Arizona republican., 1914-03-14


 The country up there is volcanic. and may be underlaid by porous soils or sands which would spoil a reservoir,
 The lining of canals can be done in small amounts. This is a very efficient way to conserve water, and l count that second only in import ance to the construction of pumps up to the capacity of the underflow and the electrical power supply. i There is no other method so well adapted to gradual increase of the i valleys water supply as lining the i canals and stopping the seepage. This will also prevent water-logging of the old lands
 Dozens of farmers expressed their views at yesterdays meeting. There was far more intelligent presenta- ton of the actual needs of the man on the ground, than has been had at ! any previous meeting. The bureau i of friendly relations" established by the reclamation service some time lago is working fine.
 1 Some of the water users were for the immediate completion of the 1 project delimiting. Maintaining that l the uncertainty about water rights was worse than being cast out head long. many speakers advocated hay i ing it over, and then setting prompt i ly to work to add to the water re- sources so that the extra land could be brought in as rapidly as possible 1 Others declared that the limit could be left at 211 900 acres, or about the contracted are while these addi tions are being made There were sllirmishes between holders of new and holders of old land, resulting in no severe line up of factions, how ever
 ! Misrepresentation of lands water | rights by sellers of farms was strongly scored by several speakers. One man declared a prison sentence was not too severe for the man who will. for the sake of a deal, say that certain land has an assured water right. C. C. Lewis, who used one of his own farms as an illustration, called these dealers enthusiasts" 1 C. B. Wood drew from MT. Hanna the declaration that there was really only one limit placed on the pro 1 ject, the line that divides land physically possible of irrigation with out pumping from land to which no water can be raised All land within that line can at some time be sup piled if all sources of water are iproperly developed.
 l P. l. Edson made a ringing speech in defense of low water usage. T can and have raised the best of alfalfa, in big amounts. on three acre feet of water per acre. I do not maintain that all land can be so economically irrigated but I know it's true that less irrigation and more cultivation will elevate the conditions both of water and of crops in this valley closer study of the grade principle will help us. The slope of land is an important factor in determining the amount of water necessary to irrigate land sufficient ly to get the best results. Give us Ia market and rural credits depart lment of our association, cooperation in increasing the supply economy of water and sensible farming, and we will never have to think about cut ting out land from the project on account of it's unproductivity"
 Restrict now; extend later" said a man whose name was not learned
 Jehovah. himself. could not have made fairer report than the survey board. Let us put our shoulders to the wheel and work for the extra lands, by getting prompt action on the new undeveloped sources of SUD- ply contributed another.
 There are a thousand ways tC save water We will soon know and practice them all Save the water ,applied to old land and develop new land with it."
 How about school land?" asked a lessee
 i Mir. Orme explained that until legis- lation is enacted to allow the lessee to acquire title to school land, there can be no change in the policy Nor maj flow rights that attach to schoo land will have to carry it for the time being
 Said Ralph Murphy: The recla- ma tion service has not finished its work, if it has not succeeded in pro- viding water for the contracted land It now attempts to shift the responsi- bility of providing for the 2S.000 eX- cess acres to the water users
 To this Davis replied that the original agreement was to build 2 dam across Salt River, expenditure to be about three million. He sait that the reclamation service had donc great deal more than it had con- tracted to do, and perhaps more thar it ought to have done
 Operation minus waste will be the salvation of the project It is now only problem we must solve"
 Here is where Engineer Davis cu
 loose with his oration, the feature speech of the day, which has already
 been treated in detail
 1 O'Donnell's best little phrase wa. that one which brought the bigges laugh He said that the neoDle n