Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-09-17

I
the pavjgable streams. We must make reser-
voiTs IN the mountains; we must have
q wise system OF laws for the protection of
those who desire to use this fructifying ele
mcnt as il now flows through its channels;
we must have laws framed in the interest of the
great future spreading out before us laws made
10 meet the needs aud demands OF our people,
and not upon tanciiul theories or based upon
| reasons wholly inappl!cahle 70 our wants. The
question IS lot new, yet, strange to say, it is
only since 4 recent decision OF our Supreme
Court that the people have begun to thinl. in
earnest, and seriously. upon it. la many por-
tiOns Of the state irrigation is indispensable in
all the valleys it Is desirable Some lust prin-
cip,e must be found upOn which the interest of
the few must yield to that OF The many. The
question will affect the growth of population
until settled; &c menaces many ana imporJan5
interests st this moment. This society cannot
be indifferent to the result. For years your or
ators dweit upon the Injury being inflicted by
hydraulic mining, and for Years the warning
was unheeded and yOur farms were being de-
stroyed aud your nuVigable waters impaired
when suddenly, without fresh cause. the people
arose, and III struggle unparalleled in legal
history The law became fixed ana certain, and it
| is now conceded what WAS always the law, that
q person must so use his own us not to iniure
another.
So, with your water interests and Your
water rights, you have gone on with the law un-
changed, when Suddenly our highest Court.
which we are bound 10 assume interpreted ana
applied the law as they found it, rendered Il de
cis II thst shook the foundations of the state ana
Threatened the prosperity y; the whole people.
How to provide for this new phase in our ma
! terial interests | confess I do rot know I
would not with my present knowledge Under
| take 10 formulate a remedy. think Il would
| have been premature for our Legislature. called
suddenly together. without previous study OF
| this great question and lis bearings upon indi-
| vidual and public interest, without the benefit
OF calm and rejecting inquiry TO have under
| taken the solution The atmosphere was filed
with the heat Of personal coutending forces, re
Gently arrayed in the Courts there Wuu d al
vavs have been doubt attaching to the siueer-
ity Of any legislation a. this moment ds we'll IS
to its wisccm, aud our Legi,l .tu!e wisely, l
| think, rejegated the question to its successor.
| II is rot question with which the Courts alone
may deal. The diverse and complicated igtCr-
ests can only be protscted by legislation. and
possibly by amendment GfGuc ilud1mcatai law.
| let us have general snd universal discussion in
advance Of legislation and proposed amend.
me1ts of our Cunsti iution. We may thus hope
for sound and Stable laws, and l fear not other
wise.
Is showing tie value OF water to land ] quote
from letter recently received from /. u. Holt,
| OF Riverside:
" The water rights of southern California were
very satisfactory prior 10 the recent supreme
| Court decision. There WIS no monopoly here.
As Il Tale the man who had irrigdbe land
owned the rights to use the wa cr TO irris9te the
same and to pay no tribute 10 water company
monopolics. The stock Of The water companies
was held by the owners Of the land to be irriga-
ted in proportion to the acreage OF each. Hence
the user OF wafer got his water at cost OF deliy-
'.Therc is a rush of people Tor tic fruit lands
and climate of our section. l.iIs rush Is on the
increase. and values have advanced rapidly
! during the past year All our industries are on
a healthy basis. Tie development of this see
tion has been healthy aud vigorous New water
sources are being developed and utilized. and
new lands are being brought under cultivation.
Irrigahle land-tirst class for fruits bringing
from 500 TO 100 per acre in its wild state, with
coed water right. Ia some cases these prices
are even doytbled. Improved lands sell frnm
IN
ments. and the Improvements are confined 10
the trees and vines, and do not include eXpen-
sve buildings Riverside has 5000 acres now
under water, and the company, by an eXpendi-
ture of S2D 600 i'll saving water, are getting
ready to irrigate 6,0G9 acres more while the
Gage canal. at an expense OF from S11,G0O to
$4,000, will irrigGle 5000 or pcrhops 6OJJ acres
additional"
PRESENT Observation-Disclosures
As bearing upon this question oil increasing
our population desire to call attention TO some
published views of This same gentleman, whose
article in full l append to my remarks. He takes
our census of 1880 of the whole population, and
also the school census for the same year, from
which he finds population of to each school
child in the ate. We have had no general
census since that time but we have had a school
census as late as 1886, and by applying this aver
age of Is persons to each school child, he makes
Il present population Of ,ll7,9S2 in the State.
