I might make one further comment. I noticed in the paper this morning former Governor Winthrop Rockefeller of Arkansas was speaking to the development of the rural areas with new people. We pointed out that it will provide a place for people to live other than high rise apartments. In the development of rural America, it is necessary we have two things. One is good land, and two, the availability of water. I submit gentlemen, that Polecat Bench offers both. We need only the water delivered to the land.

Mr. KAZEN. Mr. Copenhaver, would you read the letter which was sent in by Mr. Curtis? I think it is very important that we have it in the record.

Mr. COPENHAVER. Yes, sir. It is addressed to the Commissioners of the Polecat Bench Irrigation District.

Gentlemen. As Vice President and General Manager of the Two Dot Corporation, Cody, Wyoming, I want to state that our ranch company is as enthused about this project as we ever were.

As far as the Two Dot Ranch is concerned, I want to assure your Committee, the United States Department of the Interior, and the Bureau of Reclamation, that we desire to cooperate in every way possible to see this project to is completion. I also want to assure you that it is our intention to improve the acreage that we own and prepare it in such a way that it will lend itself to dividing it into parcels and completing each parcel in accordance with the plan that has been set up for the project.

It is also our intention that we would sell these parcels and finance the complete development of our share of the project. The Two Dot Corporation would contemplate marketing the excess holdings of our land as farms and we would also be in a position to finance the purchasers.

Our ranch is one contiguous unit of approximately 185,000 acres of which 8.000 plus acres are included in this project. The Polecat Bench is in the extreme northeast corner of the ranch. We have been using it for winter grazing in the past.

We can only see this project as an asset to the entire Powell community as well as to our ranch. Sincerely,

C. W. CURTIS,

Vice President.
Two Dot Ranch Corp.

Mr. KAZEN. I would be led by this letter to understand that the Two Dot Corp. will subdivide their acreage in this project and make it available to other people in accordance with the plan set up by the project?

Mr. COPENHAVER. Yes, sir; Mr. Chairman. It is his full intention to do so, and I believe they have expressed this both to the Bureau of Reclamation and the irrigation district and whoever else inquires. Mr. KAZEN. Fine, because as I understand, the Two Dot Ranch is the largest private owner.

Mr. COPENHAVER. Yes, it is.

Mr. KAZEN. On the Bench, I think they own some 8,030 acres?
Mr. COPENHAVER. Yes.

Mr. KAZEN. Thank you very much for your testimony, sir, and for bringing the letter of Mr. Curtis. It will be very helpful to the subcommittee.

Are there any questions from the members of the subcommittee?
If not, thank you very much for being here.

Mr. COPENHAVER. Thank you. Mr. Curtis himself is here if the committee has any questions of Mr. Curtis. I am sure he would be willing to answer them.

Mr. RONCALIO. I would like him to stand up. I do not know Mr. Curtis.

Mr. COPENHAVER. Stand up, Mr. Curtis.

Mr. KAZEN. It is good to have you with us this morning, sir. Do you have any additional statement that you would like to make?

Mr. CURTIS. No, sir; I do not think so, other than what Ross has said. Mr. KAZEN. You concur with everything that has been said?

Mr. CURTIS. Oh, yes, sir.

Mr. KAZEN. Thank you very much, sir.

Mr. Glenn Stutzman, Park County Commissioner, Wyoming. You may proceed, sir.

STATEMENT OF GLENN STUTZMAN, CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF PARK COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, POWELL, WYO.

Mr. STUTZMAN. Mr. Chairman, members of this subcommittee, I am Glenn Stutzman, chairman of the board of Park County Commissioners, president of the Wyoming State Commissioners Association, and also president of the National Association of County Officials Western Division which is the 13 Western public land States.

It is a pleasure for me to appear before your subcommittee to testify in behalf of the Polecat Bench project in Park County, Wyo.

First, I'd like to give you a brief description of Park County, Wyo. It is located in the northwest section of Wyoming bordering the Yellowstone Park on the east and south of the Montana border. It is 92 miles across its western boundary and 69 miles across its northern boundary and contains 5,233 square miles. Park County's 3,339,000 acres are broken down as follows: 1,687,000 acres in national forests; 514.538 acres in Taylor grazing and reclamation; 156,235 acres in State owned land under lease; and only 810,617 acres of privately owned land.

