East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1911-12-13

There is under irr' cation on Birch
and Mckay creeks probably three
thousand acres of land which the rec
lamation service admits that we have
va'id right to some water. We have.
however, about one thousand acres
that is under ditch which they do not
rocogn ze and for this land we have
no water right and under the pres
ent ruling of the reclamat on SER
vice never will have, If the West
Umatilla project is completed.
Some of you will probably wonder
why we will not be able to put water
on this land. The reason is that on
March, 1909. the government made
b anket filing on the Umatilla river
and its TT butaries of all the water
unappropriated at that time; little at
tention was paid to this, however, as
the settlers felt that they would be
allowed to use the flood w,aers that
was flowing through their own land.
bitches were constructed and the pro-
gress'Ve farmers continued to place
new lands under irrigation a fast as
poss BILE until about the middle of
April of this year. when three hundred
and sixty water users on the Umatil-
Ia and its tributaries We're subpoe-
naed to appear before the state water
board at Pendleton on June 18th In
an wer to a contest case against the
various water rights, the contestant
being oliver p Morton. assistant to
the United States strict attorney.
This contest seemed to be princi-
pally on the grounds that the settlers
had applied for more water than was
necessary to irrigate their land and
stated that the government would not
grant more than one-eighth OF GU
bic foot per second or about two and
one-half feet per acre, this contest,
mind you, was only on the lands that
had water rights prior to March 9th,
1909. the hundreds of acres that had
been put under irrigation subsequent
to that period were ignored entirely
No Compromise Possible.
Shortly after this Water Users as
sociation was organized and its
members endeuvored to compromise
the case with Mr.. Morton. whereby
they might be entitled to use as much
water as was really necessary to grow
Their crops, but We're ur- BILE to get
the representative of tn exclamation
service to grant any concessions
whatever.
Now. gentlemen. it has been estab-
lished by actual experiments made by
experienced irrigators that it takes
nine feet of water to grow three crops
of alfalfa on some of these lands, al
though these reclamation officials
who do all of their irrigating on pa
per. tell us that two and one-halt
feet of water is all that we can use
The water users have employed
competent attorneys. Our cases are
now in the circuit court and we DO
not know where they will end. Thus
Thousands of dollars are being eX-
pended to protect our rights, some OF
which have been established for over
forty years.
Now. Mr.. President and members
of the Commercial association, and
Won gentlemen who have journeyed
all of the way from Portland to learn
the facts of this case. do you think
that we, the residents and home
builders of this country, should be
! compelled to allow the waters to no"
past our doors and on down the river
| for fiftv miles and there to be turn
! ed on to a domain that is owned prin-
] c:pallv nv two of the wealthiest cor
/ porations in our state, when we need
and will utilize all of this water at
/ home if this great and free govern
ment of ours wIh only give US the
opportunity.