Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 60 Part 1.djvu/361

 PUBLIC LAWS--CH. 516 -JUNE 28,1946 Lands declared tem- porarily nonirrigable Reimbursement for oest of survey. Oancellation of prior obligations. Releases of claims. Contracts with Irri- gation districts. Little Big Horn River watershed; Willow Creek storage works. on a per-acre basis, against such tract less any credit allowable under this subsection. The word "tract" as used in this Act shall mean a forty-acre legal subdivision or fraction thereof. (3) Where the Secretary of the Interior finds that certain non- Indian-owned lands subject to the pro rata share of the costs dealt with in section 1, as well as Indian-owned lands within the irrigation project, cannot be put to immediate productive use due to a need of proper drainage facilities; need of clearing and leveling; need of additional project construction work; present unfavorable soil condi- tions which can be corrected at an economic cost, he shall declare such lands temporarily nonirrigable until such time as he shall determine such lands can be put to productive use, and no irrigation project charges shall be assessed against such lands during such periods. Upon application of the landowners the Secretary of the Interior is author- ized to eliminate from the project five hundred and four and nine- tenths acres of land located in sections 21, 27, and 28 of township 5 south, range 26 east, and in section 10 of township 1 north, range 33 east, described in the district engineer's report of November 29, 1945, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs on the conditions of the Crow Indian irrigation project. (4) The cost of the necessary survey to determine the irrigable acreage of the project, made by the land designation committee, whose report was approved by the Secretary of the Interior in 1944, shall be reimbursed in a sum not to exceed $5,000 by the owners of project lands in Indian and non-Indian ownership. Such costs shall be reimbursed by the project landowners over a period not to exceed three years. During this period each year the per-acre annual operation and main- tenance charge shall be increased in amount sufficient to insure the per acre repayment of this cost. (5) All obligations arising out of contracts heretofore entered into with the United States for the payment to the United States of con- struction charges in connection with this project are hereby canceled, and all lands heretofore covered by such contracts shall be subject to the provisions of subsections (1), (2), (3), and (4) of this section. (6) The provisions of this section shall become operative only when the Secretary of the Interior shall determine that the contracts con- templated by section 3 have been entered into, and that the releases required by section 2 have been obtained. SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Interior shall obtain releases of claims which non-Indians owning lands under the Crow irrigation project may have against the United States on account of the construction of the Crow irrigation project or the assessment or collection of con- struction or operation and maintenance charges in connection with the project. SEC. 3. The Secretary of the Interior may enter into contracts with irrigation districts acting on behalf of all non-Indians owning land under the Crow irrigation project in which the irrigation dis- tricts shall agree to pay the charge of $45,000 fixed by subsection (1) of section 1. Such contracts shall provide for the payment of the aforesaid sum on a per-acre basis without interest over a twenty-year period in equal annual installments, credits to be given in the amounts allowable under subsection (2) of said section 1; for the payment by the districts of the proportionate share chargeable to the lands within the districts of the annual cost of operation and maintenance of the project- and for a first lien on the lands within the districts in favor of the United States for the repayment of such construction and operation and maintenance charges. SEC. 4. The Secretary of the Interior may enter into contracts with irrigation districts acting on behalf of all non-Indians owning lands 334 [60 STAT.
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