Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1915-01-01

terstate Irrigation Coniii'SS'on
hova had the honor of being a
hor of this code commission for
time. To draw a water code
rat would be satisfactory, or be of
.ome benefit to water users and
water appropriations in the state OF
,raahipqton. 1t has been no small
,ask for this reason: In TINS state
oct If the water has been appro-
u;o+ed and we are for the first time
attempting to prepare water code
and have it enacted, at time many
oors after most of the water has
han in use. There is very little un-
appropriated water left in the state.
VIC also have this additional COM
n,,oation: the needs OF Eastern
Washington are based on one theory,
towit, irrigation; the needs OF the
vest side of the Cascades, or West
arm WASHINGTON, are based on the
use of the water for power, logging,
atc So we have two divergent in
tarests in water matters in this state,
and of course in commission select
ed from all over the state the diff
ferent mem bers have presented the
IDEAS peculiar to the localities in
which they live.
But in Eastern Washington we are
confronted with what in my opinion
are two very important phases OF the
question. You have water right,
that is, you say you have a water
right You have it in the Taylor
ditch. or the Eschbach ditch, or the
Gleed ditch, or some other ditch.
You haven't a thing in the world of
record to show that you have any
thing. You give man a deed and
you tell him you have water right
consisting of so and SO, and when he
goes to the abstract office and to the
county records he will find nothing
there showing that your water right
consists Of You purchase 40 acres
of land. The owner from whom you
purchase it says, | have an inch to
the acre of water. There is every
kind of an inch. The miners inch
under siX-inch pressure, which is the
one often referred to, but it is all
measured according to custom. In
some cases it is four-inch pressure
and in some cases two-inch pressure;
so an inch of water means nothing.
You take the mans land, however,
and pay for it, and you have nothing
OF record, but you have the mans
word. He has lived on the place 20
or 80 years, maybe, and he knows
when he first commenced to use this
water and he knows when his neigh
Dor commenced to use water, but you
don't. After you have been there q
lew years your neighbor asserts ad-
verse claim to your water, and you
say, John Smith from whom | pur-
chased this place said / had an inch
Oh water; and your neighbor says,
yes, you have an inch after l get my
inch. John Smith has moved away
and can't be found, or he is friend
or brother-in-law or something else
OF the neighbor and doesn't want to
90 against his interests, and you go
INTO court-you have no evidence,
and you find the court entering a de-
cree IN SIX months, or two years or
i've years afterwards that you have
second right to the water. You
VIII also find under natural condi-
ions you have plenty of water up to
the middle of May and from that
( time until the close of the irrigation
season you haven't enough for your
land.
luis thing is becoming more i'm
poftant every day. For instance,
inns morning before | came here l
nau little case which will illustrate
the Importance of this matter. Two
people each own 40 acres of land adj
Joining. There is a spring on one
Nv one of them raises alfalfa. This
year he raised something like 200
tons' and has sold It to a cattleman,
agreeing that the cattleman can have
Tue use of the water for the cattle
ana other purposes. The man on
whose land the spring is located has
owned 1t for few years. His broth
ei-ih-iaw, who owns the next 40, as
sefts he himself used the water from
mat spring when the 40 was govern
AiehC land. 1t is what we call water
curse and he claims to have the
prior right to this water, and he has
noeiIled the alfalfa raiser that he
must not use this spring water for
irrigation or for the cattle or other
purposes, and if he does he will en-
10 l..