Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1904-06-10

The present law aims to stop this
almost useless expense Of time and
money 10y requiring the state Engin-
Ter to prepare for each stream list
of the appropriations according tn
priority. Provision Is made for
those parties who are not satisfied
with the determination of the State
Engineer To bring IN action in the
proper court, but SO much engineer
ing data and evidence will then he
ready that il such eases do arise they
will he speedily disposed OF.
According to the new law, water
* nppurtcnant to the land irrigated.
and beneficial USE is the measure of
the right. This is now believed to
ne the cardinal principal of all good
irrigation legislation. Without wat
cr, land In Nevada is worthless, so
there should he no right to water
apart from that to land. No COM
pany owning n ditch, but not the
land under IL, should he considered
HS owning water. The right must
reside in the owner of the land. The
ditch company should simply charge
the user for conveying water to him,
just rs u railroad charges for trans
pOrtatlOn OF freight. Without such
Il provision for the union of land and
water the future of our irrigation
enterprise would be ut least unccr-
tain.
In lcgiSintinE on the Use of water
ii Is not sufficient to state that wat
cr u he used bcnciicially and eco
nOmically, aS has often been done.
Such Il clause allows too great lati-
tudc in its Interpretation. II is nee
cssnry to state IL limit beyond which
.-, ..llNNK t,., shah L.. ,,.I. mn
term used to express the relation he
tween the land irrigated and the
water used is called the duty of
water. We speak of this duty aS
high when Il large body Of land is ir-
rigatcd 10y Il small volume uf water.
and rs low when much water is used
On liItlr land. In fixing This duty
other state laws prescribe one cubic
100 per ccOnd To Il stated number
al acres. In WyOminSand Nebraska
the maximum allowance Is one cubic
loot per second ia every S"yrntv
;IcTrS. AS the length Of the irriga-
zion season Is not fixed no definite
amount OF water is thereby specified.
FOR instance under the Wyoming al
lowancr the land can he covered to
II depth OF o. Uf II foot in 80 days.
Ii the scaSon lasts for four months II
depth Of > SCI feet results: ii for five
months. the land may he Hooded to
II total depth OF / - feet.
Our law deals with the duty Of
water in II novel way. 1t prrscribcS
tInt the maximum quantity Of water
which inaf 10" used for irrigation
shall not exceed three feet per y,.ur
Tor cnch acre irrigatcd-thnt TX, Il nj
lows land to he iiuOhcd To n total
maximum depth Of three feet. In
dealing with stored water, us we
shall Don bc able to do in western
Nevada, IL is essential that n definite
quantity he prescribed. so that this
section Of our law could not be i'm
proved.
In regard to the sutlici"ncy Of this
allowance, no Onc who has seen irri-
cation pructiccd elsewhere can du
other than deplOrc the wastcful meth
obs used around us. All Of our own
farmers cOnccdc that they Use too
much water, but the wastccOntinurs.
In Il number Of our valleys u drive
along certain roads during the irri-
cation season makes the stranger
wonder ii he has straycd into a ditch.
The practice is not only wastciul Oi
water. il il wastcful Of land. All Oi
III are familiar with the tulcswamps
In the Reno valley which are simply
the results Of excessive irrigation ON
the mcighbOrinG higher lands.
II IL u maxim among engineers
that drainage must follow irrigi-
ton just rs certainly us n sewer sys.
TEN must follow u municipal water
supply. The first land to bc irrigat-
al nnIpr ihp (;nNpInIpppt works. lins