OCR Text |
Show J THE WATER QUESTION. The Sanpete County Convention Con-vention Favors Local Control of Water and Watersheds. x The county irrigation convention which met at Jit. Pleasant on last Saturday, passed three resolutions, all of which favor the local control of our irrigating waters and the watersheds. "While the minutes -. of the convention show that there j was some hard fighting on the J resolutions, yet they were finally 'N passed by practically a unanimous vote. The delegations from Gunnison i, and Mayfield presented the follow- ing resolution : Whereas, we favor the ceding of the natural watersheds by the government gov-ernment to the people, to be governed gov-erned by cities, towns and villages, that it is the sense of this con veil - - tion that the delegates representing Sanpete county at the Irrigation convention to be held April 2nd, 1902, at Salt Lake City, work to 000 acres, and has established forest for-est reserves out of the same; one beginning at or near the northerly boundary of Cache county, thence running southerly, nearly to Salt Lake City; one running from Salt Lake City on the north, thence running run-ning southerly to the south boundary bound-ary of Piute county on the south, and being about 18 miles wide; another beginning near the town of Gunnison, on the south, thence running northerly nearly to Payson city, on the north; besides other smaller reserves. Now, therefore, be it Resolved, by the people of Sanpete county, in an irrigation convention assembled, as-sembled, that we protest against such wholesale, and as we think, unnecessary withdrawal of such vast tracts of the public domain from entry and sale, for the reason that such withdrawal must work great and irreparable injury to our State, without being correspondingly beneficial. It will retard the development develop-ment of our mineral resources by excluding exclud-ing the miners from said tracts of lands. It will retard our agricultural development develop-ment by excluding the farmer and home-seekers home-seekers from such large portions of the public domain, and harass the fanners in obtaining from such reserves their necessary fuel and timber with which to improve their homes and farms. As also the grazing of their domestic stock. It will be destructive of the sheep and stock industry of the State. It will render almost valueless the magnificent land grants made by the Government of the United States to the State of Utah, in that the lands thus withdrawn comprise nearly all the valu- able vacant public lands within this State, and out of which such lands so granted could otherwise be selected and sold by the State. It is unnecessary, because large portions por-tions of J:he land thus withdrawn are devoid de-void of timber, and there are no watersheds water-sheds to be conserved on large portions of said reservations. Resolved, That we favor the conservation conser-vation and protection of the watersheds and water-courses of every city and town in the State, either by the establishment of timber reserves or otherwise, to the reasonable necessity therefor, and recommend recom-mend that such forest reserves, watersheds water-sheds and water-courses be under the immediate control and supervision of the respective municipalities concerned therein; that reasonable and definite limits to such reserves be established; and that the remainder of the reserves heretofore established, be restored to the public domain. that end. RESOLUTION NO. 2. Be it resolved by the Sanpete county irrigation convention that we urge the next State Legislature to enact such laws as shall enable the farmers and water users of this State to perpetuate the evidence of their right and title to the use of 'water, by matter of record, so that . such title may be traceable, the same as the titles to lands are now traceable, thereby to avoid future confusion and litigation; be it further fur-ther Resolved, that we are opposed to any State control of our water rights, either by means of a so-called so-called board of control, or otherwise, other-wise, but believe that our interests can best be subserved by local agencies agen-cies in the management, control, regulation and distribution of our waters, and to that end we earnestly request our next State Legislature " to enact such laws as will the more fully enable us to accomplish this object in a prompt, inexpensive and efficient manner. Resolved, that a copy of th resolution be forwarded to the Stale Irrio-ation Association, hereafter (o be formed, and also that a copy le forwarded to the State IrrigatidV Convention to meet at Salt Lake City, April 2, 1902. RESOLUTION NO. 3. "Whereas, we are advised by the press dispatches that the Secretary of the Interior has ordered the withdrawal from entry of large tracts of the public lands within this State, comprising over 3,000,- |