The daily sentinel., 1903-11-07

ment Land Should Be Includ-
ed in Irrigation District Le-
gal Half Truth, Used by OP-
posing Attorney, Shot Away.
Ny attention has just been called
to an editorial in one of the Grand
Junction papers. ION Legal Foo'ing.'
referring to the final action of the
Board of the County Commissioners
calling for an election on tho propos
ed Irrigation District.
The writer says that ''only land or
which property tax has been paid
may be bonded aud only sufficient
money raised on it 10 build n ditch
for its own uses, - and therefore ju Sc
titles the commissioners in excluding
the Government lands. There is no
such limitation whatever in tho stat
ute 1t plainly intends that State
and Federal lands may be included,
aud Section of the irrigation Dis
brict statute says; "The board of di-
recto-s shall havo full and exclusive
power to lease or rent the use Of
water to occupants OF state or federal
lands within the srid district. at
such prices and on such terms rs they
deem best; Provided, The rental
shall not be less than twice the
amount of the district tax and toll
for which said land would be liable
if held as freehold; and. provided
further, No vested rights or prescrip-
tive right to the use Of such water
shall attach to said land by virtue OF
such reutal uso p"
The fl st two districts in Colorado.
organized under the law. are in Mon
tezuma aud Otero counties In the
former, about 10, 600 acres of vacant
Govt land and over 10, 600 unsold
state lands are embodied in district
of about 60, 900. In the Otero Dis
trict embracing about -, 900 acres.
there are 5000 acres of Federal lands
and about 2, 1000 of unsold school land,
There are several other districts be-
ing organized in the state aud in no
instance have the state or federal
lands been excluded. .
Moreover. OF the four or five irri-
CATION districts in Nebraska with
which 1 am personally acquainted. in
every instance have state and federal
Ian Is been embraced and have shared
in the water supply. The statute
states in Section ?. as amended by tile
last session of the Legislature. that
no person shall be entitled to vote at
any election held under the provisions
of this "A It unless he shall be a quail
flied elector and the owner of real es
tate in such district and shall have
paid a tax OIL real estate in said dis
trict during the year pl ecedipg said
election. - which only bears upon ii
qualification of the voter and has 10
reference whatever to the taxation of
the land itself.
OF course as the editorial states,
there is nothing in the law opposed
to joining their private capital with
the money realized from the sale o
lands. in order that a canal may at
once be constructed suffici emily large
to water 90, 600 acres,' How that can
be accomplished is beyond my range
of experience. Sale of what lands
realized 20 Not the Government
lands. and there are practically no
others outside cf the district. Who
is going to be foolhardy enough in the
light of the experience in canal con-
struction in the past to invest half
million of dollars in a canal to
water unoccupied Government lands.
and take the chances of selling the
water. The Grand valley canal fur
nishes lesson. There are several
thousand acres under it still unoccu-
pied which have never paid dollar
for water. Again, suppose the Dis
trict is organized as proposed. will
they wait for "a private company"