, 1901-12-13
BOND ON IRRIGATION
STATE ENGINEER READS INTER.
ESTING PAPER ON THE
SUBJECT.
The Provision of the Carey Act With
Its Amendments Appear to Give
the Best Security for Capital En-
gagged in Canal Building-Contin-
ued State Control a Necessity.

III 1 II VOL IltVl 'SliIIS ldptl
was read by state Engineer Bond at
the Industrial convention:
Wyoming is the home of the small
often. rms Is SHOWN by the TACT tuaL
almost the total appropriations from
our streams nave mus lar Deen
through numerous SmaIi diversions
rather than by means OF fewer large
ones. Individual effort and the sue
cess attending II torn the only reiia-
bic gauge by which our progress may
be measured, Tor the large canal has
not heretofore formed very con
siderable feature OF our growth. The
reason tor this may be found in the
local conditions, but it is doubtless ow-
ing, in part, to the fact that large an
ais, as hitherto undertaken, especial
ly the earlier ones, have not in all
cases proven the financial successes
hoped for by their projectors. Chief
among the local causes which have
initiated against large undertakings
in the ease and comparative ~Cheapness
with which the limited acreage of the
homestead or desert filing OF the set
tier has beer reclaimed, this in turn
being attributable to the fact that
these entries are practically confined
to the vicinity of the streams, so that
large undertakings, involving greater
expense in proportion to water provid.
ed, have either been held i'll allegiance
or, when prosecuted. have proven but
Indifferent successes in many in
stances.
1t has heretofore been a waste of
time to undertake to show a prospec-
tive settler the superior advantages in
I cident to securing a water right
through a large canal when that right
costs him ten dollars or more per acre.
when there have been plenty of oppor-
tunities for him to make his W ap-
preparation. and from the same
| stream at a cost of three.
The provisions of the Carey act TAX
en- in conjunction with the later amend
ments thereto appear to give the best
security for capital engaged in canal
building, but not all the canals pro-
jected to reclaim lands segregated I'M
der this act have proven successful.
Some of these have, indeed, never
been begun-others are partly com
plete and a very few have been prac-
tically finished and the lands patent
ed to the state.
The cause for failures, laying aside
mismanagement, the o fruitful
cause of disaster in these schemes
has lain chiefly in the cost
of a water right under these
large canals as compared with
the cost of a similar and equiva-
lent right obtainable through the small
ditch. The construction of the latter
is undertaken and carried on at such
times only as will not interfere with
other work. 1t involves labor only,
and labor is most often the only CAPT
tai which the settler $can command.
On the other hand. the purchase of a
water right from a canal company re-
quires either a considerable amount
of ready money-ten dollars per acre
or 81. 800, for a quarter section being
the lowest figures at which any of these
water rights have hitherto been sold
l-or it means the assumption of a
debt at the outset of his home-build-
ing, which has doubtless deferred
many a desirable addition to our popu-
lation from the undertaking. In fact
the more thrifty a settler is the more
adverse he is to assuming a debt of
such proportions. This is especially
true in localities where the annual re-
turns from his labor cannot be accur-
ately figured out.
"a VNi'N vi IN "a
large canal projects in Wyoming here
tofore is found in the fact that the Ill
innate cost of a water right TO the Set
tier has been uniformly above that at
which he could secure water for HIM
self, and any changes now becoming
apparent in these conditions are
c~hargeable and. in my judgment,
owing wholly to the further fact that
Incorporated water is becoming
scarce and expensive. The settler
must, therefore, pay more or go with
out.
The use of our waters through small
bitches irrigating lands adjacent to
their borders rather than through large
canals retaining compact areas has
had its compensations If it has not, in
deed, been of material advantage to
the settler; for it has enabled every
farmer to become also a stock raiser
through the use of the adjacent graz
ing lands. thus diversifying his work
and output. and securing him greater
independence. The %irrigator under the
large canal is not SO situated as to en-
Joy a. these advantages, the scope OF
his work is more limited, so that in
the manner of our growth thus far it
will readily be conceded that nothing
has been lost.
The numerous applications to the
engineer for water to reclaim tracts
varying in size from three to twenty
acres each, received during the past
two years, appears to indicate that the
day of the small ditch is rapidly pass
ing. This seems to be emphasized by
the further fact that applications for
water for very large tracts to be Sc
gregated under the Carey act have be-
come more frequent. The situation
appears to be generally recognized
and is doubtless responsible for the in
creased activity lately shown among
those having capital to invest in legi!i-
mate irrigation enterprises.
1t was recently among my duties to
examine a canal in the Big Horn basin
under which a considerable tract of
land had been segregated. The actual
cost of this work is not available but
from an examination of the line of the
canal and q rough estimate of its vol
ume, it appears that this work should
not cost to exceed $40. 900, including
laterals. The company has asked Tor
the %patenting of so quartcr-sections
and are rapidly ~disposing of water
rights at ten and twelve dollars per
acre, or 81, 900 each, sufficient having
already been sold to pay the above
estimated cost of construction. There
seems to be good reason for believing
J that these lands will all be sold at an
early date. and while they do not in
clude all the lands segregated. they
will nevertheless bring to the company
as net returns on this investment a
sum exceeding 5000.
TNLtr ~.lo~A Los haar ttn1ar Nr.ay for