The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1903-11-28
IS
LOOKED INTO
Things Should be Adjusted
Before Organization

the company may transfer its canal
absolutely unincumbered. Those
rights which exist merely on prior
ity of usage cannot be said to rep
resent anything except an accident
in time of settlement.
A very similar condition existed
under the Caldwell canal, in the
Pioneer Irrigation District, to that
which now obtains under the Ri
denbaugh. For certain considera-
tions the original constructors of
1.-THE Caldwell canal bound them
selves to convey through their canal,
for all time, a given amout of water
to a number of individuals, known
collectively as the Franklin Ditch
Company. That obligation follow
ed every transfer of the Caldwell
canal, and was inherited by the
Pioneer District. Now, so long as
the Caldwell canal is operated, the
District will, no doubt, respect that
obligation, not because of any pri-
ority right that may or may not ex-
ist in the Franklin ditch people,
but because it is an obligation con-
tracted by former owners OF the
Caldwell canal. 1t is like buying a
farm with a mortgage upon it, the
purchaser takes the property sub
lject to the mortgage. The Pioneer
Irrigation District took the Cald
we'll canal subject to the Franklin
ditch contract. 1t was a grave
mistake, resulting from inexper-
ience and lack Of foresight. The
obligation ought to have been can
. celed in some way before the Dis
: trict bought the canal, or, if impos-
sible to do that, the canal ought
never to have been purchased.
Here we have. under the most
favorable conditions, an example of
the workings of priorities under
District management. The Frank
lin ditch people, by the terms of
their contract, are entitled to first
: claim on the water flowing in the
Caldwell canal to the extent of
1900 inches. If so Disposal, and
the contract stands, they can in the
: fall of the year, when water is low,
, divert their full quota and apply it
to calf pastures to raise a crop
t worth 30 or 40 cents the acres and
thereby dry out orchard crops worth
t one or two hundred dollars the acre
and permanently destroy growths
that it will take years to replace
: No matter what drouth, what loss
r or destitution it entails, the Frank
/ lin ditch people must have then
/, full and abundant supply. But IN
: this case the water is all diverted
= from the canal at. one point, anc
| the District has nothing to do witt
r its final distribution among users
e In the case of the Ridenbaugh 1
s would be a very different matter
o for, if priorities within a dlstrlc
a are to be recognized they must b.
d recognized fully, and as a resul
e there might attach three or tou
IS classes of priorities to one tarm
d The theory of priority is that tn
Ie moment water is benefcially ap
st piled to land, the right attaches
o So a farmer with 100 acres, gradu
d ally bringing it under cultivation
Al might acquire an 1880 priority 10
ID 10 acres, an 1881 priority tor
ir acres, an 1882 priority for IS acre
4 ETC., etc., throughout series {
a. IS or 20 years. Now, the charac'
Ie er of these priorities would var
al more or less according to tn
d ebb and flow of the river, and the1
At utility would depend more or lie: