The herald., 1897-04-10
CALIFORNIA; WATER SUPPLIES
a monopoly

| CALlEOhN1h w IA L iAs ~ -
| While the low rainfall of the past three
wears has shortened the crops OF some
who depend directly upon the CLOUDS IL
has been of great benefit to the lano at
large in showing us the real value of our
water supplies. Only twice before since
the state was settled has there been
such a series of three years in success
sion-two winters having less than half
the average rainfall, with one between
them only up to the average, but with
| the effect of its best rains neutralized oy
strong and continuous dry winds imme-
diately after, which so dried the surface
| of the ground that it took almost haIt
the next rain to wet that portion again.
! The effect was about the same as that OF
three years in succession of only half the
average rainfall
When we had such series before, the
country was dependent upon stock and
bees. In 1883 there were many orchards,
but as fruit growing had not reached the
stage of profit for want of a market, 1t
was impossible to tell the effect upon it.
Tn the series ending in 1872 almost the
whole country was stock range and
bees had just begun to produce. III was
natural then that some alarm should De
felt last year when the very low rain
fall came upon the shortage of two
nreceding years and left almost the whole
worst things for the farmer or fruit
grower to combat.
We have all been surprised at the re-
suits Where there were no means OF
irrigation the crop was in many cases a
failure. But nowhere in those sections
where any one ever expects a crop was
the failure any worse than it is in three
or four years out of ten In the best parts
of the east. And in many of these places
here it was clearly proved that had the
ground been plowed and lain fallow dur
ing the preceding summer the crop
would have been enough better to nave
repaid the cost especially where people
do their own work.
L
fall is so great that farming without
irrigation is generally profitable, fair
crops were raised, and, with good farm
ing. they were more than any one ex-
pected. The results have everywhere
shown that the soil Of Southern Califor-
mia. underlaid everywhere by a porous
subsoil, is wonderfully retentive of mois-
ture. and needs but reasonable cultiva-
| ton to produce far beyond what is ever
seen in a country underlaid by rock,
from which the water soon escapes
through the fiesures.
| Gratifying as it has been to find our
rainfall so effective, even at the mini
mum. it has been far more so to find the
irrigating supply stand the low rain
fall in the mountains as we'll as it has.
Streams have fallen, indeed, below the
normal, but not until so late in the sea-
son that there was little inconvenience
In places economy in the use of water
has been necessary, but with that the
supply has been ample. We hear of no
place where the crop has been shortened
in the slightest by the failure of irrigat-
ing water, and the orange crop especially
was never better. The shortage in fruit
came from the dry cold wind of April
last, which blighted the buds, and there
was not much of a falling off, the crop
being about equal to that of the pre-
ceding year, which was the largest ever
| picked.
| The effect of this series of dry years
now so happily closed with liberal and
| we'll distributed rainfall, has been to fur
nish the strongest proof of the certainty
of our underground water. 1t has long
been known that much, if not most, OF
the water to which we must look in the
future is underground. 1t is locked in
old channels that lead away to the sea
in the beds they followed thousands of
years ago or lies in vast masses of gravel
and sand, and hold it like sponges until
it is drawn out. We have long believed
that these would yet be found the most
liberal and reliable Of our sources of
supply. But until the past year it was
matter only of opinion. Capital finds
| mere opinion a poor basis for investment
and many good projects have lain unde-
veloped around US because of the uncer-
tainty of the supply. The underground
waters drawn from artesian wells, tun-
nels and drains of various kinds have
now been proved to have source far
beyond the reach of three short years.
AZ the records for fifty years show no
series longer than this, we need have
little fear of utter exhaustion of the re-
serve. And a series of even three years
is SO rare that we are probably safe for
another fifteen or twenty years.
The great reservoirs that we have
built have shown that evaporation and