The La Jara chronicle. (La Jara, Conejos County, Colo.) 1896-19??, 1911-10-06
GOVERNMENT COULD AFFORD TO DIG THE bitches
The Value of the Seepase Water Developed by Drainage
is than Sufficient Construct Drainage System

irrigation of the San Luis Val
ley the physical condition of the
various sections should govern in
the planning OF the systems and
should govern the size of the
district brought under one system
A stretch of country having one
general slope lying between the
foothills and the river, and bound
ed by separate water courses such
as the Alamosa and Rio Grande
rivers, essentially, naturally and
logically suggest that it be or
ganized into one general system
and under one general manage
ment to best conserve all interests
under it. 1t is a lamentable fact
that individual interests preclude
some of the interested parties as
well as some land holders from
adopting this plan. 1t will cost
no more to irrigate or drain one
hundred thousand acres as unit
than it will to irrigate and drain
one hundred, one thousand acre
tracts separately, or one thous-
and, one hundred acre tracts
While the advantage gained by
the reuse of seepage water de-
veloped by the drainage bitches
is of a value scarcely calculable
at our present stage of develop
ment, we earnestly hope that
before it is too late that the res
ident land holders, who as a mat
ter Of law are complete masters
of the situation, will rise to the
Importance of the occasion and
adopt the plans of the larger
district and thus develop the
country on a broader basis than
is advocated by some minor in
terests.
If it can be done would it not
be infinitely better to have all
the land reclaimed which lies in
one natural drainage system or
sloping in one genreal direction
and subject to irrigation from
one general ditch system than to
have little patch developed here
and little spot there while all
the intervening land is left in
its present alkaline and water
logged condition. You residents
alone can determine the size of
the districts you will form, the
york you will do and what you
will pay for the same. You are
the rulers in the irrigation dis
trict whether that district be
large or small. If the district
is large and includes lands ly-
ing lower than those of your own
ncighborhood then the water de-
veloped in your neighborhood
by the seepage bitches will be
used on those lower lying lands,
allowing you to use that much
more of the reservoir water, or
other direct flow water from the
river. This is self evident
fact which you should consider
regardless of the advice of any
counsel to the contrary. Be gov
erned by motives of the best in
terest to yourselves as you see
it and do not listen to criti-
cisms of those who ignore facts
and appeal to prejudice. The
larger the drainage districts the
more use and value you will re-
ccive from the seepage water
developed by the drainage bitches
in any given district having one
general slope. The oftener the
water can be used over to
water some of the lands of the
district the more value it will be
to you as a member of that
district, for each time it is used
it means that much less water
will be required from the direct
bitches or reservoirs to water
these lands. If you are going
to develop this seepage water,
WHY DON'T YOU USE THE
HORSE SENSE TO GET SOME
BENEFIT FROM 1T. 1t is yours
until decided away but when once
parted with, when once conveyed
to another, it is gone forever.
Its value now is at least one
thousand five hundred dollars
per second foot and when more