The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1916-10-19
WATER BOARD HAS
BEGUN Big SURVEY

Rhea Luper, engineer for the State
Water Board, assisted by Fred Coshow
and Maclolm Button, have begun the
four months task of making a survey
Of the entire area of the Hood River
Valley under the bitches of irrigation
systems or that may be irrigated.
During the week. h. X. Donnelly,
another engineer of the Water Board,
accompanied by R. C. Ingraham. will
arrive here to assist with the gigantic
task. Geo. T. Cochran. of La Grande,
eastern Oregon water superintendent,
was here Saturday to inspect the initial
work OF the engineer. The work OF
the Water Board has been undertaken
here for the purpose of adjudicating
the water rights of the entire Hood
River watershed. The task was initi-
ated recently. when the Supreme
Court, remanding decision of Judge
W. l.. Bradshaw in :the case of the
Oregon Lumber Co. vs.. The East Fork
Irrigation District, referred the case
to the Water Board. The lumber con-
cern and the irrigation district, the
system of which covers the entire East
Side orchard district. an area of about
$4,000 acres, were making adverse
claims to the waters of the East Fork
of Hood River. Following the settle
ment of the lumber company and irri-
cation system litigation, q case be-
tween irrigation systems and local
power concerns was imminent. The
rights of all parties will be included In
the proceedings instituted by the
Water Board.
''0ur work involves an actual survey
of all the lands of the entire water
she," said MIR. Luper Saturday after
noon. I'VE have already begun work
in the Upper Hood River Valley, and
will gradually proceed to the lower
levels. Our records, when complete,
will not only show the acreage but a
classification of the vegetation on the
different tracts. We have established
stations and are taking daily measure
ments Of the currents of the streams.
While our survey will end in about
four months, years photographic
record will be taken, and it will be at
least a year before the litigation can
again be taken up.
Following our survey, we gather
affidavts from all property owners and
water users, getting the acreage from
our own records or their property
records. We secure sworn statements
as to their water rights and when they
we're initiated. When we have com
pleted these files, they are then opened
for five days inspection of any user
of water, and il he finds that his
claims are contested or he wishes to
make claims against some other user,
arguments are advanced before the
Water Board, and if necessary further
testimony is admitted. The board
then makes its final determinations,
and this order goes to the circuit
court. All users of water are again
notified, and exceptions can be filed
with the court, which proceeds to make
final rulings. The users of water have
the right of appeal to the Supreme
Court"
The case impending will involve ap-
proximately 80 per cent of the assessed
valuation of the county. property
valued at some $40, 600, 900.
Mr.. Luper says the case, with re-
spect to property valuation will prob.
ably be the biggest ever before the
courts of the state. The Power River
case and the Rogue River Valley cases,
he says, involved larger acreage, but
the local real estate and valuable
power sites, will bring the value of
the local holdings involved to a maxi
mum figure for water litigation in
Oregon.