OCR Text |
Show DRAINING FIELD AND RANCH Successful Operation Has Developed Necessity of More Extended Work to Secure Outlets. The auccessful dralnns;e of the field and ranch Iwts developed Ilia necessity of making more extended work to secure se-cure outlets which are adequate to receive re-ceive the water from the severul farms. Irrigated land has few, if any. watercourses, ao that dralnuge water must he delivered through artificial ditches, usually to the same stream from which the water wna originally diverted The construction of such outlet drains requires the cooperation of the owners of land which Is to be benefited. This is secured under the provisions of the state dralnuge laws, which permit owners of land to form a corporate district and distribute the cost of the work among the aev eral owners In proportion to the benefit bene-fit each will receive. The assessments so apportioned are collected as taxes and the proceeds applied to pay for the roHt of such work as has been agreed upon, Kach landowner within the district then has a right to use the outlets and participate In all of the benefits which will accrue from the work It Is quite often the case that little or no field drainage can be success fully done until outlets have been made. Districts of this character containing con-taining 10,1)1)0 acres or more have been Inaugurated in the states of Washing ton, Utah and Colorado, but none ha as yet been completed. This feature of drainage, which has but recently been forced upon the people In certain sections, Is new and brings up Home troublesome questions concerning the location of such drains as will prove of common utility, and also concern lug the equitable assessment of their cost upon the several tracts of land for which they provide drainage. There are at least ROD. noil acres of Irrigated land which now require draining in order to make them profitably profit-ably productive, the larger part of which will require the coiiHiructlon of outlet drains In which more or lens cooperation of properly owners will be required. After the laud which is drained has become fairly free from alkali, with which It Is often highly charged, the water flowing from (lie main drains bet s highly valuable for Irrigation. Such water then becomes be-comes mi asset, since It may lie lined to Irrigate lands occupying a lower level. These questions have not yet been adjusted satisfactorily In connec tloti with drainage projects In fact, they are only broached w hen I he ne cesslty for public drainage districts re quires their consideration. It is quite certain that drainage districts must soon le as much a feature of irrigated farming as they now aro of agriculture agricul-ture In the humid sections. |