"A promise long deferred": Federal reclamation on the Colorado River Indian reservation

This study compares two federal reclamation projects on the Colorado River Indian Reservation in 1865 and 1911 and helps explain why federal policymak ers continued to repeat the mistakes they had made in nineteenth-century ir rigation development in the twentieth century. The 1865 plan to provide irr igation for Colorado River Indian tribes was notable in calling for the fir st federally sponsored irrigation project, but it failed when problems with site selection and technology made it too expensive. Despite the Indian co mmunity's faith in its farming tradition and willingness to embrace agricul tural change, a project in 1911 to reclaim allotments prior to opening "sur plus" lands to non-Indians failed when government planners neglected soil c onditions and made substantial errors in design. The history of Colorado River shows the difficulties that the Indian Office and the Reclamation Service had in aiding non-Indian access to Indian land s and water while simultaneously assisting Indian development of the same r esources. These dual promises led to confusion and recurring failure in irr igation policy at Colorado River, as well as other reclamation projects. Ad ditionally, federal planners continued to underestimate the expense of prov iding and maintaining irrigation. Policymakers fell prey to a technological idealism that helped them to gain the public confidence on which they depe nded, but led them to promise more than they could deliver.