Newlands Reclamation Act

rdf:langString Newlands Reclamation Act

rdf:langString Francis G. Newlands

rdf:langString Senate

rdf:langString House

rdf:langString Senate

rdf:langString Passed

rdf:langString Newlands Reclamation Act

rdf:langString National Reclamation Act of 1902

rdf:langString The Reclamation Act (also known as the Lowlands Reclamation Act or National Reclamation Act) of 1902 (Pub.L. 57–161) is a United States federal law that funded irrigation projects for the arid lands of 20 states in the American West. The act at first covered only 13 of the western states as Texas had no federal lands. Texas was added later by a special act passed in 1906. The act set aside money from sales of semi-arid public lands for the construction and maintenance of irrigation projects. The newly irrigated land would be sold and money would be put into a revolving fund that supported more such projects. This led to the eventual damming of nearly every major western river. Under the act, the Secretary of the Interior created the United States Reclamation Service within the United States Geological Survey to administer the program. In 1907, the Service became a separate organization within the Department of the Interior and was renamed the United States Bureau of Reclamation. The Act was co-authored by Democratic Congressional Representative Francis G. Newlands of Nevada and George H. Maxwell, head of the National Reclamation Association. Many of the loans made to farmers, funded by the sales of federal land, were never repaid. Amendments made by the gave the Department of the Interior, among other things, the authority to amend repayment contracts and to extend repayment for not more than 40 years. Amendments made by the (P.L. 97-293) eliminated the residency requirement provisions of reclamation law, raised the acreage limitation on lands irrigated with water supplied by the Bureau of Reclamation, and established and required full-cost rates for land receiving water above the acreage limit.

rdf:langString An Act appropriating the receipts from the sale and disposal of public lands in certain States and Territories to the construction of irrigation works for the reclamation of arid lands.

rdf:langString Lowlands Reclamation Act of 1902