The Reclamation Act

President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Reclamation Act on July 17, 1902. This new agency inaugurated irrigation development that included planning, financing, and the construction of irrigation projects. That same year a preliminary examination of the headwaters of the Boise River, the Payette River, and a survey for Deer Flat Reservoir were made (see an image of Boise River, South Fork to help visualize such efforts).

Soon a publicity campagin began to persuade the settlers that they needed the government to take over irrigation in the Boise Valley and to convince the Reclaimation Service that the residents wanted government participation (see Homestead Shack). 

Public meetings were held in schoolhouses, the elegant, newly open Dewey Palace in Nampa (shown to the right), and in other community centers.

James H. Lowell--a far-seeing and practical statesman, who later became president of the Boise-Payette Water Users Association--gave many favorable speeches for the project. His efforts were rewarded in a petition signed by 1,500 landowners. The petition was sent to Washington D.C., but the Minidoka Project in eastern Idaho was selected instead.

Undaunted by this setback, Mr. Lowell, along with former Governor Frank Steunenberg and others, made a trip to the nation's capital.

At last sucess! One million three hundred thousand dollars ($1,300,000) was allocated to build a small diversion dam on the Boise River, to enlarge the New York Canal, and build three dams for the Deer Flat Reservoir.