So, approximately 66 percent of our county is federally owned. We have more wilderness within our borders than any other county in the United States and of course there is no chance of any development there.

The 1970 census shows we have a population of 17,752 people or approximately 190 acres per person, or 3.3 people per square mile. I am attempting to show by these figures that Park County has plenty of room for people and development. We do have many acres of beautiful mountains and forests, but we have several valleys and basins for irrigation development, with plenty of water available from our mountains and wilderness area and stored behind the already built Buffalo Bill Dam, one of the oldest reclamation projects ever built, called the Shoshone Irrigation project of 36,000 acres. This Polecat Bench project would join this project to the north and border the Heart Mountain project of 26.000 acres which was completed in the late 1940's.

My father homesteaded on the Shoshone Irrigation project in 1915, so I was raised on the original homestead. In 1935, I started farming with my father and raised my family on an adjacent purchased homestead. In 1956 my son took over my father's interests, and we are operating a family corporation today. This year we raised 210 acres of malt barley with a yield of over 90 bushels per acre. We have 240 acres of

sugar beets that will produce over 4,500 tons or approximately 111⁄2 million pounds of sugar which is in short supply in the United States.

We grow 100 acres of alfalfa and 120 acres of silage and close-plant corn which we use to feed and finish between 5,000 and 6.000 feeder lambs for market. We also feed between 800 and 1,000 market hogs per year with grain we grow and purchase from the nearby areas. We have approximately $150,000 invested in machinery and equipment and another $150,000 in buildings and improvements. We employ three men full time on a year-round basis and 15 and 16 Texas minority group beet workers to thin and weed our beets. We pay them approximately $9,000 each year for about 6 weeks' work, besides other parttime workers we employ to weed and harvest our crops. All our land today has completely repaid the construction costs back to the reclamation fund. There are many such family operations as ours on the project today. My point in quoting these figures is to bring out the amount of jobs produced and the amount required in investment, buildings, and equipment to produce feed and crops that are in short supply. We do not produce corn for grain, wheat, cotton, or crops that are surplus. Our land joins the Polecat Bench project on the south side. The Federal Government, since the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, has received over $800 million in revenue from royalties, bonuses, and patents from Wyoming and over $400 million of this has been credited to the reclamation fund for development of western lands. Park County this year has an assessed valuation of $129 million and a favorably low tax mill levy, and is ready, willing, and able to build and maintain roads and take care of the needs of this proposed new project. We also have the schools and a 2-year junior college that can handle the additional growth.

The environmental impact on this area would be improved since the storage dam is already built and since most of the land would be sprinkler irrigated so there would be very little runoff and water pollution. Park County has a recreation commission set up so local money would be available to build and improve the recreational facilities within the area.

I would like to thank this subcommittee for the privilege of allowing me to appear before you and present a few of my ideas why I think the Polecat Bench project should be built.

I would be happy to attempt to answer any questions you might have.

Mr. KAZEN. Thank you very much for that statement. Mr. Stutzman, and for giving us the bird's-eye view of the economy. Do you own any property on the Bench?

Mr. STUTZMAN. No, I do not.

Mr. KAZEN. Will your present property in any way benefit from this project?

Mr. STUTZMAN. No.

Mr. KAZEN. Directly, I mean?

Mr. STUTZMAN. No.

Mr. KAZEN. I was very interested in your statement about employing some of our immigrants that come up to your beet fields. Just to digress a little. I know some of their problems.

How do you pay these people?

Mr. STUTZMAN. We pay them by the acre, on a piecework basis. However, they are guaranteed a minimum hourly wage. We have to negotiate with them. But the Department of Agriculture sets the minimum wage that must be paid.

Mr. KAZEN. What is the minimum wage?

Mr. STUTZMAN. I am sure this year it is $2 an hour.

Mr. KAZEN. That is the minimum?

Mr. STUTZMAN. That is the minimum.

Mr. KAZEN. But they can take it by piece?

Mr. STUTZMAN. That is what most of them do, especially on the weeding. If they do a good job of thinning, they can make as high as $50 or $60 per day per person.

Mr. KAZEN. Thank you very much for that information.
Are there any questions?

