Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-06-05
ABOUT IRRIGATION.
Is THIS a0MENTaUS QUESTION
4 LOCAL ISSUE!
An Argument in Favor of General
Appropriation of Water for
Irrigation Purposes.

irrigation PURPOSES.
EDS. RECORD USIoN; From the fact that
up to the present time practical irrigation
has been very largely confined to the south
ern counties and the San Joaquin valley, an
opinion has become quite general that other
portions of the State are not interested in
the question of the ownership of the flow
ing waters of the State and that the peo-
pie in those other sections may very prop
erly remain indifferent as to the final de-
termination of the issue being discussed in
cur Courts and in the irrigated districts,
whether the waters in the flowing streams
are the private property of the few persons
who live along the banks of these streams,
or whether these waters are the common
property Of the people of the State.
Some of cur Superior Judges before
whom this question has been discussed
hold to one opinion, and some hold to the
other The members of the bar of the
State seem to be about equally divided,
and four eff the Supreme Court Judges hold
to the opinion that these waters are private
property, while three hold that they be-
long to the whole people.
STATE QUESTION.
Under such circumstances, in a repub-
lican form of government, where the people
have the right 10 make, to construe and to
execute the law, the question naturally
and rightfully reverts back to the people.
Not especially to the people of those por-
tons OF the State in which the questions
have arisen, but to the people of the whole
State in their representative and legislative
capacity The very nature OF our institu-
ton and the mode of arriving at final de-
cisions in matters of such grave and vital
import to the country invest this question
with general State character.
But aside from this consideration, the
question at present in issue appeals to the
people of the northern portion OF the State
with almost as much force as it does to
those of the southern portion. 1t appeals
to them with living, burning self-interest.
Their immediate as we'll as their more dis
tant future prosperity depends upon the
prompt and emphatic decision of this ques-
ton. The idea that the northern portion
of California is not interested in the appro-
priation of water from the streams for pur-
poses of irrigation, is false and dangerous
idea. Those who in the face of facts and
experience are persistently urging this
thought, and striving to clog the road to the
appropriation of water for such purposes,
are false and dangerous advisors of the
people.
LET Us EXAMINE THE FACTS.
The average rainfall in the Sacramento
valley is but lie inches per annum. In
Lombardy and Piedmont, Italy, where
are to be found the most expensive and
the most perfect irrigation system in the
world, and where irrigation more than
doubles the agricultural products of the
more than double the fall in the Sacra-
mento valley.
In Grenada, Spain, where irrigation has
been maintained and practiced since the
occupation of the Moors, and where it has
been attended with most profitable results.
the rainfall is 33.4 inches annually.
In Madras, India, where the British Gov
eminent finds it necessary to maintain
Government works for irrigation, the an
nual average rainfall is 495 inches, more
than three times the average in the Sacra-
mento valley. In San Bernardino valley
and Los Angeles, where water for irrigation
is selling at 81 1000 per inch, the average
rainfall is ID Il inches-but three inches less
than in the Sacramento valley.
Shall we blindly insist, then, that irriga-
ton is not necessary in the Sacramento
valley, and that the people in that section
of the State are not interested in the settle
ment OF the question. of the ownership OF
the streams in their favor? Let the rule OF
the English riparian law become the set
tied law of the State, and what becomes OF
the capital invested in the many mining
bitches in the Sierra Nevada mountains?
In the absence of active operations in the
hydraulic mines, and in the face of a rule
of law that forbids the use of the waters of
these bitches for agriculture and horticult-
ure, this capital and these canals become a
dead loss to their owners, and the present
BRIGHT PROSPECTS OF THE FOOTHILLS
Becoming the profitable and attractive
homes of the vine, the orange and the
lemon, and of the long line of the decidu-
Gus fruits, will be practically destroyed.
Let the rule of the majority of the Judges
of the Supreme Court become the law of
the land, and the great plains of the Sac
ramento valley must be forever consigned
to the Improbable cultivation in grain,
while the more profitable cultivation of
alfalfa, fruit and a diversified agriculture
will have 70 be abandoned. Not only this,
but the present efforts of the more enter
prising citizens to break up the large hold
ings of land, and to introduce the colony
system, must prove failure for IN no sec
ton of central or northern California can
the southern plan of colonies-where
twenty to forty acres are made to support
family in affiuence-be successful with
out the use of water for irrigation.
1t is this water for irrigation that has
rendered the colony system of settlement
and cultivation possible in the south, and
without irrigation it cannot be made to
succeed in the central or northern portions
of the State. 1t is this use of water for
irrigation that has enabled the southern
counties to SO far outstrip the central and
| northern counties in increase of popuia-
ton and general prosperity during the past
few years.
IRRIGATION IN THE VALLEY
Notwithstanding many of the papers in
the northern portion CT the State have
been constantly asserting that in that Sec
ton irrigation is unnecessary, practical
md raiSir1 ond frt,it