Show 0 o on 10 aff dica o SU lav y A d eegao F d ing B naha dm I 1 use U nf wat one of the first acts after the arrival of the pioneers in salt lake valley in ill 1847 was to divert water ater from city alt cheek and apply it to tile the dry and barren soil in the vicinity since that time utah has been to the forefront in matters of Iril gattin naturally irrigation would be and has been one of tile the first subjects to bo be considered onside red by the Legisla legislature tuie and it NN was as and is today and N will ill continue to be as important as the most important of any subject occupying the attention of our lawmakers the decisions of the courts following the first laws enacted by out oui legislature on oil matteis of irrigation wholly considered the prlanty of use as the basis of decision but gatei as the country auntry grew grein and mote moio water was aas used and needed the priority of use was inas coupled with the thought of beneficial use and these two thoughts are now biou bi ought glit together and faini the basis bagis on oil which the gen oral decisions of the courts are now based in fact even prior to statehood I 1 laws laas were nere enacted and which at ale e to I 1 I 1 be found in the revised statutes of 1898 containing the proviso that beneficial use shall bo be the basis the measure ind and the limit of all rights to the use of the waters in this state and in a decision rendered in the case ot of big cottonwood tanner ditch company vs shurtliff in our supreme cobit held no land owner oater Is entitled to more water aiom a ditch for any specific purpose than Is reasonably necessary to sup ply pl his needs foi that pui pobe le ie gard less or of the quantity that has heretofore been used by b him and regardless gard less of the length of time of 0 such usage and in the bame balue case it if was also held that claimants of water may not waste aste it oither by applying more than ib seasonably necessary to supply their needs for cor culinary do bestic 01 01 purposes or in conducting the vater ater from the main rin source of supply to their premises haying having in mind the growing needs of water lor for the land and that the hood flood mateis might and should be put to a beneficial ube the legislature Legisla tuie long enacted a law permitting Irti irrigation gation and reservoir voir companies already formed to purchase or sub s scribe cribe for cadatal caratal of other corporations and permitting In corporations already in fit exl exi stance stane to it mend amend their articles of tion bo as to authorize such purchase or r subscription this was as especially leco recognized as necessary in li lin gation corporations to enable expansion and development of the country as a whole hole v this single act lias has been of ibcal culpable benefit to mail water asso ciati citations ons and companies of this state particularly utah cache and san ar to counties and in fact ever eer it lias has been necessary hv by reason of the water nater conditions to stretch lie said waters as it were and make them pei form as grett greit a duty in the reclaiming of land as possible the people of uintah county were not slow in fit recognizing the advantage they could derive from froin this act pid some eighteen pars ears ago the anen principal canal cisterns of this community amended their articles providing and empowering their companies to subscribe for stock in companies already formed or about to bo ba formed for the purpose of stor etor ing waters and Inci increasing easing the water supply to theia respect respective ie hockhold t eru era and this at a time when was much less land under cultivation and being irrigated than there Is at the present time without official there are probably pio bably three aar acres es today irrigated where there was one twenty years ago at the same time and at the same meetings held in Feb february 1902 the articles of these various companies were amended to Inci oase case their capital stock block from a nominal figure tu a substantial and large amount no appreciable amount has been paid from tilts this surplus capitalization and while some work was done dolle on the system ot of reservoirs near the headwaters of the ashley stream it watt was thereafter abandoned and tor for many eais remained dormant until the of 1919 brought this matter again forcibly to the attention of the water users from a legal standpoint there can be no objection to the present coni com subscribing stock in a corpo i aaion N hose purpose la is to inci Incie ease aae cind and enhance the flow flon of water for irrigation purposes in fit this section either by means of a system of IP ie servo irs or any other means which will increase the now flow or provide tor for waters aters at a later in the ear certainly there Is no one thing that will ill piove giove of greater value to this community as a farming section and as a beet gr growing countey with the advent of a railroad than to have water ater which can be used for purposes of irrigation in the late summer months in view of the decision by b the supreme court made mention of in tills ait article icle in the matter of waste and the further fact that the law Is cleat and specific in the matter of avoiding such waste masto and prevention of damage to others one of the most important and vital things to be attended to at this time by the respective spec tive irrigation companies is an survey in order to definitely determine the amount of wastage that each company is now permitting and to det determine elmine the exact amount of water necessary for the beneficial ue of tile the lands belon belonging glue to their stockholders the expense of such survey should be boine by each of the respective companies in accordance with the acreage being irrigated un der their respective canals and such a survey will ill prove of untold value to the people at large chile the law lan still recognizes pi I 1 in the rights of batet and will continue to do so a greater latitude is to be found in the recent de with nith a tend tendency ncy in the western eat states to stretch water to the end that it will perform its greatest duty and at this time when iipp the eyes of the outsider are turned in the direction of this country tor the purpose of in ment and speculation and at a time when hen scarcely an issue of the vernal express is published but what can call be found therein the application of some person seeking to ampro pi aiato iato water from ashley creek would it not he be well for us to get together as a unit put our alk to the wheel and in a purely co opera tive tine manner reap some of these advantages which are right at our door b but bt t which sometimes on account of their closeness can not bo be seen bv us |