The work of Reclamation was at first under the United States Geological Survey, of which Charles D.Walcott was at that time Director.

In the spring of 1908 the United States Reclamation Service was established to carry it on, under the direction of Frederick Hayes Newell, to whom the inception of the plan was due.

Newell's single-minded devotion to this great task, the constructive imagination which enabled him to conceive it, and the executive power and high character through which he and his assistant, Arthur P.Davis, built up a model service--all these have made him a model servant.

The final proof of his merit is supplied by the character and records of the men who later assailed him.
Although the gross expenditure under the Reclamation Act is not yet as large as that for the Panama Canal, the engineering obstacles to be overcome have been almost as great, and the political impediments many times greater.

The Reclamation work had to be carried on at widely separated points, remote from railroads, under the most difficult pioneer conditions.