Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1904-09-07
NEWELL! ON IRRIldljA 4 TON i ]
(Continued from Pare / >

| Continued from Page ID
was a request made that we examine
the Mouse river country The river has
a fall Of one foot TO the mile. The or
binary irrigation ditch will fall two feet
to the mile, so that the better way is to
have a big dam, or pumping plant, and
Fat the most we could irrigate only a
small strip along the Mouse river.
Up. the Little Missouri I am not per-
sonally familiar, but our engineers there
will soon give us the relative levels and
opportunities Of diverting the Little Mis-
Isouri into some stream flowing eastward,
50 that the possibility Of taking it out
rests largely on the ability to get the
flood to the Cannon Ball river. This
problem is being studied from an engi-
neering standpoint. as 4. 4 ,,4s<5.
We have got money enough to build
irrigation works, but the thing is up to
you, up to every citizen and every news
paper man to push the matter. There
are thousands of places in this state
where irrigation can be successfully in
troduced tomorrow if the men will only
take hold, and you have got to, bring
into the country men who are willing
to work hard and cultivate intensely.
Its hard to induce the large land holder
| to cut his farm down to forty Or eighty
acres, and intensely cultivate the soil,
but the time is coming when it will be
done. We have got to make them see
that intensive, diversified farming is the
thing to have! $5 53s;3 ST. RI
Building the works before you have
the men who will agree to work IT is,
mistake; that was what ruined the en-
terprise IN certain parts Of Utah, and
along the North Platte, and in all our
enterprises we. have today to make the
conditions so hard that a man has got.
to irrigate or move ont; he cannot stay
on the land. So that when man. comes.
under an irrigation system he must iir-t
rigate or else leave and let some other.
man do it. So that, as / say, the prob
lem which is before you here is not
the one of engineering, but it lis Of get:
ting the people who; know how to irrie
gate, and get a body Of men to use the
water. s.
II will be necessary for your state
Legislature to provide some sort Of letgis-
lation regulating the water rights Il
do not know what the laws of North
Dakota are, but presume there are no
laws regarding water appropriation; ii
presumably belongs to the public. I'm
der the laws of most Of the arid states
water is made public property subject
to appropriation, and the man who IS
the first one in time is the first one in
right. Under the national irrigation
law it is required that the water shall
run with the land. &C.. -, :. 4. + $..#
We have sketched the outline of laws
for several states, particularly for Ore
gon and Washington The Idaho stat
utes are probably the latest and best ex-
pressions on the subject of water. They
have taken the expressions of Colorado,
Wyoming and Utah and prepared a
very elaborate lava sort of comprom-
Use. They provide state commissions
err who, shall record the water rights,
and in case Of controversy. shall make
the measurement which shall be used by
the court. That is a very important
factor, and such an official should be
given power at an early date before we
get into any complications. 1t is ex-
tremely DESTROYS that some such legis-
lation be enacted. In Colorado the state
engineer has certain rights in apportion-
ing water according to the decree Of
the court, after the court has taken the
testimony Of the interested parties.
Wyoming made the state engineer not
merely the men to measure the water,
but made him the Judge and jury and
executor of the law. In Idaho the state
engineer IS advisor of the court, as to-
how much water is in the stream, how
much has been used etc. 81: III
There is no use of the government in
vesting a considerable amount Of money
until the works are protected BY state
laws, and while there is no particular
risk at present, yef we must have within
q reasonable time the protection Of law
for the works which may be built. 81
q Nearly all the land which can be re-
claimed in this state around Ft. Buford
and along the Missouri river is in prii-
waite ownership, and one Of the first.
things to do is TO get from the private.
owners the understanding that if the.
land is reclaimed it shall Be divided up
and sold to actual settlers, and Of course
that is hard to get. The old settler with.
$40 acres does NOT want to cut up his,
farm, but you have got to or We cannot
Carry on the work, and it will pay him
z