OCR Text |
Show IRRIGATION WATER IN ROADS Highways In Many Places Found to B Very Bad and In Spots Almost Impassable by Leaks. Irrigation water In roads is not only a wmste of water, but It dooa mak very bad roads, sometimes impassabli ones. In Gallatin valley, Mont, recent ly. we were delayed for nearly an houi and had to go to a farm house fot ropes, etc., with which to pull the autc In which we were riding out of th mud, caused by a leak which two minutes min-utes with a spade would have stopped. In several other places we found tbi roads in very bad condition from small, butf!dently long neglected leaks, from nearby ditches, says a writer In the North Dakota Farmer. This Is one of the disagreeable drawbacks In many Irrigated sections and a little,- very little timely care would prevent it Colorado has found this such a nuisance nuis-ance that section 39C0 of the state statutes reads: "Any person who ! (..ball cause waste water or water from any ditch, road, drain or flume, or other place to flow In or upon any road or highway so as to do damage to the same, shall be subject to a fine of not less than $10 nor more than 300 for each offense and shall be liable to any person In a civil iction for any damages resulting there-'rj)ta." there-'rj)ta." And still there are some very bad roads from leaky ditches In Colorado as we can testify. We think that not lews than $10 nor more than $50 would perhaps be better and this not apply unless the leak can be shown to havt been a negtected one, or from two to threw days' standing. Too severe a penalty prevents rather than encourages encour-ages comp'alnts of this kind. |