Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1929-06-16
DISPUTE MAY
Be TAKEN TO
STATE COURTS
Edinburg Men Seek
ing Right to Irrigate
88,S52 Acres of Land
In Hidalgo
BY IL. G.. STILLWELL. Jr.,
Herald staff Writer.

AMAAN @m#HA - WAAA1 A
ing forces In the Valleys greatest
irrigation battle were putting their
artillery into position today for tha
opening Of the encounter Monday
at Edinburg.
For the first time In the history
Of the Valley. and in the state. the
question of water rights threatens
to be taken into the courts for n
decision. III the Valley districts lose
in the encounter mt Edinburg.
Hearing starts 40 Edinburg Nom
day before the state board OF water
engineers on the application Of j. IT.
Franklin OF EdinburE for permis-
sion to take 500 second feet from
the river. This water would be-
used. according TO the Franklin
application. TO irrigate 88,a52 acres
Of land. lying between Edinburg and
the Brooks county line In northern
HidalgO county.
The present irrigation districts
of the Valley are presenting a
united front against granting or
the application.
May Seek Court Order
II they lose before the state
board, in all probability a court
order restraining the Franklin in
terests from taking water from the
river will be sought. Such action.
1t Is pointed out. will be the first
move toward establishing water
rights by court order. The present
districts hold that they have "a legal
right to waters of the river over
any districts that may be formed by
reason OF prior beneficial usage.
The forces that will lead the fight
against the Franklin application
were In conference here several
times during the past few days. put
ting their arguments into final form.
Frank S. Robertson. manager Of the
san Benito irrigation district in
chairman OF the committee IN
charge OF the campaign against the
Franklin application, while A. L.
Montgomery Of this city and Neal
A. Brown OF Edinburg are leading
counsel for the districts. In ad-
dition attorneys for the individual
districts viii aid in the fight against
the new application.
Interesting information expected
70 be brought out az the hearing
l. indicated i'm the line ~ attarE.
OF the districts. Mr.. Brown has
been working for some time to de-
termine who are the owners of the
land IN question. the applicant.
FRANKLIN. being "a school tax asses
sor. az Edinburg. and owning verv
lttIe, II any. OF the land in question.
Fart OF It takes in the old Young
ranch property, which has been
sold. and runs adjacent 10 the Nc
Allen ranch, although not includ-
ing this.
Several Tracts
Inc map Of the district shows
several tracts Of developed land left
out Of the district. although entire
ly within its boundaries. Such IS
not considered a legal bar to forma-
ton Of the district.
Additional information which UilI
re brought out ar the hearing will
ihc!uce description Of the land 10
De irrigated. The contestants claim
mat this land, because Of its altitude
distance from the river, Il not
subject to irrigation.
Ihey also claim that the char
acter OF the soil is such as 10 re-
qulre an unusually large quantity
OF water. There are places In the
tract where THE Rio Grande wonld
not run 200 yards above thn Sur-
race z. M. Card, engineer making
the survey said.
North Of Districts
The principal reason for thr
united attack on this application Nv
seen in the fact that ~ N north
OF all the present Valley districts.
and that II does not provide for
storage Of water. AT the time
Franklin filed his original presen-
tation. three years ago. the state
BOARD mad made no ruling requiring
districts 70 put in storage. Since
mat time the board has ruled that
OH new districts must provide suf-
Ilclent stores to irrigate the entire
acreage, so that the districts will
not have TO pump from the
river during periods Of low flow.
The Franklin application. filed
early this year. and based OF the
original presentation. makes no
mention Of storage, although
storage Is mentioned In the original
presentation.
The right or the Franklin inter-
ests TO secure a permit based on the
original presentation will be con-
tested on several grounds by tho
districts. One OF these will he that
the presentation and the applica-
ton cover entirely different sections
Of land. The presentation was on
a tract Of approximately 100000
acres OF land directly west OF Mis-
sion. and fronting on the river.
Efforts have since been made 20
form a district Of part Of this land.
the $1,000 acres of the Penita tract.
but no progress has been made due
10 fights among landowners.
Different Tract
The application as filed this year
covers a different tract Of land. and
Is a different project. according %
arguments OF the contestants. and
hence the district would not have
precedence over all those which have
filed applications since the original
presentation Of Franklin was filed
three years ago.
The Valley districts will open
their fight Monday by presenting
the state board with petitions signed
bv thousands OF Valley farmers.
asking that the hermit hn rrt