From the receipts from public lands the L'nited States is building dams and reservoirs for the storage of water to be used in irrigation; also building canals and laterals to water the lands and owners of the lands are to pay back the money without interest, in twenty annual installments, when it will again be used to build other canals. The cost of this land itself will depend on whether it is owned by the government, in which case it is nothing, or by private parties who may sell it, and the cost of the water is dependent upon the total cost of the system. The cost of making surveys and soil tests, building diversion dams and reservoirs, constructing gates and spillways, digging the canals and laterals, doing whatever it is necessary to perfect the system, and maintaining it until it is turned over to the people goes into the total bill and the persons who take the land must pay it in full. Each acre of land that can be watered must pay its pro-rata. The difficulties of putting in the system and the area of land it will water are the two factors that determine the cost of the water right.

Pathfinder Dam and Reservoir The Pathfinder dam and reservoir is located about three miles below the junction of the Sweetwater with the North Platte near the old Overland Trail, and is named in honor of John C. Fremont, who was wrecked at almost this point in an attempt to float down to the Missouri. The dam is 100 feet thick at the bottom, 10 feet wide at the top, and 215 feet high, built of solid masonry, is situated in a deep gorge of solid granite. No water ever flows over the dam, the overflow being through a specially constructed spillway cut in the solid rock.