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Show SULTA LAND & WATER MAN EXPLAINS LITIGATION CAUSE Vice President of Company Makes Statement in Regard to Publicity Given Concern in - Salt Lake Papers. t GEORGE A. SNOW, vice president of the Delta Lajxl & Water company, has written the following follow-ing self-explanatory letter to The gait Lake Tribune: Editor Tribune: Several items have appeared in the Salt Lake press regarding certain cer-tain litigation launched against Delta Land & Water company in California. This publicity has resulted re-sulted in 60 many personal inquiries That I feel the advisability and fairness as well, of better acquainting acquaint-ing the public with facts and causes - leading up to this litigation. Is Utah Institution. First, let it be understood that the,)elta Land & Water company ."primarily a Utah institution that TiA its beginning in this state. The company was organized in 1911, following fol-lowing earnest appeals to me by state officials and many of those prominent in Millard county, for the specific purpose of taking over the defunct Oasis Land & Irrigation Irriga-tion company, and now generally referred to as the Delta project, of approximately 35,000 acres. The Oasis compauy had drifted on to the financial rock on which so manv enterprises of this character, throughout the arid states, had broken. It was by no means easy to ' provide the money necessary to resurrect res-urrect the enterprise, rebuild and carry it to completion, save the few struggling ana impoverished settlers set-tlers then on the project, as well as obviate damaging publicity to the country of "another failure in irrigation.'' Million Expended. Not without a vast amount of hard worlt and many trials to the settlers and the company has this bappv result been accomplished following the expenditure of roundly $1,000,000. The system was rebuilt, finished, the land colonized nnd the project is now on a solid tooting, . dotted all over with homes, farm buildings, school houses, etc. Some 2500 added population ha3 been given to the state, a branch railroad has been b.iilt through the project, a grain elovator installed, a large beet sugar factory is in course of construction, con-struction, the new and prosperous tcvn, Delta, has been developed, ancjl much valuable farm property adcled to the state and county tax roliis. V-ater Delta Land fc Water eom-fany eom-fany officials were again appealed to by state authorities, as well as many of those prominent in Beaver countv, to undertake the develop-""Sont'of develop-""Sont'of a large tract of choice TSjh1 near Milford. After further strenuous work, necessitating a trip to Europe', another largo tnim of money was provided for this project. Construction work commenced com-menced in the spring of 1913, the project completed in 1314. and colonization finished in 1915, and roundly another $1,000,000 expended. ex-pended. Aids Population. This is' generally recognized as one of the best built projects in the United States, and thus has further fami property been mads taxable sncTthe state's population increased. Manv of the colonists for the Milford project were worthy men, for the most part said to be experienced ex-perienced farmers and nearly all from the state of California, many rnruing from the fruit districts. Everv one of these men came to Milford and were driven over the project; thev examined the land" ' they 'bought, thev were taken to the' dam and reservoir and shown the canal system, thev studied the 'oil, stopped at, the compauy b demonstration farm, located in the center of the tract, they were driy. through the. adjoining prolific fields of the little town of Miners-ville Miners-ville and some of them remained at the company 's farmhouse for days. These men "were afforded the op-portunitv op-portunitv for study and investigation investiga-tion of 'conditions, and they were apparently satisfied and bought. Soil Best in State. The soil is. and ro declared by the late Professor Merrill, after a. dose investigation, to be counted v imong the best in 'the state. It is nuick and responsive, and even in Viaw state is particularly adapted to (Trowing alfalfa, and we strongly urged the settlers to plant generously gener-ously of it. For lack of humus and compactness, however, it has proven disappointing for raising gTain and vegetables, but the soil being substantially sub-stantially the same as that of tie Minersville fields, it only remains , for the settlers to provide the needed humus by plowing under a. stand of alfalfa, when in due time with cultivation it should produce bounteously all kinds of grain, potatoes, po-tatoes, vegetables, etc Unfortunately, Unfortu-nately, most of the settlers planted erain, and the vield was very light, but as a rule those who planted alfalfa al-falfa are faring nicely. To this misfortune mis-fortune came another, and, as all those