Mr. Melcher?

Mr. MELCHER. Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Commissioner Stutzman, I think we ought to make this record clear on this particular point concerning migrant workers. Actually, an average of $600, as your testimony indicates, is a little bit on the low side, is it not, for 6 weeks? I am thinking in comparison to our area, that our migrant workers make much more than $100 a week on the average. But your testimony seems to indicate that.

Mr. STUTZMAN. Well, I would like to make the record clear that they are here for a period of approximately 6 weeks, that they usually take off Saturday afternoon, all day Sunday, and anytime it rains. I am sure that the actual working days are much less, and possibly not much over half to two-thirds of this period.

Mr. MELCHER. I especially wanted that in the record because it happens in our area that almost always there are some days off for rain, or for moving from one place to another. I would want it clear that for a 5-day week that the pay is generally much in excess of $100 a week. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. KAZEN. Thank you.

As a matter for my own personal information, do you get the same group year after year?

Mr. STUTZMAN. Yes. We have modern houses. They have been with us-they come from McAllen Tex., now, for 5 or 6 years, the same family. We are happy with them and they are happy with the living conditions. They always come back. We can depend on them.

Mr. KAZEN. I am glad to hear that. Thank you very much.

Mr. RONCALIO. I should know this, but what is the local tax mill levy this year?

Mr. STUTZMAN. This year in the school district, the one which would include the area that the Polecat Bench, would be 62 mills, around 62 mills for all purposes, including schools. Of course, the State of Wyoming has no mill levy, and for the county and special districts for all purposes it is 62 plus.

Mr. RONCALIO. Thank you.

Mr. ABOUREZK. Mr. Chairman?

Mr. KAZEN. Mr. Abourezk.

Mr. ABOUREZK. Just as a point of curiosity, there is a junior college that we are in now. Is that funded by the State or local taxes?

84-684- -72 -6

Mr. STUTZMAN. By both. It is a countywide district, and it is tax supported. The law allows 4 mills to go for the building, but it also is supported by the State, as I understand it, on a per capita, full-time student basis.

Mr. ABOUREZK. I see. Thank you very much.

Mr. STUTZMAN. I would like to clear one other thing on the migratory workers. They leave our area and go to Illinois where they work cucumbers and tomatoes, and then go up into Minnesota and pick cherries and apples. They are usually back so that the children are in school by around the first of October.

Mr. KAZEN. What time of the year are they here?

Mr. STUTZMAN. They never come to us until about the 20th of May, and that allows their children to finish school in Texas. Also, during the summer, there are schools provided for their children here, too. Mr. KAZEN. Here locally?

Mr. STUTZMAN. Right here. Thank you.

Mr. KAZEN. Thank you very much.

Mr. RONCALIO. Very good statement. Very good.

Mr. KAZEN. Next we have City Councilman Norman Meidinger and Mr. Heasler. You are both city councilmen, and if you want to come down together, we will be delighted to have both of you.

STATEMENT OF NORMAN MEIDINGER, CITY COUNCILMAN, CITY OF POWELL

Mr. MEIDINGER. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, my name is Norman Meidinger. I am speaking on behalf of the Powell Water Board and as a councilman for the city of Powell.

We are concerned with the passage of the Polecat Bench bill, as it involves not only irrigation, but also as a possible source of water for the city of Powell, through the construction of Holden Reservoir.

We realize the importance of water to this municipality as it is most essential to the future growth and development of our city.

We have just completed a water study program, and the city of Powell will not have a sufficient supply of water in the year 2000 if our population growth continues as it has since 1945.

We therefore strongly urge the consideration and passage of the Polecat Bench bill, as the Holden Reservoir is a logical source of water for our municipality.

The water board and council feel that the location of Holden Reservoir would be such that the city could purchase water from the Bureau of Reclamation, and in turn help in the repayment of construction and maintenance of the project.

Gentlemen, as you know, water is essential to the growth of any community; therefore, we would appreciate your support of the Polecat Bench bill.

Mr. KAZEN. Sir, what is the source of the water that you use in Powell now?

Mr. MEIDINGER. At the present time we have a pumping system which is largely sub-surface water.

Mr. KAZEN. From where?

Mr. MEIDINGER. From the water table right around the city of Powell.