The new enterprise. (Madison, Fla.) 1901-1908, 1904-09-15

iNNl-..ulA allVn. Va lnb ulW ANhi"h W
Government enterprise. Lands worth
three times the amount Of the national
debt and capable Of supporting 90
100000 people in comfort viii be
wrested from the desert, and the same
process that will rescue some regions
from drought will rescue others from
flood
There is a general disposition in the
East TO ask why the Government
should concern itself with such mat.
ter as this. Why should it not leave
the farmers in the arid regions to
look after their own affairs, as the
farmers in other regions do? Perhaps
an account of some personal expert
ences may throw a little light on this
question.
In the early eighties n study OF
Nordhoffs seductive book on Cafor-
mia convinced me that the creation Of
irrigated orchards and vineyards in
The San Joaquin Valley was the most
direct and certain route TO the position
OF n multi.milllonairc. The figures
were rrefutable. Good land with wa
ter rights, could be bought for $50 an
acre. In four years, when the trees
and vines came into bearing, they
would return 5000 per acre net annual
profit, and the land would be worth at
least $1,000. A years profits from $50
acres would be $4,000, which would
buy a thousand acres of fresh land.
This process could he repeated every
year. In another four years there
would be 1850 acres in bearing, which
would bring in clear profit of $780,
900. In ton years from the start there
would be AZ, 100 acres Of orchard and
vineyard, Of which $3.50 acres would be
in full bearing and producing an an
nual revenue OF S630,OOO In fifteen
years there would be 57i,320 acres,
worth in round figures S500,000.000
and yielding net profits Of SlO,0G3,2OO a
year, which would be multiplied by
ten rs soon as the younger trees and
vines should come to maturity.
felt sorry for the poor Vanderbilts
and Astors, who had to get along on
Sl0000O,000 apiece. My only fear was
thatthere might be no land left in the
san Joaquin Valley when got there.
but found, to my relief, that there
was considerable amount still to be
had, and | succeeded in securing $50
aires from a philanthropic real estate
aient before it was all gone. In fact,
] understand that it is not I'll gone yet.
s, This was my first Introduction to
practical irrigation, which found
quite different from the theoretical
view i had gained Of the subject at
college and from books. We got our
water flom Kings River by the method
of prior appropriation" A number
OF farmers would form q ditch COM
pany and stick up notice somewhere
along the upper course Of the river,
claiming 100 or 200 or 1000 cublO.faet
of water per second, as me case might
be. Then they would pay u a little
..EndHey untth, stock Lsfnaepf the ali.
so'ntely n'oes L. .sash Expenses OF the
,f'upa 90 work out tar rest with
y ..sttMils ~ ra pers They woud
lSttHiiid Jam OF -boulders and brush,
2 pur IN a Sieadgate and scrape out a
trunk canal From this each man
would dig his own branch ditch to his
lprn farm. Some of the canal COM
~ Mes were organized on a more cap.
list basis but dealt in water as
lmercial speculation, but all of
'tFnem tapped the river in The same
way. la A.,
NOW, Kings River, like all the
streams of the arid region, had its reg
itllar seasons Of food and scarcity. In
the spring it rose like little Nile
hlled all the canals and flowed on
never missing the loss. But two
months later it was a trickling rivu.
let, The. first dam 1t struck turned
the whole stream into the neighboring
ditch. The canals lower down went
dry, Then there was trouble. A
company that had right by prior an.
propriation to 200 cubic feet Of water
per second all the year round found
itself cut of bya later conner that had
built dam higher up the river. More.
over, the great land owners on the low.
iert course Of the. stream denied the
right Of the irrigators to divert any
water at all. They insisted Upon the
old English riparian law, which or
dained that water should flow as Il
had been accustomed to flow.
The result was that our particular
ditch company, in which 1 filed til,
honorable but not lucrative Office o.
Treasurer, was involved in eight law
salts at once. Nor did the rows al