Newlands Reclamation Act

"Newlands Act" redirects here. Not to be confused with Newlands Labor Act.
Newlands Reclamation Act
Great Seal of the United States
Other short titlesLowlands Reclamation Act of 1902
Long titleAn 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.
NicknamesNational Reclamation Act of 1902
Enacted bythe 57th United States Congress
EffectiveJune 17, 1902
Citations
Public lawPub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 57–161
Statutes at Large32 Stat. 388
Legislative history

The Reclamation Act (also known as the Lowlands Reclamation Act or National Reclamation Act) of 1902 (Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 57–161) is a United States federal law that funded irrigation projects for the arid lands of 17 states in the American West.[1]

The act at first covered only 16 of the western states, as delineated by the 100th meridian, as Texas had no federal lands.[1] Texas was added later by a special act passed in 1906.[2] 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.[1][3] These irrigation projects led to the eventual damming of nearly every major western river.[1] Under the act, the Secretary of the Interior created the United States Reclamation Service within the United States Geological Survey to administer the program.[2] In 1907, the Service became a separate organization within the Department of the Interior and was renamed the United States Bureau of Reclamation.[2]

The Act was co-authored by Democratic Congressional Representative Francis G. Newlands of Nevada, Frederick H. Newell of the United States Geological Survey, and George H. Maxwell, head of the National Reclamation Association.[4] Many of the loans made to farmers, funded by the sales of federal land, were never repaid.[5] Amendments made by the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 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.[6] Amendments made by the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (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.[7]

  1. ^ a b c d "Mission of the Bureau of Reclamation". National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "The Bureau of Reclamation: A Very Brief History". Bureau of Reclamation. U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  3. ^ Lilley, William III. "Appendix I. Summary and Analysis of Reclamation Act". The System of the River. Stanford University.
  4. ^ "The George Hebard Maxwell Papers, MG 1, 1903-1905". www.azarchivesonline.org. Retrieved 2021-02-27.
  5. ^ Reisner, M. (1993), Cadillac Desert p. 111–119
  6. ^ "SUBCHAPTER X—PAYMENT OF CONSTRUCTION CHARGES". GovInfo. U.S. Government Publishing Office. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  7. ^ "SUBCHAPTER I–A—RECLAMATION REFORM". United States Code. Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Retrieved 15 March 2024.