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Show ' I pffilGAnON DISTRICTS HAVE H4DECAUFORNIA PROSPERnLlS ! AND WILL DO MUCH FOR UTAH By Sarnucl Porter on in California I rein:: d t a rapid rate The extel holding hlch have for so lone pro Priced Kr'0 f a ,nw profl' ar" b"tn Letj under Irrljtat Ion. r d gradually court rtsd Into small ! I 'frtlfl Irm!l and orchard Four J nllllon scrs of some of the best land tBC gtat? l intensively farmed nnd rrigated and ,np result of a careful eirr'y made by our division fOTeral ; ' rn t&o to fhow thai tin- available t Lfr supply If conserved and econorn .jy u9ed i rapable of Irrltrai Inc ten i million acres In all. When one con-I con-I , t Lbal Kgpt with population ! pc g,OOt0OO if wholly dependent , fnrlta food supply on six million acre. I T,tered from the Nile and that 33.000.-! 33.000.-! fl pallan abtaln a lare pan of their I ibtUltence from lcs 'ban four1 million, H ,crM .,f irrigated land, the prediction fl ,it California will some uav uppnn 1900,000 people, la well founded Dutncts Aid California. 1 California's rapid development in Ir-I Ir-I . tion i- largel) due to th. dlsti li I S (,'rm of organization ;"lfi managt menl I t insures home rule in everything per-I per-I lainlnK to irrigation Those who ownj fba land control fh? water. Some ex-' ex-' tin districts are very large The imperial valley district, for example, mbraces more than half a million acres of which 450,000 acres were irrigated ir-rigated In 1919 Flans are al-,. t. mi formulated to enlarge this district to ihe extent of 400,000 acres. This or-1 tanliatlon of farmers is backed by .land valu. aaaeaa4 at something like thirty million dollars. win: to the magnitude of the en- terprlse, the board of directors la Justified in employing the best legal vnd engineering talent in the Mate I For vears r F. fJurnsky. at one time J a member of the Panama canal com j mission and one of the best irrigating 'neineers in the fnited States, has I" R oonajqJting engineer. In my opln-1 i"n, the majority of the Irrigation dis-l trlcta of California are better managed than are the cities largely because polities -.ert no Influence and political polit-ical appointments are not even considered. con-sidered. Following the enactment of,' the first district law in 1K87. there! was neither state nor federal control and as a result a lot of wild cat pnv Jects were promoted, ih. large majcr o ui wnicn were unsound However, jthis period has long since past and , the people of the state are now placing plac-ing unlimited confidence in the Irri gallon district as the best agency for ' I the reclamation of new lands. The' truth of tins statement can best b I vouched for by the further statemen' thai he pending airicts which are now ' being organized embrace an area of 2,- i son, 000 acres and are intended to siabilize and supplement the supply of! water to 1,250, 000 acres of other lands at present Inadequately supplied m hi w ater Conditions In regard io irrigation) districts in California are also true' of other western Itatec I was recent-1 lv Informed by P. A. Cupper, state en- 1 igineer of Oregon that his state has lover a million acres included within forty four districts, that since 1917 j bonds to the amount of five million dollars have been sold at a little be low par and that additional bonds to the amount or eisht million dollars have been voted by recently organized 'districts Marvin Chase, state hy-draullc hy-draullc engineer of Washington, Is likewise iirm believer In irrigation district.--. It is about the only organization, organ-ization, said he. which can be employed em-ployed in the overhauling and recon-pt recon-pt ruction f old systems. The Irrigation District Law of Utah. The legislature of Ctah with a view to providing suitable laws for the development de-velopment of the land and water re : unices of the state has enacted an irrigation ir-rigation district law. !n this work Advantage was taken of the experience gained in California during the past thirty years and of the experience gained in a dozen other western states during shorter periods. In so far as 1 an capable of fudging the measure is well adapted to Ctah conditions and later on if some provisions need modification, mod-ification, the legislature may be de pended upon to enact all necessary amendments Since it Is highly desirable de-sirable that the district law be well understood by the farmers of Webei county and of the state in general, I shall call attention to a lew of its main provisions. In the first place let us consider who will be entitled to vote for the organisation! bonding and other affairs af-fairs of the district. The law says that all persons shall be entitled to vote who are land owners of agricultural agricul-tural lands to which water lias