Arizona republican., 1898-12-13

season. In rerly to an inquiry as tC the channel for conveying water from
 the river to the reservoirs he said ht
 referred regarding the practicability O.
 his plan to the success of the Florence reservoir.
 MT B. Heyman spoke only upon the
 plan to be pursued. He advocated tht
 appointment of a committee to gather
 views from competent authorities anC formulate a plan. He further suggest
 ed that the committee contain no bus fness men, but ranchmen and cana
 men more directly interested in irriga- ton. He was hopeful, he said, that il some way storage would be accomp- lished.
 Col. c. H. Gray was called. He had helped to construct the first ditch made
 in the valley. He had watched the
 area Of cultivated land outgrow the
 volume of available water until by
 reason of lack of water farming was
 no longer profitable. The resources ot ranchmen were being exhausted in paying for water which could not be delivered to them. Ii was absolutely
 essential that some system of storage
 must be obtained.
 Governor Murphy said that more
 water is the most important question
 confronting the people of the Salt
 River valley. Storage was the only so- lution and that involved a complicated
 problem. Many plans had been put
 forward for securing water storage,
 and all were met by difficulties or Cb- | jections. It was essential that the | people must agree upon some one be- 1 fore it could be successfully advanced.
 In the meantime there was the predom- | inant need of water and the necessity
 that users must have the water they pay for. He pledged his assistance in
 an official capacity to any plan that
 might be decided upon.
 MT. Elder made an attack upon the
 water companies and also upon MT. Goldberg, who had refused to intro
 duce an irrigation bill in the 1as5 legislature or do anything for the re- lief of the farmers. MT. Goldberg was
 subsequently, defended by R. B. Daggs,
 who said a bill anording ample relief had received MT Goldberg's vote and
 was passed, but failed to receive the governors signature.
 Dr. A. J. Chandler said he had been considering the subject of water stor- age for four years and yet had no defi- nite plan to present In general way he favored the construction of a dam rather than the reservoir system sug- gested by MT. Kellner, and he believed there was enough wealth and energy in the valley to construct it. He was in
 terrupted by an inquiry as to the plan of distributing the water, which, he said, would have to be determined after the capacity of the system had been
 made known. MT Elder interrupted him with the repeated observation that the companies had failed to deliver moro than half the volume of water they had received pay for. q have been in the business of delivering water fer several years" said Dr. Chandler, and I have never received pay for a drop of water that was not delivered.'
 Mr. Lincoln Fowler was called upon to address the assembly on the subject of irrigation, and he was followed by Chaplain Scott. W. J. Murphy was next upon. He said that the question of ir- rigatiOn and storage was not new one, and that it had been before con- gress for the past twelve years. He does not believe that the territory can look 70 the government CT aid in the matter. There is the strongest kind of opposition to this in the east, said he "The farmers of New England say that their farms have been mace al most worthless by western competitors. They are opposed to building reservoirs for the. rancheFs of the semi-arid re- zion, and they have the power to con trol the action of congress in the mat ter. If anything could have been done towards securing aid from the govern ment it would have come to us long ago. The most that can be expected of Uncle Sam is the making of surveys to determine the feasibility of water storage, and that we already know. We must bond our lands or secure the help of some cooperation. 1 think we can build a reservoir if we have to, but I believe it is best to encourage some to build it. It is not an easy matter to secure money for such a purpose in Great Britain, for out Of seven irrigation enterprises placed with English capital not one has sue ceeded. Colorado and other states have made efforts to secure the aid of con- gress, but without success, and the state of Colorado is today building it's own reservoirs.
 Mir w. W. Miller Of New York was present at the meeting, and he was next 1 called upon. He said: F'I heartily | agree with everything that has been said here, and I beg to suggest that you i be particularly careful in selecting the committee to ac1 for you, as you are in to those gentlemen the future of your valley. You must bring # | gether the reservoir companies, the i canal companies and the people of the valley, and the entire territory of Ari- zona is interested in this matter Of water storage. I would suggest that the governor of the territory be made chairman of the committed"
 MT. Henry H. Man of the Hudson Reservoir company spoke at length upon the question of storage, and his words were applauded by the assembly. A number of questions were asked MT. | Man at the conclusion of his address which he answered to the satisfaction of all MT. Man said: When I wis i tied this valley several yeas ago I | thought that the millennium would l come before water storage reservoirs | could be built Then everything good l in Arizona was to be fostered and |