Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1891-07-02

all the public lands entered for homestead
purposes, (and no other entries will be
permitted), shall be liable for assessment
and payment of water rates, interest on
construction bonds, etc., IN the same
manner as privately owned lands are as
sessed and required to pay.
Sd. The patents issued for homesteads
within such irrigation districts shall con-
tain lien for the amount of irrigation
construction cost per acre, under the irri-
CATION district.
4th. When all works provided for and
surveyed by the general government shall
have been completed by the people of the
municipal district the general land office
shall upon report Of the national and state
engineers, issue patents for the public
lands occupied as reservoir sites, distribu-
tory canals and other means of utilizing
the water for irrigation purposes. These
lands are to be held in trust by the dis
trlct for the purposes for which the gov
ernment presents them.
5th. Under Mr.. Stewards bill the de-
partment of agriculture would be required
to continue an irrigation inquiry, aud at
the same time that surveys were being
made in the irrigation districts, make an
examination of the soils, plant life and
climate, for the purpose of ascertaining
the products for which the arabic soil OF
the district is best adapted Upon the
report of the department of agriculture,
the general land office will divide the land
Of the district into homesteads of differ
ent sizes, the smallest, forty acres, being
Above d wherever the district is best quail
fed for the cultivation of semi-tropical
fruits and plant life. Sixty, eighty and
other subdivisions will be granted as the
land is in fertility adapted 10 the raising
OF temperate fruits, vegetables, root-crops,
grain, winter wheat and grasses The
largest homestead would be 16O acres.
This is the system proposed by Mr.. Stew
art and the committee on irrigation for
the purpose OF aiding and promoting re-
clamation by irrigation in the arid west.
We have reason to expect that Mr.. Stew
art, if pressed, would add to these provi-
sions two other important propositions,
one granting bounty of land, more or
less large, to the irrigation district
for the purpose of aiding it's credit
upon satisfactory proof that irriga-
ton was to be positively established
and that the land SO granted will be dis
posed of as are the other public lands.
Also provision requiring the setting
aside of all moneys received for public
lands west of the 10th meridian, that is
all moneys above the cost OF surveys to
make suitable annual fund, which
would defray the cost of all surveys, and
aid the increase and useful enlargement
of all proposed irrigation inquiry. 1t
might also be of use in making reason
able experimental observations, such as
testing in localities the possibilities of
high altitude storage, and in others the
possibilities OF tindlng water IN quantities
sufficient for agriculture beneath the sur
face of the earth. 1t would give oppor-
tunities for the testing and gauging of
rivers and the amount of silt carried, the
filling up of reservoirs, the nature of trees
and plant life best adapted for arid re-
gions, the modes and methods that may
be used i'll securing the economy of water, |
and indeed, in many other ways, aiding
the settler and irrigator to a solution
of the unsolved problems that surround
them.
1t is quite evident as matters now
stand that congress will not give the pub
lie lands for irrigation purposes to the
arid states and territories. They there
fore must get what they can. Does not
Mr.. Stewards bill and the suggestions
added thereto offer a system which will
commend itself to the majority in con-
gress, while at the same time it will fall
in practically with the mind and spirit of
the American people? Certainly there
will be no corruptions of legislative bodies
under such system, corruptlons which |
might ensue with the Is 100000 to 25,-
900, 900 acres Of land that would be at the
of any one state or territory under
the other plan proposed. The assistance
of the general government will go with
the progress of irrigation. 1t will
not be measure OF promotion but
the means of development. 1t will
assist the people by directing them where
to settle and warning them where it
might not be wise. 1t will follow the
laws of pioneer movement. 1t will in
struct the country as to the advantages of
irrigation. 1t will thereby increase the
possibilities of securing some favorable
action in the near future. AS matter of
fact the users of water are the benefciar-
les thereof. They must pay the "con-
stable" for such benefit The general
government must deal with the public
lands as any business house would deal
with property it holds? 1t must aid it's
development, transfer, occupation and |
disposal. When it has done this it has
done it's duty. 1t may be suggested also
that the general government can wisely,
without interfering with the rights of the
states over the natural waters thereof
largely aid the conservation of this water
by providing for the reservation of the |
public lands IN which the great rivers of |
the arid west have their origin. The res
ervation of the Yellowstone national park
is matter of great importance in future
irrigation legislation, because it may act
ually control the disposition of the largest
is, the Yellowstone0of
the Missouri. The reservations made in
California recently will control the sources
Of the King and Keweah rivers--import.
ant streams in the San Joaquin valley.
Lake Tahoe, navigable body of water, is
under the control of the General govern
ment. There are dozen or more i'm
portant interstate streams and lakes that
might be thus regulated without interfer-
ing with or infringing upon the sover-
eighty, so called, of any state. Congress
can probably be induced to take this
larger step. The outline here given seems
to embrace course of legislative action
at once broad, far-seeing, and wise, and
one which will not be charged with help
ing the interests of the land dealers and
real estate spectators, rather than that
of the users OF water.