been piloted within the district. This means 'hat if John Brown and his family own a forty acre tract within the district dis-trict and have been alloted two aud I ball acre-feet of water for each acre of land that he and his family own. he will be entitled to receive each irrigation irri-gation season 100-acre feet of water Rnd that the number of votes which he can cast at each district ele tion will also be 100. This feature of the law would be UHBUlted to certain localities lo-calities in California and some other states where much of the irritable lan.l !; hrll in lnrre hlnrlrv: Ii will he r. adih r-" n that ; lev. bic, landowners ! might control the district and everything every-thing pertaining thereto On ihe other hand, in Weber county, there are no large holdings Of irrigable land, the large majority of cultivated faints are I relatively .'-mall and I can see no valid objection to basing the voting privilege on the amount of water used on each tiact I Likewise, in making assessments I chief consideration is to be given to ihe water rather than the land A sentence in Section 18 of the hi v. reads jag lollows: t "The assessor shall assess the lands 'on the basis of ihe value per acre- foot of water alloted to the lands within with-in the district." This too, would 'seem lo be a just way of obtaining Credit and raising funds. In Montana. I Wyoming, Colorado New Mexico and the Province of Alberta. Canada, assessments as-sessments are levied at a uniform rate per acre. California started out with itho ad valorem basis including im-ptovements im-ptovements but by recent amendments improvements have been eliminated Nebraaaks and Oklahoma follow the .'mended California law. In 1912 when I was called upon to revise ihe irrigation irriga-tion code and administration system of j British Columbia, it was recommended in respect to districts that assess-linents assess-linents be levied according to a classification classi-fication depending upon benefits. In Ihe more recent district laws ol W ashington ash-ington and Ctah the same principle which was embodied in the British I Columbia district law has been Introduced Intro-duced and made more general. In .Washington assessments are made in proportion to the benetits accruing to the lands assessed and equitable I credit is given to the lands having 'partial or full water right. The fairness fair-ness of the Utah law may be better understood by considering one or two examples Lot us suppose that one farmer within the proposed district owns a tract of land In the western pan of the district not far from the ! shore of the lake. The soil is clayey and sticky, heavily impregnated with common salt and other minerals and tin present returns are but a trifle in 'the form of a pasture lor sheep. An i other man owns a tract of raw but fertile land on a bench next to the mountains. Now the appraisal ol these two parcels Of land as made by h county ftSSeasor may not differ materially ma-terially but If a district is formed and j water provided for both, the owner o( (the bench land may derive several times more benefit from the use ol an acre-foot of water than his fellow fanner who Is attempting to reclaim a i' .;rass pasture. In considering an other pair of land owners one may have a fairly good water-right appraised ap-praised at 75 per cent ot a full right ; another may have no right at all or else very inferior right, accordingly It will be manifestly unfair to oblige both to pay at the same rate. Who will administer the affairs of the district when organized is another question deserving of some attention. The district will be divided into three prt. or dh Mon as nearly equal in voting strength as conditions condi-tions will permit. At the first election, elec-tion, the board of county commission crs will selert a number of the ablest land owner-- In each diision lo be oted lor as directors. The one receiving re-ceiving ihe highest ote over the entire en-tire dltriei will be Hected tftr three years; the one receiving the second largest number of votes will be elected I for two years and the term of office I of the one who ranks third In the sell C ilon will expire the December following follow-ing the date of organization. Each landowner has i h privilege of voting not only for a director for his division but for a director for each of the other oth-er divisions. In California the number num-ber of direcorn Is either three or five. In Oregon "the county court has authority au-thority to fix the number on the directorate di-rectorate while In Washington the electors within the district decide what the number shall be. Some may bo of the opinion th?.t there should be more than three directors to a district. However How-ever when It Is understood that th affairs of the best governed aud ad