Arizona republican., 1910-10-04
PHOENIX, ARIZONA, OCT. 4, 1s1
Our Ideal Valley.


 duct from the Owens river to Los Angeles is proceeding so rapidly that if has become advisable to perfect plans and terms for the disposal of the considerable surplus of water which the city of Los Angeles will have for sale. Water will be available from the aqueduct for the irrigation of some thousands of acres, and the terms upon which it is proposed to sell the water to ranchers should be interesting to the ranchers of the Sat River Valley who have contemplated with concern the terms upon which payment is to be made for the Roose- welt reservoir project.
 It is proposed to charge fifty dol lars per acre for water rights under the auueduct and ten dollars per acre per year for the use of the wa ter.
 In comparison with these terms, the figures which our ranchers will pay for the benefits of the Roosevelt res ervoir are extremely moderate.
 It Is expected that within a year or so after the annual payments to the government have begun on the main project, the Salt River Valley ranchers will pay not to exceed three dollars per acre a year-net. The reve- nue from the power plants will, 1t IS estimated, be sufficient to reduce the annual acreage charge to three dol lars, and possibly less.
 Moreover, our ranchers have no water rights" to pay for. water right" as all our local raeders know is simply the right or privilege of buying water from a canal company In the case of the Los Angeles aque- duct, the city retains the ownership of the water system. Here, the ranch CTS at the end of ten years will own absolutely and clear of debt, the en- tire reservoir and canal system, and thereafter their only expense will be the expense of maintenance. As a mat ter of fact, the revenues from power will then take care of not only al maintenance charges, but will yield, tc ranchers under the reservoir, hand some dividends annually.
 In other words, under the Roosevelt reservoir system, the ranchers of the Salt River valley will pay nothing fol irrigation water after the completion of the ten-year period. Not only that; they will get their water at no ex- pense, and in addition thereto will get dividends on their shares in the Water Users Association.
 In contrast with this happy situa- tion, the ranchers under the Los Ang- eles aqueduct will have paid, pei acre, for their water rights" as muct as our ranchers will have paid fol the actual ownership of their stor- age and canal system; and these Cali fornia ranchers must pay additionally ten dollars per acre each year through all time, for the use of water from the aqueduct.
 It must not be supposed that the California ranchers consider these terms a hardship. There are many water systems in Southern California in which the ranchers pay as much as ten dollars an acre per year fol their water. And today, in the Sar Fernando valley, above Los Angeles the ranchers of which expect to get water from the aqueduct, farm lands readily sell at such figures as voul6 amaze the land owners of the Salt River Valley. It is safe to say that these California lands. which are nc more productive than Salt River Val ley lands, and which yield no greater profits than the ranches of the Salt River Valley. sell at figures two and three times as high as lands sell for here.
 These figures tell their own story to everybody who is at all familiar with ranching conditions in both California and Arizona.
 Some of the California soil is ex- cellent, but the best of it is not su- perior in any way to the soil of our great valley.
 While, as we have said. these fig ures tell their own story, it is worth while to emphasize the fact that ranch land in this valley is selling for less than half the prices similar land is bringing in California-and less than half the prices which will be gladly