Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1912-11-16

then have expended their money ana
their energy until now what was flve
years ago barren sagebrush plain 70
fast becoming . succession Of orr
chards. gardens and fertile fields that
will, under proper conditions. soon
make It q veritable paradise. Only q
comparatively small area Of the lands.
however. have been cultivated; a. in
other new sections 1t will be a num-
Der of years before the entire tract
is under cultivation There has been
during the past two years an ample
water supply furnished by the COM
pany for all needed purposes. 1t Is
evident, in fact 1t ID conceded. that the
future supply IL somewhat problem
atical The company has In good faith
expended large sums Of money to in
sure an ample future supply. Such
efforts have not been so far successful.
It cannot be rightfully urged that the
settlers have no just complaint at
present. because so far they have had
suficient water to irrisate the limited
amount OF their lands under cultiva-
ton. They feel that they must be as
sured Of the future, that the uncer-
tainty as to the future water supply
must be removed: that the water prob
lem must be solved by the company
under the terms and conditions Of the
contracts heretofore made. With this
view l agree. Life Is hardly worth liv-
ing when such serious doubt OF the
future disturbs the present. This con-
dition of affairs Is veritable sword
of Damocles suspended over the heads
re <1H~ lit ~
Must Reservoir Water.
ut Is conceded, that there IL not
enough water flowing in Snake river to
supply this project from the natural
flow Of the river: the shortage gen.
orally occurring in the early part Of
July and sometimes extending
throughout the balance Of the season.
''This makes 1t necessary for water
to be reservoired somewhere. The res
ervoirs constructed upon the tract It,
self, am satisfied. cannot be made
OF any present or possibly no future
use so far as the water supply is con-
cemed. Personal inspection disabuses
my mind Of any thought Of this kind.
In fact the canal carrying water must
be taken away from the main reser-
voir near Jerome. or there will be
great loss at that point.
1.-THE only available reservoir site
is the Jackson lake, or the upper Snake
River valley. The question now be-
fore this board Is how much water
should be stored in such reservoir to
make an ample water supply for the
settlers.
1.-THE circulars. ETC., of the company,
methods OF inducement used by them
to invite settlers to the tract, show
that they had III 900 acre feet Of water
In the reservoirs on the tract and were
the natural flow with
that amount, and 1t was claimed by
the company that. while in ordinary
years they had enough water without
this 171,o00 feet would be
enough at all times to assure the water
supply. While we cannot attach too
much importance to this kind Of state
ments, they are certainly worthy of
and should be given
treatment by the board as being
methods Of inducement to the settlers
on the tract.
"The company now proposes to FUR
nish 10000 acre feet OF the new water
supply and to insure 100000 acre feet
Of reservoired water from Jackson
lake. The 100000 acre feet to be meas
ured at the Miner reservoir. This, the
settlers claim, is not sufficient
Il consider 1t practically conceded
that the loss of the canal system from
Miner to the vicinity of Jerome is in
the neighborhood Of 80 per cent of the
of water put in the canal.
There is always a certain amount of
water returned. Picked I'D water. as II
Is called. It is made available for use
by the settlers and there is a good deal
Of this. Down on the North Side tract
there is always a considerable amount
Of land occupied by buildings and land
that Is too high to irrigate. etc. I be-
lieve State Engineer Robinson is about
right when he offsets the loss of seep-
age by the picked up water and the land
that is not irrigated at all. Mr.. Rob-
Inson's examination shows in his opia-
lon how much water is necessary to be
rtorad IN ordor +o ,rri1oto ~. ,ooa,