The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-03-01
The SALT LAKE HERALD
Published Every Day in the Year BY
THE HERALD COMPANY.
PASS THE JolNT IRRIGATION Bill.

moo lllL CCll1t llNINCft '~li DILL
u irrigation IS A SUBJECT Of never-failing in-
terest JIM Utah. and properly for without irrl-
cation this state would today be- as the pioneers
found &c. a barren wilderness, desert IN the true
sense of the world If there Is such thing desert
in the United States. Pending before the legislature
is measure proposed by the joint committee on ir-
rigation II seems to solve to offer the solution
TO a problem that has long vexed the rrigators OF
Utah
That is the problem Of conflicting water rights and
the recording of those rights in such shape as 70
make them tangible property. AT the outset IL should
be stated that there nothing ia the bill va s would
tend 20 interfere with established rights. o. The con-
tary, such rights have been jeaiously guar ed The
man who has been using water from certs stream
In a certain amount a period OF years, win not be
molested On any particular.
The meat OF the bill lies in the fact that it WILL II
adopted clear away a most harasslng situation AS
all of us know the irrigation laws of Utah are de-
cidedly cloudy. No say. by the record. that
he owns the water that irrigates his land. No man
can sell land with a guaranteed water right the
reason for this is that water rights have been so
loosely adjudicated when adiudieated at all, as TO
make the end Of that man worse than the begin
ming
First the measure proposes 20 institute and COM
plete hydrographic survey Of all the water in the
state. This survey win show how much water is be-
ing used how much is being claimed and how much Is
left after every claimant has received his full share
il win show further the possibilities Of increasing
the water supply through development Of the streams
through conservation by means of reservoirs and In
such other ways as win suggest themselves to the
state engineer. who win be in charge Of the work
When these operations have been concluded the
state win divided by water sheds by irrigation
districts. and the reason therefor will presently APP
pear On notice being given OF the completion Of the
survey. every man claiming rights in that particular
eHa ruffn afsr hc uUffh
clerk Of a court to be designated by the state engi
always the most accessible court with reference
to the population interested. full data regarding his
claims
The trainers OF the bin appreciate the fact that
this VIII involve considerable amount of work by
water users and little inconvenience Some Of them
viii find IL hard to the necessary data and for
their benefit the bill provides that they shall state
the foundation for their claims nearly may be.
That is they not expected to be absolutely ac-
Curate When an the claims have been nled they viii
be adjudcated and then they viii become matters of
record of barter and sale In the same manner real
property is bought and sold
The advantage of having court pass on all
matters In dispute in a water shed is that then there
can be conflicting decisions. For instance, irri-
gators living the foot of d stream may be in one
judicial district while rrigators living above them
are another The downstream men take their
troubles into court Water is apportioned among
them regardless of upstream rights and when there
is a shortage, there is earthly way Of enforcing
the courts decree as against the upstream men.
A case On point was recently tried i'm Weber
county. Five canal companies were awarded az
gregate Of 43s second feet Of water when a survey
showed that on account Of irrigation above then
there was only about one-tenth Of that amount Of
water to distribute among the five companies such
tangles would be Impossible if all the water in q
given shed was apport0ned by the same court We
believe the bin offers the best solution of the Watel
problem that has yet been suggested.
Water rights should be matters Of record just a.
real estate titles matters of record Land with
out water n many sections of Utah. if not i'm most
absolutely worthless. A measure which promises u
put an lrrigatOrs equal footing. as this meas
ure does should commend itself TO every member o
the legislature