Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1929-05-26
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value Of these investments depends
upon a sufficiency Of irrigation wa
ter. The petition sets forth further
that 1t Is common knowledge In the
Valley that there Is not enough wa
ter In the Rio Grande &C times dur
ing the summer to meet the de-
mands OF the present districts, and
that granting Of another large per-
nit would seriously affect the pres
ent districts.
Plan to Ask Farmers
I'VE plan to ask every farmer In
the San Benito tract to sign one OF
these petitions Mr.. Robertson said,
Our plan here Is to ask each ditch
rider TO take them TO every farmer
on his tract.
Then when the hearing opens
we will dump them on the desk be-
fore the board I don't know wheth-
er they will be worth anything le-
gally or not. but they will unques-
tionably impress the seriousness OF
the situation upon the board"
Most other districts will circulate
them in a similar manner. and II
Is estimated more than 90 per cent
Of Valley farmers will sign the pc
| tition.
Many other lines OF attack upon
the application or Franklin were
discussed by Mr.. Robertson here to-
day, in going over the situation.
Storage OF Water
Copies of the original presenta-
ton, filed with the board OF water
engineers May 10, 1926, show that
the plan at that time called for
that the tract on which the presen-
tation filed is not the same as the
tract for which the present appli-
cation Is asked. The tract on. which
the presentation was filed Is one
OF 100000 acres. touching the Rio
Grande on the south. and lying
west OF the Mission section. 1t IN
cludes the z3r21S-acre tract which
was proposed to be organized into
Hidalgo irrigation district No. 10,
Attempts to organize this district
have met with bitter opposition and
half a dozen p0Stponements have
left the matter still undecided. with
opponents Of 1t claiming that ii will
not be brought up again.
North Part of County
The 86.852 acres on which the
application was filed, on April 9,
1929. is in the northern part of the
county. starting Just at the north
end OF the Edinburg district. II
extends on up to within six miles
Of the Brooks county line, taking
In all OF the Young ranch property
and being adjacent to the McAllen
ranch. The southernmoSt section
Of IL is Is miles from the Rio
Grande. Only about two miles OF lis
boundary Is common boundary with
that Of the land on which the orig
inal presentation was filed, and
none Of the land within the boun-
dairy is in the other section.
This fact will be made the basis
Of one contention Of the opponents
Of the application. They also will
question the contSitutionality, in the
event It becomes necessary, Of the
statute which permits filing OF a
presentation without notifying In
terested parties.
No 4NuthNt SCBt Ouh
No official notice OF the presen-
tation Of May 10. 1926. was ever sent
out. We believe that a law which
gives an individual or group OF in
dividuals prior rights on the basis
of a presentation. which can be
made without notice being sent out
10 persons whose rights are Is un-
constitutional. In other words the
Franklin interests, on the face of
1t. have secured prior rights 10 all
the Valley districts filing since thet
time, and none OF these other dis
tricts have been notified of the ex-
istence of the Franklin presenta-
ton"
Mr. Robertson said there are other
legal grounds on which the applica-
ton will be fought. and also that
10 will be fought on the basis that
It Is not feasible to irrigate the
land.
He called attention to the fact
that the original presentation pro-
vides for storage, and the applica-
ton does not mention storage. This
would mean that the district would
need water worst during the time
the river Is the lowest. and would
have no water in storage at that
time.
Start Work Monday
Mr.. Card. the engineer. and his
staff will start their work Monday
to prove their contention that irri-
CATION Of the land as outlined Is not
feasible. Mr.. Robertson said the
plans for the main canal, which will
run from a point nea Samfordyce
in a northerly direction to the west
ern corner Of the tract, would take
the canal over hilly land that is &C
feet higher than the highest point
on the tract. which is $50 feet above
sea level. Several lifts will be nee
eSSary to get the water up to this
high point, and then there will be
a rapid drop to the land to be irri-
gated.
Behring'S also will be made In an
effort TO bear out the contention
that much Of the land Is of such a
nature rs TO require an unusually
large amount of water for irrigation,
There are places where the nor
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