ministered districts today throughout the west are in the hands of a gem ral manager, assisted bj secretary, bjtn of whom an- ;.ppni'. i i ih- boanl it presents the matter in a uifferent lleh. I'nder a management of this kind, the duties of the board are advisory ad-visory rather than executive. The execution of plans after they have been carefully formulated and tin handling of the many details which daily arise are usually muth more effective! p. lormed when left to one able man. In taking up another phase of the proposed district some Ol the owners of water rights are much nerturbed over the disability of Jeopardizing or i even losing what rights they qom possess. They affirm that the water they now use, . en though it be scanty after July first, Is about all they havi to depend on for a living. Then-land, Then-land, the say, would be well algb valueless without water All of which is true. It Is, therefore, of the gravest importance to find out the truth in regard re-gard to vested rights in the water sup-plv sup-plv of Weber miin ll r. again, it may be best to consider the case of a single landowner and water user whom we shall call John Smith. Mr. Smith, we will suppose, owns fifty acres ol land aud a certain number ot shares of water stork in a nearby ditch or canal For thirty or more years ho has at tempted to irrigate his farm by mean-of mean-of an irrigation stream which enter.; his property near the highest corner In years of heavy precipitation and high stream flow he has got along in a way but in dry years he has suffered heavy losses In crop yields Further more, he could seldom place much reliance re-liance on the delivery of his share of water. Quite frequently he and his hired man would begin to irrigate with a good head and (he prospect of covering a large area before night would seem almost certain. A few hours later the water stops flowing and both spend the balance of the daj trying to lind out who has taken thi steam. Now, let us see how John Smith would lare under a district He would BtlU be allowed to use as large a! volume of water during the spring months a.- in vcar? past but in July. August and September, when this supply sup-ply was little or nothing ho would be1 given an extra amount sufficient to J meet his needs. The water belonging to hlfl old right as well as the extra , water added would be delivered to him through Ihe beadgate of his main teed ditch. It should bo Clear to everyone that there is no confiscation of rights ! in such procedure. One cannot deprive 1 a man of the right to use the quantity ' of water to which he is legally entitled I ' Without his consent Even when a, landowner ceases to use such w ater the i i law of the slate rrrnnt him lh. Inni- 1 period of five years in which to resume its use. In other words, a right Is not abandoned until the end of five years of continuous non-use. In concluding this article. I desire to call attention to a feature of the propose. district form of organization which may i prove more or less difficult of accomplishment. accom-plishment. I refer to the tnnsfer ef ! scores of relatively small and inBepend- i ent systems under one large general aya- I j tem. There appears to be tendency o . the purl of some lo side track thla . I for the present- They end attention to the fact that a distriet rnay t- organised 'and additional water provided without 'interfering to any great exent with Oi? I operation and maintenance of existing ; systems ThlSC could readily be done If j tract with the officers of the dlstric; ! the United States government would fui ni.h the . u.i water needed under a contract con-tract with the officers of the district As I Interpret the law. It Is doubtful il . it could be done otherwise. Howewi this may h , since no aid is expected from the i nil' .1 s iti . 1 1 -(.-m n I" me thi.i , such action .should be taken nnd audi measures adopted as would ensure tl success of the district soon aftei organ-i'Aatlon organ-i'Aatlon and th. s l linn on the bonds. To be altogether frnn!:, irrigation Irl EVeber county Is 'n a precarious conli-.lon. conli-.lon. It is sorely in need of a mojor operation. Now. to my mind there lothlhg to be gained in removing useless ,. pondages one at a time If an appendix to be removed the best practice ealli or its removal nt one operation and not i part this year and another part next rear. This latter course would be on a ar with the request of the little gill wno i x-cired her father to cut oft the tll cf j ier pet lamb little bit at a time so as lot to hurt so much. The district law fives the board of directors, ample powers a deal with the situation that exists in his country. It not only has the power o build new works and lo enlarge and nodify old works, but It may purchase ohdernn, or otherwise acquire for inc ise of the district canals, ditches, rese-- oils, and reservoir sites, lands, water stock and water rights. It may also eon-struet eon-struet or purchase power plants and 1 1 or Pane all surplus power not required by the district. As u solution of this problem 1 have at this writing nothing better to recoflt-inend recoflt-inend than that the value of existing water rights be appraised by i . n . tehl and 1 1.