The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1922-03-09

Col. ]. G. Scrugham, state en-
gineer, speaking before a record
crowd at today's Chamber of Com
merce luncheon, declared that the
fertile lands Of the Humboldt river
basin cannot be further advanced
in husbandry until all question Of
water rights have been fully settled
and acquisced in by the people in
volved in the apportionments. Ad-
mittedly, said Col. Scrugham, this
county's greatest single asset Is its
agriculture, potential and actual.
Large areas Of virgin soils lie in
Paradise Valley, in Grass Valley and
along the Humboldt river. Home
building opportunity is presented
but cannot be matured until the ex-
isting chaos has been fully clarified.
The experiences Of those who at
tempted the colonization scheme at
Metropolis, in Elko county, was re-
cited to show the futility of at
tempting land development from the
Humboldt and its tributaries in ad-
vance Of acceptable apportionment
to serve existing rights. At Me-
tropolis, according to the speaker,
about one million dollars were ex-
pended, people were placed on the
land segregations only to suffer the
interposition of court injunctions at
the instance Of residents Of the
lower Humboldt valley. Consider
able losses inevitably followed. Down
at Duckwater, continued the speak
er, q similar undertaking met like
fate attended by heavy financial
losses, shooting affrays and bitter
feuds that will last out this genera
ton. Peculiarly, both the Metropo-
lis and Duckwater ventures were
sanctioned by the state engineers
Office, only to later come into con-
flict with vested rights.
At the present time claims are
filed with the state engineers Office
involving water appropriation for
$50, 900 acres Of land within the
basin Of the Humboldt. To make
these claims final a court decree
must be entered. Nearly 1000 in
dividual rights are involved in
claimed prior rights. In addition
102 applications for Humboldt river
water still pend in the state en-
gineer's Office. These total 685.7
cubic feet Of the normal flow of
the river and 354,700 acre feet of
the food waters of the watershed.
Among the applicants for large
amounts of water who are included
within the later-day suppliants are
w. C. Pitt and associates of Love-
lock who request the right Of diver
sion at Humboldt House to the
amount of $4,000 acre feet; Shee-
han 4 Taylor, who would divert at
Red House, 114,0O0 acre feet, and
Jay Clemons, who proposes diver
sion at point near Deeth, 100, 900
acre feet.
The state engineer emphasized
the urgency of dealing with the
Humboldt river question as a whole
and that it can not be settled piece
meal. Four thousand land surveys
have already been made, 100000
water measurements have been eff
fected and 5000 pages of testimony
relating to these have been pre-
pared and filed. The summation of
all previous effort is contained in
the 1000 pages of manuscript lately
prepared by the state engineers
office and this gist of data is now
in the hands Of the state printer for
publishing purposes. This will reach
the individual in due season.
The primary question to be set
tied at this juncture, thinks Mr..
Scrugham, concerns beneficial uses.
In no one of the several Humboldt
basin irrigation districts are identi-
cal methods of irrigation carried on.
Harvest crops certainly require more
water than actual pasturage, while
what is known. as sagebrush pastur-
age requires even less than the mea-
dowland. For the several purposes
distinction is to be made by ap-
aortioning three acre feet annually
for harvest or class A crops; for
meadow land, or class B, one and
one-half acre feet, and for sage
brush pasturage, or class C crops,
three-fourths Of an acre foot. 1t is
proposed to exercise preference in
favor Of class A crops, notwith-
standing the priority of the use of
water. For instance, there may be
acreagea Of sagebrush pasturage