familiar with agriculture know, 1914 and 1915 were short-wator short-wator years. The canals were new', the land was new, the soil had never before been controlled by the hand of artificial irrigation. Even so. the record shows that in 1915 moro than three acre-feet of water wns delivered into the canal system sys-tem for each acre of land under cultivation, cul-tivation, and irrigators know that this quantity should ordinarily meet all requirements, yome of the settlors set-tlors were without previous experience experi-ence in irrigation, so that altogether alto-gether the water situation at the tail end of the season was somewhat some-what unsatisfactory. Work for Pioneers. When many of these settlers came tn the project, as prospective buyers they miw and were enthused, but. when the actual pioneer work was at, hand, the bru?h to be cleared. .'1 to be plowed and leveled. pre-I'urutory pre-I'urutory for the permanent home and sustaining farm, the mental ;it- titude of some of these men changed, as in often the eac. I can oulv conclude that Jo ?omo the I brush appeared taller than when they bought, and with the bruh off the bumps seemed higher and the obstacles generally were magnified. The Milford climate was not that of southern California, and the environment was not that of concrete boulevard?, palm trees, flowers and the aroma of oranec blossoms. The work, in fact, was that same pioneer work that the rural population of all the arid states has experienced and mastered. mas-tered. Many of these settlers were overdue over-due in their payments to the company, com-pany, and while the company was not crowding them, and had shown a disposition generally to be helpful, help-ful, they became restless and more or less worried. While in this state of mind, and, unfortunately, while all the company ofifcials 1 were out of the state, a lawyer from California came to Milford and is said to have banded together those ; who were dissatisfied, to have col-' col-' lected a big per acre legal fee in cash, to have made them many al- j luring promises, and, finally, to have tied them up in contracts to ' litigato Delta Land & Water company com-pany on a percentage basis. Flood of Litigants. This lawyer doubtless had visions of. forcing the company officials to go to California, to be tried in local state courts where these settlers formerly resided, and a flood of litigation was there launched for the recovery of money paid and for damages for alleged fraudulent representations. rep-resentations. The company, being a foreign corporation and having withdrawn from California, these suits were, on our pleadings, transferred trans-ferred to the federal courts. We have since moved and mado argument argu-ment to quash in the federal courts, for failure to give legal service, and the court's rulings are now pending, pend-ing, and there the matter stands. I Should the ruling be in our favor, it would seem that any further litigation liti-gation must take place in Utah, whero the business was transacted, where the company is operating, where the full facts ean best, be ascertained, as-certained, and justice be done to aU concerned, and where the company is entirely ready and willine to meet all issues. " This lawyer has made many threats of civil and criminal prosecution prose-cution against the company and itj officials. It is important to know that a nuanber of California settlers set-tlers refused to follow the lead of this lawyer, and are still on the project farming. It. is equally important im-portant to know that some 3000 acres of this same land and water were sold to Utah farmers, prob-ablv prob-ablv 90 per cent of it to residents of "Minersville, and, so far as I know, not one of these has abandoned aban-doned his farm. Advances for Settlers. Aside from building these projects, proj-ects, we have advanced the settlers at Delta approximately $300,000 cash for farm improvements and betterments, and the settlers at Milford have been accorded similar simi-lar treatment and our aim throughout through-out has been to develop among the farmers a spirit of wholesome cooperation co-operation with the company. The Delta Land A- Water company com-pany financed and built both projects proj-ects and the Western Securities company colonized ,them. These corporations want no undue advantage, ad-vantage, nor do they ask for mercy. They merely want simple justice and the public to know the truth. After we have expended substantially substan-tially $2,000,0O'Von these two proj-eets'without proj-eets'without selling a bond or share of stock, and have carried, and are carrying, the farmers' mortgages in . vaults, realizing that if we are successful suc-cessful the farmers must also be successful, with nol chance for profit prof-it unless the farmers profit, who can fairly and rightfully say that our motives and methods were conceived con-ceived in fraud? |