The Imperial press., 1904-08-27
4 PRIcE AGREED UPON.

ton uhue Dy tue ltuf#finl NaiIey Water Users Association tO the Cali. fDrnia Development Company for the purchase oi its properties, together with \. IT, lleber's acceptance thereof on the part of the C. D. Co.
 This settlement Oi the dihictltes be- tween there twO warning interests, the " People" and the Company" is unique in being one Of the exceptional cases on record, in this State Or any other. where the inevitable strife and differences which arise between the users Of water ih au irrigation district and the canal company which furnishes the water, have been amicably settled out Of the courts.
 The people of the Imperial Valley have reason tO congratulate themselves aud the directorate Of the Imperial Val ley Water Users Association and the California Development Company that this agreement has been reached and that the people ot the Valley, who are n-rr tD make homes for themselves and their children, are not tO b. plunged into long and costly litigation. Coming as it did when the situation looked very dark and unpromising, this settlement will bc regarded by the people as d whole, as fortunate end tO the fight : between the people and the Company, which has hal such Il depressing effect on business of every description through out the Valley.
 The people in the Valley have stood vAllantly behind the directors of the Imperial Valley Water Users AssOcia ton in this effort tc negotiate deal for the purchase of the canal system from the California Development Compauy- believing ss they did, that the board was com posed of earnest, level-headed and conscientious business men who were determined to get the best possible proposition for the people that the situ- ation would permit Of. At rOusing mass meeting held in Imperial August g, resolutions were adopted expressing the satisfaction of the people upon the successful termination of the negotla- tions and endorsing the action ot the Board. 4 resOluti n endorsing the ! proposition as submitted by the Board and endorsed by President Heber of the ! C. D. Co. was passed with cheers and without dissenting voice.
 Those who have not closely followed the course Uf the negotiations for the past few months may b. inclined to view the price which the Reclamation Service will be asked to pay the (. D. Cu.. 3,0OO, ,OOO, a. being excessive land a- the settlers must eventually repay the loan to the government asa bur- den which cannot b,. safely assumed by the people of the Valley. That this ob jection Is unfound.,l will be seen upon an ,xamination of the proposition The Negotiating Committee of the Water Users Association first offered Mir. Heber's Company $2,OO0,0OO for their property, this amount being what they deemed to be the cash or intrinsic value oi the system in its present state. MT. Hebcr in turn asked $5 900, 900 for the property, his estimate being largely based on the probable earning capacity of the system as indicated by existing contracts for supplying water to lands already sold. IL must he borne in mind tlaE-the C. D. Co. began operations Tn the Imperial Valley in the early spring of laOO, and that most of the existing contracts for supplying water to settlers through the various Mutual Water Conn panics, were entered into within two years thereafter, or before the passage of what k known as the National lrrl- gation Act, which became n law In 1903 When the C. D. Co. began the work oi canal construction and colonization of country which never before had sup ported human life, it required a high de-
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