| Show 4 v S S i by ELWOOD MEAD clidel ol 01 irrigation investigations U S department ol 01 D A 0 ut K fr A faataa aaa faa A wo alic office of experiment 1 or several rears lation sif the vi S department of agriculture lias been making a study all parta of of irrigation condition sin the country and during the past year has extended its studies to other countries of lh investigation these have included and alie rights irrigation liw of of aji proprietors tha methods distributing and using vatar by farmers the preparation of plant for the removal of seepage and surplus latcia by drainage and the use of different kind of power for irrigation and other kinds of farm work all these arc important questions in utah on many streams the laws affecting water titles arc a matter of vital concern and the irrigator choso whoso water right i not a source of anxious thought is a rare exception the largo areas devoted to the growing of high priced products and the growing value of water it desirable that the best methods of using it be sought out and understood hence utah is a fruitful field for this branch of tho work of tho department part ment of agriculture j both on account of tho interest taken by tors in what is being done elsewhere ciul because many of their methods and practices will promote the success of irrigation if adopt edin other states the irrigators of butali have to learn to i through operation cooperation co with the state experiment station at logan and with state engineers and doramus t several reports have lican prepared and S published by the department copies ot these can be had by applying to dr A C true director of the kofl of experiment stations at washington A much more comprehensive report i now ready for publication 11 describes the conditions under winch irrigation ii carried on and the water which controne con abo of the volleys 0 I ogan jordan american for provo spanish 1 ork savier arid virgin f rivers the gathering of this information has been done largely by the regular agents of the of experiment stations but reports have also been prepared by prof george L of the state agricultural college and state engineer A V doremus in addition the work in its earlier stages had alip assistance of ex state engineer gammell while public officials and ca bl owners generally have extended generous operation cooperation co the which follows is largely made up from the reports above referred ito if i seems to any one that there la too much criticism and too little praise let him remember le that the object of the department of agriculture in thi work is im of and therefore the things needing improvement arc the ones to receive the roost at the people of utah arc justly proud of her position as pioneer in american irrigation and many features of her present system of using water are in of the rest of west but in r terest should not be the past r present but in the future and the aim f those interested in development should not fall below the laws and practices winch will the life of the farmer under irrigation as peaceful as that of the fanner under rainfall and which will challenge the respect and admiration mi ration of whoever studies them the object in calling attention to soma features of the present situation which to require improvement ia on ania idea outside of the countries where bemi tropical fruits are produced thero is no part of the west in which land and water have a greater value than ic utah the records of this office ahoi ales of bater rights for 2 an acre and that land with water is in some instances worth an acre this ia agricultural ri land land in the vicinity of cities and towns which has a prospective value for other avs commands a much higher price alio high prices of land and water come from what is being done with them records of sales of worth of products from a singla acre devoted to market gardening around ogden arc illustrations of thu possibilities of this region the import ant mining distri ois which surround the agricultural valleys the growing im tanco of factories and th greater dc por of cities and towns render it certain that a large part of the irrigated lands of utah will in time bo devoted to intensive agriculture and to the growing of fruits and vegetables rather than to the production of hay or cereal crops the greater the value of water tho greater need of order and system in the division of streams and the more money expended in preparing land for crops tho I 1 more important it is that everything which shall insure the largest possible iced be looked after in the older settled districts of utah there are two matters of paramount importance one is provision for the final and certain establishment of titles to water and their protection in time of carcity the other is provision through the construction of reservoirs for an ample water supply for late irrigation the passage of the national irrigation act providing for the construe tion of storage reservoirs by the federal government has great interest to t utah and will undoubtedly be of great benefit to the slate As this office has nothing to do with the administration of this act but does have the laws and practices which govern the establishment of water rights and the division of streams among appropriators as one of its fields of in vesti gation the questions relating there to will bo considered LAWS AND CUSTOMS there are two features of utah irrigation getem which are especially worthy of and which coufa be extended to the whole west to advantage one i dividing appropriations of water into rather than giving each v priority number according to the law of tights to water belong in two primary and secondary primary rights to all those acquired before the bum of the appropriations equals the low water flow of the stream and secondary right Bi those which are entitled to tho over thia low water floy uner this law whenever there it not enough vater for all holders of primary rights the flow of the stream is divided anong pro rata when there i more than enough for the of primary right hut biot enough for all secondary rights the excess is divided pro rata among the holders of secondary rights chii of rights is simple i it tends to promote economy scarcity in it of great tho aly a irom the encroachments encroach ments of later comers but docs not allow any one of them to use lavishly his crops aal orchards are ayin 0 i the law of 1880 contains another modification of hc general practice of tle arid region in providing that rights mac lie measured by a fractional pait of aliu hole cupply and by providing tor limi of time in the periods when bod or intended to ba used the general tico elsewhere is to grant rights to a continuous how of a volumna it ater the trouble with this is that it docs not accord with tho practice of irrigators it sta ads in the way of rota i tion of use in times of unusual scarcity and hence docs not promote economy as j do these different laiwa of utah coming now to the other features ot the irrigation laws of utah they may be summed up in a few words I 1 ho law of 1897 still in force requires that those wishing 0 o appropriate water post and file notices stating what they claim and abo provides for the recording of statements of rights acquired prior to the passage of the act with a proviso that a to file the latter imitate madts should not forfeit any rights the purpose of this law here as in other wag to provide a permanent record of all rights to water in each county owing to the recording of such being made optional the law has proven of little practical use aside from it incompleteness the law ia of little value because is no restriction upon the claims which may be filed and no examination or record to show whether tha works described in the notices have been built today the individual or company wishing to obtain a water right can nowhere lind any certain or complete record of the existing rights there is no ona to whom they