The Redwood gazette., 1899-04-05
WATER RIGHTS.
A Careful study Of the New Prob
lems Of Irrigation.

WAFER HIGHIS.
A Careful study Of the new Prob
1ems Of Irrigation.
The Office Of experiment stations in
the department of agriculture has just
issued bulletin which should be the
subject Of careful study by farmers in
the arid western states. and will prob
ably be read with interest by others to
whom the problems Of irrigation are
strange and new It Is discussion Of
the laws governing titles to the water
Of the Missouri river and its tributaries.
and is prepared by Elwood Mead. state
engineer Of Wyoming. who Is thorough
" familiar with the region Of which he
writes and has had long experience as
an irrigation engineer and administra-
tor Of irrigation laws The methods by
which thousands Of users establish and
enforce their rights to q common sup
ply are described and the legal and
physical complications which conflict
ing or imperfect state laws have created
are pointed out
No one can read this bulletin without
realizing that the farmer from regions
Of ample rainfall who emigrates to the
arid west has many things to learn be-
sides how to build laterals and how and
when to spread the water they carry
over thirsty fields The knowledge and
skill required to distribute the water is
soon acquired. but the working out of
social and industial institutions which
will place the rivers which govern the
value of every farm they fertilize under
some form of public control which will
secure their just distribution and pre-
vent their becoming the subject of spec
ulation or corporate monopoly is prov
ing in the western states as 1t has in
every irrigated land old enough to have
a history. to be the enduring and in-
portant problem for farmers to solve.
and the one on which the reward of
their industry and the value Of their
farms ultimately depend. The present
situation in the states included in the
discussion is thus set forth in the bulle-
tin
For every acre Of irrigated land there
has to be right to water. The title to
the latter is of as much Importance as
the deed to the land. 1t is much harder
to establish. These rights take more
forms than the rivers they control and
are acquired by as many methods as
there are states to frame laws In
one respect they are alike No mat.
ter whether the user of water derives
his title direct from the state. buys it
from ditch company which furnishes
water for hire or from the holder Of a
speculative claim. it is a source of more
perplexity at the outset and of more
hours of anxious thought afterward
than all the other problems of irrigation
combined
Perhaps the most useful portion Of
this bulletin is the explanation Of th>
several state laws and the description
of the procedure which farmers have to
follow in making and recording water
right filings. No one subject is a source
of greater perplexity to the beginner
than the esta blishment of priority Of
right in the stream he diverts and moth.
ing has caused greater hardship or loss
than failure through lack Of knowledge
to conform to existing laws. The ex'
plantations of state systems in this bull
letin are given in detail. so that it con
stitutes manual of forms as we'll as q
discussion of principles.