The Greeley tribune., 1905-09-07
DITCH VERSUS HYDRANT.
Editor the Tribune

. ei!tOrlA. columns OF lle tribune =
week you apparently endorse ,at
newly discovered idea of takils ;
part Of our canal appropriation Is
source Of supply for the pro! cset
gravity pressure water works. caI
only attribute what l consider ysEl
grave error in opinion to the fact
that you have been with lis but Z
comparatively short time and d. not
therefore really comprehend tie
relative Importance of the two >ys.
TENS in the application of water II
irrigation. on the other hand
have been here long time, from the
trst, in fact. and as l use habitua :
both methods on my premises,
think 1 do understand it and with
your permission l will both state
and illustrate this relative import
ance.
cultivate. as is we'll known. an
acre of ground inside the city limits.
And knowing that l never used the
hydrant and hose to even irrigate my
lawn when the ditch supply was
abundant, and otherwise merely to
sprinkle my flowers and occasionally
wash of my shrubbery, the city clerk
has in the past oeen charging me at.
l suppose. reduced rate for the
small use l have made of the city
water: that is to say a little over
three times the sum that l have
heretofore annually paid for the
water from our ditch. But even so
nave said time and time again,
and do not hesitate to say so now.
that had | been charged twenty-five
dollars for the use of the ditch and
given the free use of the hydrant,
not every other day. and at stated
hours, hut at all times of day and
night, l should still use the ditch
when the water supply was sufficient.
and only use the hydrant and hose
where the ditch was not available,
or that method not applicable.
The fact is that our city authori-
ties both now and in the past have
greatly moderated the importance OF
the canal and greatly overrated the
Importance of the hydrant in SO far
as mere irrigation is concerned.
And they have so neglected our op-
portunities as to our ditch supply,
merely. l suspect. because it never
cost the city anything, that some OF
us have for long time contemplated
asking the courts through regularly
instituted legal proceedings, to take
that portion of the ditch nominally
owned by the city out of its hands,
on the ground that it had proved it.
self utterly incompetent, and was
through statuatory limitations also
unable to properly perform the task
imposed upon it as its successor in
trust by the Union Colony; and to
restore it to its actual owners hold
ing original deeds, the lot and land
owners inside the city limits. For
it is fact that while for years the
supply has been insufficient for the
needs OF the people in the irrigation
of their gardens, lawns, shrubbery,
trees and flowers: and while all
other ditch companies or owners of
water rights in them have meantime
at great expense been supplemeAting
the river supply by the construction
of reservoirs: and although the city
has been time and again importuned
to take similar steps in the interest
OF the owners and users of this water
under its control, as such successors
In trust, it has either entirely ip-
nored all such requests, or affirmed
through the advice of its ATTORNEYS
that it could not own ditch or reser-
voir stock and could not engage in
the construction of reservoirs. 1t
should have been the policy of the
city. to encourage the use of the canal
at all times, as relieving the pres
sure on the city pipe supply and by
every means within its power il
should have sought to supplement-
the canal supply, because it is i'm
mensely the cheaper method. And
vet L do not hesitate to affirm thar
this valuable franchise, with its nos
sibilities for the good of the place
and the convenience of the people
has been grossly, shamefullv. and
lnexcuabiy neglected in the past. I |
Win many others object to the pro- I
posed transfer OF any portion what
ever OF this water to the proposed
new source of supply. We believe
1t to be not only a very unwise step
but an illegal one; for while it is
true that many original owners of
this water have become content to
use few feet of hose with which to
sprinkle few square feet OF lawn in
the1r fronts, to the almost total ex.