-i III e i .- I I pan ., .s ami that :h -ovvneis of lb'-M.- iikIUx Ii- kiwii Iii. bonds in exchange tor their rights. A nil example of how this would work out .n practice, let us aguin consider tho case of John Smith. U will be recalled, that Mr. Smith owns 50 acres of land .'or Which he has a partial water supply snffi- if lit to meet his cn and .-oil remili '--mentS unlil July first, but little, if any, thereafter. L.et us assume further th it the state engineers sends experts to examine ex-amine his soil, crop and other conditions i i .i l i - 1 I I lie ' e.-li If In I'll y) H and an additional l 1-2 icre feel 5? I H '. nil .1 !! 'lV n . I to- ' IT" ! IL H n . i. i ur Ik H light and he is charged say fdO.OO ho jjH i nrc given Mr. Smith in exchange I foi hi eai 1 1 i Ight im w hi' It I" j' H i- fi n I interest payable In Juno and De mbei io I'. Ihe amout ol l JO i I 'or j H the 50-acre tract. In regard to the Sail. CO RH an acre which he owes the dli rlct;-hj Ik II Ml II - ) H i lf.il for Hi- first five years. This p-: - (jl . ml. 1 1 .i 1 ih i ! H option of tin district. This InlereaUat 6 fjl i'i i fi-n: v. ill amount to S3 l" an ti re. Rgggl (ConUnued n Page 11) p ! I Irrigation Districts Have Made California Prosperous (Continued from Page 9) 2 1 But he receives $1.80 per acre In tno way of interest on bonds nnd that ItM balnnr.-Will balnnr.-Will be only $1.2" t- i at It At the end of 0, 7, or 10 years ns the" cac may bo when his farm owing to the Increased and rellabl" water supply. Io Improved-end Improved-end brought up to Its full producing capacity, he bcsln3 to pay a small part of the principal The- payments of ii? principal msy txiendrd over ji htm. if found desirable. In a previous nrtle-l I called attention to tho fact that itatci rlchts In nr-iKhiorlnK counties have increased in-creased from 5 to 10 times during th past 25 to 30 years. I feel eonftdont that I such a right as the district can offf-r v.!' I Increase In like ratio nnd that the security glen for n $i0.C0 an aero water right now. uill r-oon double and treble in value. , In the event that Smiths right la ap- thBt mueh betu-r off In advocating that istinp water rights be transferred to the district and ail serviceable parts of canal systems Pes merged In u unified system I do not infer that this can bo done over nlnht )t may take one or more years to make the , change. It Will bo som.-thlnK like moVtng out of the old log house Into a new residence. resi-dence. Thcro will be many adjustments to make. I would urgently recommeu, nevertheless, that water rights be tran?-ferrod tran?-ferrod at an early date and that tho , management and control of existing sy- terns be place under the general control of tho central organisation. In my next artltlo. I shall be able, I believe, to convince the most sceptlcil that a plentiiul supply of water for late use can be secured at a moderate cost. I have recently discovered a resorvolr alta with ample water available wher'n flood waters can be stored to the amount 1 of 30.000 aero feet If required, at a cos, probably not exceeding $15 00 to $2u.co per acre foot. Thla enormous quantity of water combined with the facilities of storing water on other rivers would seem to indicate that the new district wh.n Under way can depend on something like i 90.000 acre feet ot stored Water or over i three times the storage capacity of the Beat canyon reservoir With this bright prospect in view. I lo not anticipate any serious opposition. In this, however. I may he mistaken. J Individuals and entire canal systems may I choose to be excluded. Such exclusions I will have no other effect than to reduce the size of tho proposed district. If It Is I found thot we cannot Includo 00,000 acres we shall seek to organize the owners of ' 8O.000 acres and If this acreage is -iot available, we shall try 70.000 acres and so on down the line. In this connection. I need only to remind the owners of irrigable irrig-able land within tbfl county that if a dl -I trict Is formed which will include 'Jm ! bill'., of th ivrik iUe and irrigated lands within the county, such a district will acquire practically all the water supply available for Weber county for all time ie ! come and that It will depend entirely I upon the option of the district whether lands, whose owners decide to bo excluded ex-cluded now shall be included In the years to come. |