| He next applies this rule TO the various coull-
ties. and gives the population in each county in
| 1880 and 1856, with the gain and loss in each,
with the percentage of loss and gain. in thirty
five counties there has been a gain in the past
six years and in seventeen counties there has
been a loss. San Bernardino county has gained
IDS per cent Los Angeles, 1l6 per cent; san
Diego. 1o2 Fresno, 50: Santa Barbara. 80; Tu-
lare 66 San Luis Obispo G3 Ventura, GO max
ing an average of SI per cent in these eight
counties; while San Joaquin ana COlusa have
gained but per cent; Sacramento county but
5 per cent; Tehama p per cent: Shasta - per
cent; Iolo, 19 Suffer, II, and Butte and uba
and Kern have lost rather than gained. Some
of the mountain counties devoted 10 agriculture
have gained neutrality-suspicious.. ~ per cent,
and Lassen, % per cent; but its neighDOr. Plu-
mas, with some other mining counties, have
gone behind and made a less. southern Cali
fornia has chiefly been the gamer by our imni-
grafton. While the great wheat-growiug counties
of the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys have
made little progress
In the south there is irrigated agriculture
which largely accounts for the difference. The
leading industries of the south have gradually
advanced, while the leading industries of the
wheat counties have declined There are condi-
tons not mentioned which help TO account for
this disparity of gain, hut the iact stares m
pleasantly in the face that northern and middle
California need some kind of medicine. With
II soil aud climate that will produce most of the
decduouS fruits without irrig CATION, and with it,
anything that can be grown at Riverside or Los
Angeles. there must be some radical and serious
cause for o IT slow progress. 1t should be the
present and persistent business OF this region to
find out this cause and remedy II.
FRUIT AND WINE is. WHEAT.
Growing naturally out of the question just
discussed is the inquiry: Shall we continue
wheat culture without profit. or resor. to some
thing Offering higher rewards?
According to the report OF the Department of
Agriculture, our wheat crop in this state in lSS5
yielded us So per acre. OF the acreage scwn.
Tae average crop of the United States was less
than ten bushels TO the acre. l do not think that
our wheat crop Con be shown 10 ptodu' ., one
year with another, to exceed an average of IS
per acre. NUndcr the most favorable cifcGm-
- I II nTDIIspp
Si per acre. and in many classes OF land e7 50.
Here is practically no margin OF profit II is the
average crop thar tells upon prosperity. The
individual instance of profitable whcat-growing
is as much q snare and delusi0n as the instances
of phenomenal profits from grapes or apricotS or
pears. Neither the one nor the other Is q safe
lac,or. viii not undertake TO make a cOmpari-
son between the average profits of wheat and
fruits for the whole State. We have no very re-
Liable data as to acreage Of fruits or their yield
But may use the knowledge we all have, and
our own personal observation in support OF the
argument Find me disinctiyely wheat-grow-
ing county in the State whose wheat industry is
prosperous. Is 1t Ienama, Colusa, Butte San
Joaquin, or any other? Find me distinctigely
fruit district in the State that is not prosperous
Is it Nacaville, Riverside, Fresno Napa valley
san Jose, or any other? Are not wheat lands
for wheat-growing declining in valuef Are not
fruit lands for fruit growing advancing Ill value
and rapidly? Are not wheat lands gradually
becoming impoverished and yielding less every
year. ON the contrary. DO not fruit lands be-
come more productive as trees and vines attain
age?
SOME COMPARISONS.
invite you 10 the irrigated lands Of River
side, where VIC find one type of the fruit indus
try. Consider what is being there done with
600 acres of land the numerous families they
are supporting-to degree of luxury witness
the ciyfliZing influences everywhere apparent
behold yeritable pillar OF the State. Now.
carve out 1000 of the best acres of the great
wheat ranch of the late DR.. Glenn, in Colusa
county, being grown to wheat by the Probate
Court Not q solitary family living there troops
of nomads come and plow and sow, and move
on with their blankets the wild geese reyel in
their stead for some moths then return the
nomads with their blankets to head aud thrash
the Improbable crop, only to pass on again in
their dreary tramp for work, leaving these rich
golden acres TO be fallow one year in the sun,
uniuhabited and solitary. while the land gathers
strength enough for another aboriive effort
Now let us consider Riverside with her Is, 600
acres of irrigated land, as she will soon have
enlarge the picture, and what do we see a
community with a population greater than ali
Colusa county, presenting all the varied indus
tries of happy and prosperous people Turn
again to tn 5 noble Glenn ranch land | select il
because il is noble ranch in all that nature
can bestow) carve out 15CG0 acres of its choicest
wheat land and you have the same result az be-
fore, only exaggerated and more uninviting
Let US next select for comparison an unlrri-
gated district, and will take Naca valley.
Here we find present fruit area not differing
much from Riverside in extent but capable Of
greater expansion. Already this community
koe do ifsaIf Ern- cd as