessive flow, floods, and pollution. For convenience, the basin can best be considered by States. Colorado: The irrigated area of 753,000 acres on the Arkansas River and its tributaries has been privately developed in the past 70 years. Storage reservoirs, almost entirely of the inland type and largely on the plains north of Rocky Ford and La Junta, total 922,600 acre-feet in capacity. Irrigation works cover far more area than can normally be supplied, with a chronic and at times distressing water shortage. A transmountain tunnel to cost $1,100,000 is being |