In 1894 the United States Congress passed the Carey act, which aimed to promote irrigation and reclamation of the West's vast desert areas by allowing private development of federal land.  In Idaho a handful of visionaries caught the spirit of the Carey Act and in 1895, while seeking a location for a railway bridge across the Snake River, Ira Perrine discovered the future site of Milner Dam. He shared his vision with private investors. The dam was to provide irrigation storage and diversion to the Snake River Plain. Upon completion of Milner Dam and the associated irrigation canals in 1905, agricultural development in the Snake River Plain was assured and continues to this day.