The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-09-09

II 49, ~ -
be resumed. The project is temper
e arily abandoned. One, two, three
g four possibly six years pass and moth
ing is done. But how about the wa
ter right? Does it lapse? Are the
Owners of the later rights benefited
6 or can a new company file, construct
a system and bring virgin soil under
{ irrigation? The state says in effect
that as long as it is in the mind OF
: the holder to repair the system and
resume operation the project is not
abandoned. A reasonable time should
I be given in which to repair the dam
: ages and begin operation or dispose
of their holdings. Otherwise pass it
: along. In some of the western states
t the law allows three years and in
others five in which to reconstruct
the system and begin delivering wa
ter. The Montana law tends to dis
courage rather than irri-
cation, and that condition prevails
at a critical period in the history of
the state-a period that should be
characterized by development and
progress rather than by delay and in
action.
This state has also failed to take
c~ognizance in any way of waste wa
ter. So far as / know, there is no law
against wasting water, or at any rate
there are thousands of acre-feet
wasted every year and it is generally
taken as a matter of course. The
only time I ever saw a man get the
right kind of calling down for vast
ing water in this state was when the
| county nom m iccinnar ~ 0,,t fropo
the county seat in a high-powered
car to view the roads and got stuck
in a fair-siZed swamp caused by over
irrigation. The person that caused
the quagmire was irrigating in a field
nearby and the compliments he re-
ceived from that party of officials
were really amusing. Nevertheless,
| dare say he is wasting water in the
same old hole. The very system I'M
der which water is secured for irri-
cation purposes in Montana tends to
create waste. Wyoming and Idaho
endeavor by law to obtain the great
est possible benefit of the water with /
in their confines. The Wyoming law
states that one s~econd-foot continu-I
Gus flow is sufficient for irrigating
20 acres, and Idaho allows one sec
ond-foot to 80 acres. In Montana
such an amount is filed on as the
owner can make beneficial use of.
The user naturally thinks that some
one may attempt to deprive him of a
portion of his supply and according
ly makes it sufficiently large. He
next attempts to crowd 10 second
feet through a five second-foot ditch
which results in wastage before the
water has travelled a hundred yards
in the conduit. Who is to determine
whether or not beneficial use is be-
ing made of the water? Why not
make that a duty of the water COM
missioner and enact a law stringent
enough to put a stop to the deliberate
waste of water? Under one of the
Oldest bitches on Sun River so much
land has been waterlogged by the
continuous flow system of delivery
that the landowners are anxious to
have some one-preferably the Rec
lamatiOn Service-construct a system
of drainage. Overirrigation has done J
harm in the west, and
is being considered more and more
every year to be a menac I men {
ton oyerirrigation in this particular {
because overirrigation is a useless '
of water. In irrigating steep :
hill-sides and on tracts so located as :
permit very short runs there is
often considerable wastage by users, :
but ordinarily a great deal of waste
of this character is unavoidable.
Nearly all the older rights in the
state deliver water on the continuous
flow basis. An allowance of one sec-
ond-foot to 80 acres, assuming that
the irrigation season is for a period
Of six months, amounts to 4 1-2 acre.
feet per acre. Under the system of
delivering water upon demand the
amount actually used per acre varies
from n to a fraction over two acre
feet per acre irrigated. The reclama-
ton service has adopted the latter
and is convinced of it's eff
Yet when it comes to the
period of greatest demand for water
n a season the service is on the same :
basis as those diverting water con-
sinually, although the latter may
have had as much delivered per acre
prior to the peak of the season as the
will deliver in an entire sea-
SON. Is it not poor irrigation practice
% put both systems on the same
Should not the system that
IS making the greatest possible use of
alter be given a comparatively
anger quantity during the period of
demand? The trouble in
his particular is that the second-foot
s made the yardstick for determine /,
ng all DEGREES and inasmuch as diff
'erent classes Of soils require vary
ng amounts there would be compIi- |
if placed on the acre-foot
AS the practice of irrigation }
the state increases and water be- 1
:omes more valuable I believe some !
should be and will be de-
Used to put a premium on its econo-
meal use. }
A few years ago on Snake river, in !
daho, the construction of a large
am for irrigation purposes put out
f commission a water wheel located
short distance above the dam by
estroying the current that operated
he wheel. Although the owner was !
ffered what was considered a fair
ettlement, he refused, took the case
ito court. and lost, In rendering his =