Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-10-02
A. FLLIEISCHIlEIR
Real Estate, Insurance, Loans
iii south Fourth Street

government began to take eognizanee
of the Importance Of irrigation as a
means of bringing greater areas OF
land under cultivation ana the Carey
Iact, which prescribed a species of co.
operation between the federal and
state governments and private enter
prises, became a law. Then was en-
Iacted the far-reachlng national law
of 1902, known as the reclamation
act Under this act the proceeds
Of the sale Of public lands amounting
ito approximately SlOo,00U,O0O, was
set apart TO be devoted to the develop
|mont Of irrigation enterprises through
out the scmi-ard west under the di-
Erection Of the federal government.
Elephant Butte Dam.
And so irrigation as a means toward
development Of otherwise waste lands
has progressed from the brush and
earthen dam Of the pioneers of fifty
and sixty years ago, to the great Ele-'
plant Butte dam at Elephant Butte,
\. NJ, the largest mass of masonry in
the world, impOunding the largest ar
tificial body of water i'm the world the
last word as il were, in the constuc-
tion Of irrigation systems,
I'm the domain of law irrigation has
come up through much sorrow and
many tribulations 10 quote an author
lily on the subject. At first there was
no law, simply the custom of the set
tiers: then the fragmentary federal
law Of 1866 recognizing the right Of
appropriation. Since that time there
has been tumble of laws and deci-
siOns recognizing here the old riparian
doctrine of the common law and else
where spurning it entirely I'm one
state the contention would be made
THAT unused water belonging to the
United States. i'm other states it would
be held that water was the property of
the state through which it passed.
In some states il would be main
tanned that the water is an inscpara-
.hIe adjunct of the land; other states
insisted upon the right to sell and dis
pose Of water as separate property.
Because of the various and varying
contentious it was deemed wise by
those who We're interested, from one
motive to another, i'm the question Of
irrigation, to get together and deter
mine whether or not order might be
brought out of the chaos which eX-
listed The result of this getting to-
igether was the founding Of the Inter
national Irrigation congress, which
held its first meeting in Salt Lake
City, September II TO II, 1891.
Government Gives Md.
Much was accomplished at this
meeting in the way Of attracting the
attention of the general government
to the absolute necessity for the en-
.actment of laws which would make it
easier for settlers i'm the so-Called arid
west to get water to their lands. Dur
ing the years which have interviewed
since the foundation of the congress
much has been done to reduce the
question of conservation of water for
irrigation purposes to an exact science.
Since the passage of the reclamation
act in 1902 twenty seven great irriga-
ton projects have been undertaken by
the United States government under
the direction of the department of the
interior. As result hundreds Of
thousands of acres Of fertile lands,
providing homesteads for many
thousands of home building settlers
have been reclaimed.
OF the total number Of projects un-
dertaken by the government, four are
in the immediate vicinity of Fl Paso
the Roosevelt or Salt river project
in Arizona; the HondO and Carlsbad
projects, in New Mexico, and the Ele-
!phant Butte project in New Mexico
land Texas. And the greatest of these
dams in point of eXpensVencss, in
point of size and in volume of water
stored is the Elephant Butte dam, the
dedication of which by President VIII
son or an accredited personal repre-
sentative will be the GROWING feature
of the annual meeting Of the lnterna
ttional Irrigation congress Of 1916, to
he held at the dam october H. and at