The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1895-10-03

such circumstances the directors were
entirely under the influence of the Bear
Valley Irrigation company.
On February 3, 1891, d meeting of the
directors was held, aid the following
resolution was adopted as a proposition
to be submitted to the voters Of the dis
trict:
"Resolved, That for the purpose of
constructing necessary irrigating canals
and works and acquiring necessary prop
erty and rights therefor, and otherwise
carrying out in the Alessandro irrigation
district the provisions of an act. etc.
i. the board of directors do estimate
and determine the amount of money
sum of seven hundred and sixty-five
thousand dollars"
desire to call careful attention to the
above proposition, because it is in exact
harmony with what the law contemplates
and that is, that the district should
own e. its own bitches, reservoirs ais!ri t%o
ton system, water, ETC., and 1T is the
proposition on which the bonds were
voted, and they could be issued and sold
and the ponds used for no other purpose.
Accordingly, April IA, 1891, the board OF
directors met and passed resolution to
issue the bonds of the district to the
amount Of $765, 900. pursuant to vote OF
the qualified electors Of said district, at
q special election held on the 18th of
March, 1891. But now appears the fine
Italian hand of tho Bear Valley Ifriga.
ton COMPANY. 1t wanted the bonds OF
and it wanted them badly. The law
specifically requires that before making
any sale of bonds, ''the board shall at q
meeting, by resolution, declare its inten-
tion to sell a specified amount OF the
bonds, and the day and hour and place
to be entered in the minutes, and notice
OF the sale to BIZ given by publication
thereof at least twenty days in a daily
newspaper published in each of the three
cities of San Francisco. Sacramento and
Los Angeles, and in any other news
papers at their discretion - But no such
resolution was ever passed, and no ad-
vertisements of bonds for sale were ever
mace. There was no time for that
At the meeting of the directors he Id
April q. 1891, the scheme of the Bear
Valley. Irrigation company to get possess
ing completion. The bonds were being
printed and as soon as finished must be
gotten in possession of the company, so
some competent attorney was, doubtless,
called In to inspect the bonds OF the dis
trict, to see what had been done by the
board OF directors up to that period, and
to the great dismay of all parties con-
cerned it was discovered that everything
had been done in accordance with the
law, and therefore must all be undone.
as that did MT suit the purposes of the
Bear Valley Irrigation company.
The directors. in their innocence and
ignorance of business, had not been aware
OF the fact that bonus could not be voted
and issued for one purpose and then used
for an entirely different purpose.
But the attorneys for the Bear Valley
Irrigation company evidently knew that
as possible, had the books changed.
The bonds had been voted on a legitimate
proposition, for a legitimate purpose,
sucn as the law contem plated. That
could not be changed. But the resolution
which had been adopted, to issue the
they were voted-that could be changed,
and accordingly. at the meeting OF April
32lst and at the next meeting. resolu-
tions we're passed, each one worded
stronger than the one preceding it, re-
scindlng in the most absolute and unoon-
ditional manner what had been done to
carry out the spirit and intent of the law,
and the purpose for whi,h the bonds had
been voted.
1t was ascertained that the bonds would
be out of the hands of the printers, and
ready for issue on May 9th. Accordingly
that day. The Bear Valley Irrigation
company, by its ageht, was on hand
with its grip ready to receive the bonds
as soon as signed
The first business transacted at tn is
meeting was to issue the following
order:
Ordered, That the board of directors
of the AlessAndro irrigation district do
purchase from the Bear Valley Irrigation
company $1,000 class B water right GER
tificates."
Now the deed is DONE The entire issue
of $765, 00) of ponds of the district was
turned over IN payment for these certfi-
Gates, at once, as fast as issued by the
board purely paper transaction!
Not 81 worth OF property, such as the law
contem plates. was received as considera-
tion for the bonds. Tho certificates pur-
chased were and are construed by the Bear
Valley Irrigation com paDy as only con-
structiye water rights, or rights to buy
water. The whole transaction from be-
ginning to end was wicked and corrupt,
unjus ,itiatie eIthes in law or in equity
and carried through with the most in
decent haste.
Thus it will be seen that everything
was turned over by the directors of the
district, in advance, to the Bear Valley
Irrigation company. 1t is with humility
and shame that we point out what ls so
transparent from the recital of these
formed not for the public benefit but as
an appendix to the Bear Valley Irriga-
ton company. which organized 1t for
no other purpose than to procure the
bonds of the district and boom its own
lands.
Now. our objection to the Wright act is
that it makes it possible to perpstuate
such frauds under the guise of law. The
cIownins infamy, perhaps. of the whole
business was that Lhe Bear Valley Irriga-
ton company took advantage of a con-
tirmation act passed by the legislature
and prostituted the court to its selfish
purposes by having the board If direct
ors go before the court and ask to have
the court did, no defense being made,
the case, except what was revealed to it
by the Bear Valley Irrigation company,
through its agents. the directors. In pur-
suance OF its policy to boom its lands
and dispose OF them at once, temper
airy pipe line was constructed sufficiently
large to bring to the district about 700
inches OF water. The company also ex-
pended considerable sum in construct
ing works in the district to distribute
water to its own lands. By which means
1t sold about 5000 acres of land. giving a
guarantee with each sale to serve the
land with an inch of water to every four
acres. 1t also sold a large amount of its
stock. But instead of applying the pro-
ceeds OF the sale to the construction of
works, to carry out its contracts, as it
should have done, it applied the pro-
ceeds. largely,in dividends among its own
stockholders.
Thus over 1901. 900 was divit ed up to
and including the years 1892 and 1898. In
he latter part of 1898 sale OF lands and
stock ceased. The status of the company
became generally known, and finaing its
usefulness ended it went into hapt.