Hand County press. (Miller, Dakota [S.D.]) 1882-1893, 1891-03-05
IRRIGATION.
Progress Of the Artesian Wells and Ir-
rigati0n In the State and
County.
Brief Outline of the Melville Law for
Bonding Townships for
Irrigation.
A Good Set Of Township Onicers Elect.
ed-General City and
County News.
ARTESIAN WELLS.
Water, and how to get IL, the All-Ab-
s0rbing Question.


irrigation by artesian wells is the most
important question To- day before the peo.
Pile OF South Dakota. as it more directly
affects ali classes of business and the very
foundation Of agriculture upon which the
state must exist at present almost exclus-
lively, and always to large extent, even
after the general introduction OF stock and
mixed farming. The interest in this
question has gradually grown until upon
disposal Of the momentary issues OF the
day, the country naturally returats to the
matter nearest to mutual interests. Rapid
strides have been made in some portions
of the state towards irrigation by means
of artesian wells, and the work Is being
pushed this winter In earnest Hand
county though not as forward in the
movement as we should like to see, has
nevertheless, nnen getting good ready
on for future work.
Under the old township law there are
some four or five townships which have
taken action. the latest being Howell, lis.
63. Well Commissioner Hughes informs
the reporter he has received letters from
eight or ten contractors recently, in re-
gard to the general interest and proposed
work Of Hand county in this dirc cction'
That some tf them will be at work here
in few weeks is now almost certain.
The future work in this line will be
somewhat changed, and come under what
is known as the Melville township law,
just recently passed by the legislature.
The first step necessary under this law Is
u petition of 80 free holders made to the
state Engine er Of Irrigation, under whose
charge all the preliminary work is placed,
and by whom all final questions are ad-
Indicated. The limit of township is
nine SIX inch or 16 four aud one half inch
wells, to be located by the state engineer.
After petition of 30 free holders, the
Engineer locates wells, and files reports
with Register of Deeds, who in turn noti-
fies township supervisors TO call an cleo
tion for the purpose of voting upon the
question Of issuing township bonds for
sinking wells. Ratification by voters is
followed by advertising for bids. The
person upon whose land any well is To-
Gated must deed one acre surrounding
well TO township, and permit approaches
thereto from public highway. Water
from wells is to be Let by township off,
GERS fof the purpose of irrigation Mt pro
rata amount of per cent of the bonds is
sued for wells and piping TO lands.
Townships will have a lien to lands so ir-
rigated for water rents unpaid.
Wells may also be sunk for filing lake
beds, or water used for almost any pur-
pose except pare waste, preference always
being given to household and stock use.
Public watering tanks must be erected by
townships and kept filed for use Of stock
along public highways.
Complete records of all wells must be
kept, and systematic rules Of location, con-
struction and leasing of water for irriga-
ton and manufacture followed.
The first and important point under
this law is the procurement Of 80 petition
ers which may be difficult some times
in sparsely settled townships. The
principle Of bonding for this general good
is all right, and all land owners should De
willing to pay for benefits which will
greatly increase the value Of lands. But
the question is, in some few townships at
least, will the foreign, or non resident
land owners be willing to sign petitions
They ought to and il is to be hoped they
will. An emergency clause is added to
the bill, and townships can commence
operations under 1t Immediately. Let the
good work proceed, gentleman, as lively
as possible. The question Of increased
taxes will be but drop in the bucket IL
wells are successful. As matter of fact
the question OF increased taxes is scarcely
worth consideration in comparison with
the actual necessity Of procuring water.
The farms of South Dakota must have
water, or the farmers OF South DAKOTA
must abandon the idea OF raising crops
here.