The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1903-02-25

furnish this water the companv's canal
has been taxed or run to its utmost
capacity and the company has sold most
of its lands under the first extension
The company now has without increas-
ing the capacity considerably extended
the canal below to other lands. The
company now evinces a purpose to re-
strict the use of water to less than one
half the amount which practical per-
sons in its actual use have found neces-
sary or useful to grow their principal
crops with profit. (Of this there is
| abundant proof, and this in the face of
the further fats that the lands have
been sold at high price mostly to per-
sons of moderate means, who have built
their homes and costly improvements
| with the company's constant induce
ment that the farmer "should have all
the water needed to grow any apricul-
tural crop" Now the company wish to
divert this water from its accustomed
use, or much of it, and sell it to purchas-
ers OF other lands Oh their new extern
sions, thus leaving their old customers
short. Suppose now that a man, or
simultaneously hundreds of them, find
that by reason of shortage of water their
crops are drying up, and will shortly be
ruined and on their growth and
maturity dependence is relied upon for
a living for self and family, he appeals
to the company for more water in vain
| the courts are months away too late and
out of reach in expense to apply to;
thus in dire extremity if he should turn
on more, as he and all have been accus-
toned to do, whether publicly or
stealthily, the aforesaid bill provides
excessive fines and imprisonment. If
he does not do it, he is ruined. dried
out or starved out. Under rightful con-
ditions the company's property is sutfic =
emily protected by law and little or no
occasion to use it.
What means section 10? What is
"using more water than is necessary"
to irrigate his land with? | take it that
it is meant expressly to forbid any per-
son from directing from any stream or
canal or other natural or artificial source
for his use any more water at any time
than is necessary to be used, and that
when brought into court the amount
will be determined by expert testimony,
chiefly that of the company's civil
engineers, who are supposed to know all
about such matters, and who, we are
told, hold that a cubic foot OF water per
second OF time for 100 acres is more than
enough. Although reasonable men in
practical use have found it advantageous
to use more than twice or three times
that amount at times in this locality.
But, after all, perhaps the Sunnyside
people are not interested in this pro-
vision against excessive use. If they
are not allowed to have more water than
the company's apportionment they will
have none to waste and little to use.
But others, watered otherwise, cannot
be allowed to take out more than they
use all the time and that without
waste" even though such surplus goes
back to the stream or is run upon other
land and used and no one wronged
by it.
Where is the wrong to any one for a
person in ordinary practice to use water
reasonably free and at times let some of
it run off his land onto another or into
laterals or streams to be taken up and
used by other persons. And yet these
are the supposed crimes for which you
are asked To provide such penalties
excessive fines when we come to con-
slider the offense and the financial con-
dition of those to be fined. And for why
are they asked? To protect the COM
pany SO they can again sell the water
which with the land has already been
sold for many times its cost to this COM
pany or to save the company the ex-
pense of enlarging their canal. If they
deal justly with the people they will
have no need of severe penal codes. To
defeat this bill may save the state the
expense of making prisons larger
Do they parade their vast interests in
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