The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-10-29

stations. to inaugurate its study of the
| irrigation question by the collation. and
! publ1cation of information regarding the
| actual status of irrigation in the arid re-
! Sions.
The Bear river valley was chosen for
| study because in its course of little ovel
800 miles it crosses state line five times
| finally emptying into Salt lake, which is
! less than fifty miles distant from its
source, thus presenting in small compass
great variety of interstate problems,
| and offering exceptional opportunities for
the inauguration of this class of inquir-
| les.
In his letter submitting the reports to
Secretary Wilson, Professor Mead says:
Has Many Complications.
Bear river exhibits an unusual number
| of water right complications of interstate
| streams. For the past ten years people in
| Wyoming who use water from this river
| for purposes of irrigation, have been
| clamoring for an establishment and pro-
! lection of their rights according to The
| state laws. They have complied with its
| terms; they have made and filed maps to
| show the location of bitches and land re-
! claimed; but all to no purpose. The man
| who has paid no attention to the STATE ir-
rigation code fares as well as the one who
| has fulfilled all its requirements.
The state irrigation authorities have
| determined the priorities and amounts of
| appropriations on contiguous state
streams, and water commissioners protect
| these in times of scarcity. They can do
| nothing for the irrigatorS along Bear
river. So far as practical results are con-
cerned, the state law does not apply. II is
useless to determine priorities of bitches
wholly within the state, when later ones
with headgateS across the border in Utah
cannot be closed because the water COM
missioner's authority does not extend that
far. To close down the bitches around
Evanston would not add to the water sup
ply of the earlier Wyoming appropriations
thfrty-fve miles north of there; it would
simply raise the water leved of the Utah
bitches which irrigate Woodruff Flats.
No Useful Purpose.
"a determination of prlorities along two
sections of a stream, with an intervening
section left undisturbed would accomplish
no useful purpose, hence the Wyoming ir-
rigation authorities have delayed an adj
Judication until some provision is made
for including headgates on the Utah as
well as on the Wyoming side of the boun-
dairy.
Nor is the plight of the Utah irrfgatorS
in the Woodruff valley any more satisfac-
tory. As the Yellow creek and billiard
dltches in Wyoming are extended they see
later rights taking more and more of their
water supply, and while both states recog-
niZe the superior claim of prior user
lack of concerted action causes his claim
to be ignored.
at is unfortunate that the future i'm
portance of irrigation was not recognized
when state boundaries were being estab-
lished. A change of 800 square miles eth
er way would have disposed of the inter-
state problems of Bear river. 1t would
have thrown all the controverted portion
OF the stream into either Utah or Wyo-
ming There are scores of similar in
stances along the boundaries of these and
other arid states. The reforming of these
boundaries is now practically out of the
question but the enactment of the
ferent states of uniform irrigation laws
and the entering into amicable agreements
for the protection of irrigators rights are
not only possible, but ought to be among
the early results of the evolution now TAX
ing place.
Give Publicity to Facts.
''The most effective means of promoting
this is to study and give publicity to the
facts. The discussion by Mr.. Breckons of
the change in property rights in this river
the moment its waters cross an invisible
barrier can scarcely fail to lead in the
near future to a less violent difference in /
the laws which govern these rights. The
description of physical conditions by Mr.. /
Johnston will have a local value in re-
Bear river, by showing that there is no
danger of diversions above creating a dis
astrous scarcity below in removing the
interstate jealousy by showing that the
contribution of each state to the rivers
supply has an approximate relation to the
ultimate use in that state; and by showing
that relief from existing evils can be had (
by improving the remarkable opportuni-
ties for storage rather than through liti- /
cation over the natural flow"
Mr.: Johnston says the Bear has the dis
western hemisphere whose waters do not
reach the ocean. and that it is perhaps the
most important stream in the arid re-
gion.
Crosses Many Boundaries.
The river also has remarkable affinity !
for state boundaries Within the first 100 j
miles of its course it manages TO cross the 1
western and southern boundaries of Wyo- |
ming four times In it's entire course /
these boundary crossings divide the |
Tn < tRh 1l-a.
IN each of these sections are practically
independent OF irrigation laws or the SUI /
perior claims of appropriations of water
below.
Beginning at the head, it crosses the
Wyoming-Utah line nine miles east of the
southwest corner of Wyoming. Just be-
return the water TO Utah through the
channel of Yellow creek. bitches taken
out south of the Wyoming border pay no
attention to prior rights north of il; their
neadgates stay open, even if the headgates
OF earlier bitches front on d dry channel
For the next thirty-eight miles Wyoming
lrriSators have control of the river, after
which it deserts them by returning to
Utah; then goes east again to Wyoming
then west to Idaho.
The Idaho Loop.
The Idaho loop has two interesting feat Il
automatic regulation of floods
by Bear lake and the abrupt bend of the n
river when almost across the divide into 4
lne drainage DdSln OF snake. river, where
I cuts through a lofty range to enter
Cache valley. AT the southern edge of II
Cache valley it becomes again a pictur-
ssque river, roaring and tumbling through
I mountain canyon, where il cuts through
he range which separates Cache and Salt /
Lake valleys In the TWO miles of its
passage through this canyon the total fall
5 about 100 feet.
If all of the water supply came from
he mountains at the head there would be
n effect six independent sets of claims to
supply, and controversies over the diver
sion of the water would long ago have be-
come acute. But this is not the case; the
stream grows from the lake where it
starts to the larger one where it ends.
While irrigators in each of the six sections
AXE something from the river, there are
tributaries would reinforce it, The ex-
,eptional increase due TO these tributaries
md the facilities for storage practically
eetrict interstate complications over
lights to the four upper sections along the
boundary between Utah and Wyoming. /
This progressive increase in volume is one
Il the complications which will vex those
Who attempt TO frame a code of laws for
he interstate division of streams
Value of Every River.
1.-THE value. of every river for irrigation
5 not determined by its flood discharge
nut by the continuance and availability of
he water supply throughout the irriga-
ion season. On most rivers of the north
RI half of the arid region there is an in
efficient supply for the last half of the
irrigation period, and storage has to be |
to in order to provide for this