The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-11-22
IRRIGATION
CONGRESS OPEN
President Mead Reviews Pro-
greSs and Tells Needs.
START MADE At
SALT LAKE GATHERING
Chicago Convention Has an
AuspiciOus Opening.

TESS MdN Nd1lEU 10 OANCL al NCAAIAe 81
Music hail by the president, Edward
Meade, Of Cheyenne, Wyo., who intro
duced DR.. Howard S Taylor TO well
come the body to Chicago. DIR. Tay-
Tor made a long speech on the objec-
tiOns TO expansion in the Philippines in
order to justify a briefer statement
that no one would object to enlarge the
country by retaining the arid lands
of the west.
The president next introduced George
H Maxwell, chairman of the executive
committee, who delivered d response to
DR.. TayIor's welcome.
Mr.. Maxwell was followed by Pres
ident Meade himself who made an adj
ditionaI response. He said:
Heretofore the reclamation of arid lands
mas received sCant attention outside of
the territory where il is going on. The
east is only beginning to realize that the
irrigahle valleys of the west are a nation
al heritage, that the children of MaSsa-
chuSettS have as much need of homes as
the children OF Colorado and their crea-
ton Is not local problem, but one in
which the whole country has an interest
and about which IL needs to be informed.
The irrigation congress had its origin in
the convictions of a few thoughtful minds
that the agricultural possibilities of the
west were not appreciated, that many of
and the methods employed for reclaminG
lands and dividing rivers among users
were lnadeduate II the needs OF the fu-
tOFe. II was necessary 10 arouse pubic
sentiment to Il proper appreciation of this
situation in order to secure needed re-
forms of national and state laws.
Great Meeting at Salt Lake.
The first congress met at Salt Lake
great gathering in numbers, enthusiasm
and public spirit. Seventeen states and
territories were represented by some of
their ableSt ana most influential citizens
If any one doubted that there was reason
for such meeting the evils and abuses of
the public I'd laws which the speakers
pointed OF Ould have set this doubt at
rest 1t w shown that while success
in irrigation requires the union of land
and water, We have at the very outset
in this country divorced these two eIe-
ments of fertility, since the general gov
eminent controls the public land and the
states control the water supply. 1t was
shown that while there is nearly a half
million acres OF grazing land, there is
not a single law which recognizes its
existence or makes any provision for its
protection. The first congress urged as
n remedy for these evils the cessiOn o
the public lands to the states II was
urged IN behalf OF such action that iTri-
cation Is a western problem and that
since the control Of the water supply had
passed to the states, the control of the
l2ndc should follow and that TO do this
would be to secure a higher degree OF
Intelligence and greater expedition in put
ting both 10 use tRan would be possible
with an administration located IN " ash
ingtOn. There were some who disagreed
with this view and urged as cOmprO-
mise a further investigation of the prob
lens of irrigation by the department Of
agriculture
For several years the succeeding con-
crosses followed closely in the lines of
the first one, urging the Improvement of
state laws and aiding the states IN de
VelOpment by donations of land A bill
was prepared, but the revolution in exist
E ing conditions which Il DTQVl0e0 for was
too great. Although 1t failed to become
a law, II has had an enduring influence
on irrigation thought 1t ended the policy
of doing nothing. The solution which
/ it presented was ono which all could I'M
deTstand- 1t rested with those who Op-
posed It to present substitute IhlS
/ was not as easy as il seemed, and since
+ that time the west has been studying this
/ subject as never before.
Nation Should Take Hold.
While no question has yet arisen of
greater Importance than the necessity
/ of securing such changes as will unite
land and water under one control, other
questions besides ceding the public lands
to the states have finally relegated this
I TO subordinate position. 1t is now real
( lied that watering these deserts is not
J solely a problem for the states; that the
/ nation has certain duties and RESPONSE
J bilitieS and that there are certain queS-
J tiOns which require national legislation
/ and oversight. The need Of national laws
/ grows out of the fact that in the west ii
] Is water ana not lduu WntCn IS OF over
! shadOWing Importance. Many western
/ rivers are interstate streams The laws
J of the states through which they flow diff
! fer widely i'm character, while in some
/ they are both inadequate and dangerous
+ The appropriation of these interstate
. rivers under these lax and conflicting
3 state laws threatens TO become d fruit
( fUi source of litigation and social dis
J turbanCc unless in some way the conflict
! ing rights and warning policies can be
J reCOnCiled and adjusted No subject. con.
UeCted with irrigation SurpasSeS this IN
importance. Throughout the arid region
/ land without water is of little value
{ The rivers on which its fertility depends
I are the dominating feature of western de.
/ velODmeut and the whole future SOcia
! and industrial life of every irrigated dis
/ triCt Is destined to be shaped by the man
/ ner in which rights to rivers are secured
/ and the nature of the ownership Of theil
/ waters which is ultimately recognized
! Few w have not studied this question
/ can realize at the outset the cOmpleXsty
| and Importance of the issues connected
with legislation for the control of west
Mount Union a Keystone.
Near the southeast corner of Yellow
/ stone park rises "a lofty peak which Ia;
been appropriately named Mount Union
I because il is the starting place of thu
future civilization of the west Dow
its lofty sides flow three streams, which
with their tributaries, furnish the waite
supply for a region larger than many
European countries. and which, in TIT
future, is destined to be the home o.
unnumbered millions o. people. Thesi
/ streams are the headwaters of the Mis-
souri,. the Columbia and the Colorado. Tn,
first is the future water supply of laTg,
part of Wyoming. Montana and the Da
koJas. The second crosses Idaho ant
! eastern Oregon. and the third finds IT,
lonesome way through the canyons an,
deserts of Colorado Utah and Arizona
one finally emptieS into the Gulf of Mex
/ leo. another into the Pacific ocean. an,
the third into the Gulf of California Tn,
/ valleys of these rivers are now arid anC
deserted. but when their waters are df
Verted homes can be made for more PEG
pie than now live east of the Mississippi
river. To accomplish this result is
gigantic undertaking. since it involves no
development of d system Of distribution
which will insure their perpetuity sut
protect each OF the multitude of users il
his rights to his needed share Of the com
mon supply To accomplish this result i
beyond the means of local effort or indf
ment of divers and conflicting interest
p of individuals communities. and even o
different states. and requires not Onl
[ wise laws but administrative ability o
high order in their execution. The fran
ing of these laws is task which Ough
grave complications have been create
/ through neglect 70 recognize the inevi
/ table necessities of the future. In som
/ of the states crossed by these rivers IN
, | laws recognize an absolute ownership o
I ! the entire supply In others, the doc
trine of riparian rights prevails. which.
/ strictly enforced, would prevent the di
version and use OF any Of the supply
Each of these streams in some part of it
, I course is naVigable. and a recent decis
: ion of the United States supreme cour
, { has asserted the authority of the fedora
/ inf witt