Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-02-24
IRRIGATION LEGISLATION.
A Brief Review of Some of the Bills Be-
fore the Legislature.

and the value of my property depends upon
| irrigation, and what | am about to say
| should not be construed as unfriendly to
| the passage of good laws for the promotion
of irrigation. But it does not follow that
the bills pressed with so much urgency and
ardor at the present time in both houses OF
| the Legislature, and known on the outside
as the Fresno bills, are the only ones
worthy of consideration, or that they are so
perfect in all their details as to be incapable
of amendment.
From the manner in which the majority
favo,ing these particular bills treat all
others relating to the distribution of water
| in districts already formed under existing
laws, refusing to give them hearing for
fear they might possibly interfere in some
respect with the pet measures which are
being pressed forward at railroad speed, it
would seem that these bills must be the
embodiment of perfection, applicable alike
to all sections of the State, and to all irriga-
tors in the State and for all time.
Assembly Bill No. III starts out on the
assumption that there are at present no
wafer districts in the State to be respected,
| and it gives any number of landowners
| (any two, provided they are Interested in
| the ,UaterS Of any stream or streams, reservoir
or reSerroirS-that is. are owners thereof
the right to initiate the district organization
| by petition to the Board of Supervisors.
| Well. the Hebron Brothers, Clark & Cox.
| Haggin & Carr and Miller Il Lux, and men
| like these, who own land and claim that
| they likewise own the streams, may come
within the scope of this law Men who
I Il
men who claim an interest in the stream
but do not own land, have no right of pc
| tition.
| Thus, any two men such as those named,
can make the petition; and when they
| choose to make 1t no power can prevent
the organization of the district. for Section
3 gives no discretion to the Supervisors.
1t says they shall ask the advice OF the
State Engineer" and said officer . shall
! Immediately suggest boundaries for the pro-
posed district, and the Board shall make
an order to establish the district " and de-
scribe its boundaries.
! Section 3. The Board shall issue proc
lamation for the election of three Water
! Commissioners. Section 4. Who shall
| hold Office etc, etc. Nothing is left for
| discretion in any of the proceedings under
this bill it is shall, shall shall all through.
| Now, who pays for all those " shalls ?"
| Is it the men who own the waters, the
bitches or the lands in the district to be
organized or benefited? No Section
says the expenses of organization shall be
borne by the county or counties.
Only for the organization of subdivision
districts under Sections s, 9, 10 and IL. to
be known as irrigation districts, does this
bill (Section ~ provide that the expense of
organization shall be borne by the district
By Section 5 the water district is made q
body corporate, and by Section - the sub
division or Irrigation district (the wheel
within the wheel-whdt perfection of sim
plicity y is also made body corporate.
To the subdivision district is given (part
u of sec 49, the right of eminent domain,
" Progided, that in coademning the right TO
any property in irdter appropriated for some
beneficial purpose . = : = a manifest q redter
public use shall be Aow,." What does all
this mean? IF water is already appro-
prialed for irrigation IN one plGce, can it be
shown that to appropriate it for the same
purpose but III different place is a greater
pibiir UScl Gentlemen of the mountains
You who have appropriated water for min
ing. and not for irrigation may have some
interest i'll studying this matter.
If, however, water has been legally ap-
propriated for irrigation by person, COM
to condemn it cannot show that the acqui-
sition of such water would subserve
greater public use, when it is now used to
its utmost capacity for the same use.
The trainers of the bill evidently thought
of this, for by Part Is of Section Is the
Trustees are given the power to contract
with present canal owners for the use of
water for the district not only this
and to furnish surplus water to owner,
outside of the district" Owners of what?
A similar provision is made for non-inter-
ference with the present canal owners and
water claimants in the last proyiSo of Part
8 of Section -, with an additional clause
for the benefit of the water claimants, guar
anteeing that such owners shall have all
they claim
Nowhere in this bill is any authority
vested for determining the rates at which
water shall be sold, or whether the rates
shall be the same at all seasons of the
year. 1t makes no provision for different
grades of land, though it is well known
that some land requires three times as
much water as other land with different
subSoilS. 1t proposes to give q man water
in proportion 70 his acreage and taxing
him accordingly. Well, if one mans land
requires twice or three times as much
water as an9ther's, and the quantity be
HAcQ III inc ilii'iHi'iul required, thch inc
land with the porous subsoii will prove
failure for want of water; but Ii the quaii-
tty is fixed at tie maximum. then the
owner of the other land has to pay two or
three times what he should according to
the water he uses, without any correspond
ing benefit.
BY the present law an effort was made TO
allow man who Is entitled 10 quantity
of water, beyond what is required for his
pro rata average, TO use it ON other irriga
bic land owned by him adjoining, but the
intent OF the law vas evadcd, as it was
found thai only the first section of the Act
is covered by the title Hence the law
cannot be enforced on that account. Yet
the present Assembly refused TO entertain
4 bill to amend this defect, claiming that it
might interfere with this pct bill No. III,
which IS 50 complete rs not to require any
amendment, though silent on this and
other practical points.
The machinery OF this bill Is very elab-
crate and expressive i'll its provisions, and
predict that not more than two districts
in the State vii be found within or rich
enough to orsanize under it. Yet others,
because Of the expeditions process ar
ranged by shall, shall, shall, provided
in Sections | and Of this bill, may be com