can apply to find out ft hether there is any water to bo had or any one who has authority to protect the m in its use it they construct works for this purpose the only method is to bund the works and take the water until some one w is injured or thinks lie is interrupts by an appeal to the court or until a still later appropriator takes away their water supply and compels them to begin litigation for protection against the later comer the law of 1901 providing for the appointment of water commissioners to divide the waters of streams among those entitled to their uw according to the prior rights of each was a step in the light direction but these commissio arc at present handicapped in performing their duties by the trouble they experience in finding out who are t lic prior and what are their respective spec tive the object aimed at in this law the peaceful and division of streams in times of scarcity should be made certain of accomplishment this has been done in wyoming through alie creation of a board of control which determines all the rights to water from any one stream from ita head to its month and establishes a complete record of these which is at all times open to inspection and serves as a definite guide for the water commissioner in supplying the canals of his district the adoption of eliae acm in utah which will accomplish this result should have the interest and support of all friends of irrigation another change required in to ma kethe state engineer tho head of the irrigation system some progress wn mado in thi direction in 1901 ant abo ale engineer detill geould be cd with larr pail 0 gilary att the performed the of the engineer to water should I 1 more clearly than it iii in the present liw burine th pait two years the state engineer hi biad to gnudi control for chich there wa doubtful authority but alie winch lie has conferred on irrigator in doin snows alio need of a clearer definition ot his authority another change which should be mado i to have water district follow drainage rather than county line commissioners at no arity outside of the counties in which they ore appointed moat utah are in more than one county there should be provision for iho appointment of commissioners whose authority extends over the entire stream the law of provided for the appointment of such commissioners by the boards of the several counties interested acting together this law could bo re WH e enacted or a belter ta in lo 10 to follow takk alf lorado and wyoming where alio water districts me wholly bf county kiihl ti arc a pointed bv goucior filin tin if ot the district dually at the of those iii in irrigation irrig atton the righta to ant cr from a stream bic interdependent the owner of 11 annal at tho lower end of a sti caim liaa an in the operation of every annil above him no matter whether that canal is in his county or soine other county and the division of w atar should be managed in such a way eliat one have control over the whole stream with exception of bear grand and green rivers the late water of all utah streams 1 isnow in use by ml gators aca has been for a number of years in fact on many streams is not a year in which some fields arc not injured by drouth so far as tle lato water supply if concerned not only is the entire how of streams fated but it ig also used further therefore largely dependent ait oit storage the of underground water the drainage ot lands leave been flooded by lion fron above alio putting 0 hii drainage to use anil by more economical and kill ful application of wati r iy ay farmers ot all of these agencies the greatest extension will come from storage ahn has already assumed great economic importance on a number ot rivwa alic largest and mot valuable reservoir i utah lake which regulates the flow of the jordie river improvements now being made at its outlet will aid the val lcy below by providing for more perfect control in the future it will also anabe more water to be drawn off in times of scarcity add largely to the available water supply of the ditches around salt lake city the completion of these improvements will permit all the surplus water of the streams flowing into this lake to be stored at least all that empties into the lake in years of average snowfall and if the extension of the irrigated territory along these tributaries tributa ries continues there will not be enough atar come down to fill the lake the outlook M therefore eliat the 1 already built in th valley of his jordan cover all the land they can be made to serve on alio savior iu the and on alic weber ogdan bear and logan in the north storage giai great it is probably within hie truth to say that no irrigation in utah has pia better than the canyon cibek reservoir on wc la true loth in to the on tha investment and ala increased yield sn arop which has resulted afo anany other bite whose improvement mill bring equally satisfactory returns siueli water is loftt froin of these streams part of tho ye arall 0 which i needed liter on measurements of the water wed in cache valley by alm office showed that about 40 per cent of logan rivera how needs to be stored if all if lo 10 lie used thia scored water worth more than the natural flow because the profits of crop requiring iti use arc greater than those which leave n bhart browing acason it seems probable that future development will be along the line of stomps in providing water and intensive cultivation of the land in its asp the oil and climate of all taca katr leys i 11 ell suited to market gardening and rowin and havo bc como important two beet sugar factories are already in successful operation in utah and ogden has become a preat center for the cannin of fruits and the water supply of unregulated streams la not a rate reliance in hie browing of hig i priced products the hoods of may and june will not for the shortage which cornea in august the few reservoirs aich have been built have proven exceedingly profitable to their owners and of greater value to the public the ait canyon creek which cost S paid its owners in 1901 in addition it n load of anxiety and dread from a who know that alie crops planted will bo brought to maturity something they could never be sure of when they relied entirely on the streams it ia performing an important service in another direction by completely changing the appearance of fariew homes before the reservoir was built little could be done towards beautifying their surroundings because there was always a drouth in summer the little water which could be had had to be applied to alip growing crops and there was always danger of shade and ornamental trees being killed but since a late water supply has become a certainty they are bec conspicuous feature of the landscape adding much to the beauty and comfort of farmers in addition to thi it is estimated that this reservoir has not only permitted the growing of higher priced products but has added CO per cent to the productive capacity of the land the report of engineer for 1901 includes the follow ing statement in this regard increase n productive capacity of land due to the use of stored water per cent alfalfa 50 tomatoes 0 sugar beala M small fruits and other vegetables CO the general construction of reservoirs continued on page thirty i is A REVIEW OF irrigation continued from picc is splayed bv alic of diac public control over str rinia inny of arki must be built up in alic mountains nd ahe walar must oe carried down in the natural stream to the place of use to do this it will have to pasi the of ditches having no interest in the storage water but who will be disposed to take it unless the arc regulated by some public and disinterested water ot east canyon creek reservoir before referred to has to be turned into east can yon creek and carried down this stream into the weber and hen the stored water separated from the natural flow of this river unless the head gates of these 11 ditches can be closed while the reservoir is |
