Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-08
INSTALLMENT XIV.

TINE Board of Supervisors granted
the petition unanimously ana
amidst cheers and rejoicings.
Babson's speech, in rebuttal TO
Gagans, proved to be the mas
terpiece of his career. He read TO the
meeting the law under which the dis--
trict proposed to operate-read IL Iignt
out of the Code OF Civll PROCEDURE,
too and pooh-hooed the idea OF
slick metropolitan lawyer trying TO
brighten honest and intelligent men
with crazy bugaboos Of unconstitutional
law that was and for some years hao
been embodied In the code. III this
law was unconstitutional" he yelled,
Its unconstitutionality would nave
been discovered before the bill was even
submitted to the Legisl- ture, and II II
hadn't been discovered then the Legs
lature, a majority of whom are prac-
ticing attorneys. would have discovered
it and even II the Legislature had,
unbelievably, failed to discover 1t. the
| supreme Court, whose duty 1t is 10
pass upon the constitutionality OF our
State laws, would long since have dis
covered it, Pooh-pooh and q couple
| of what-notS for the mighty Mr.:
Gagan! We are not to be frightened
by men of straw"
One of the farmer protestants there
upon arose and assured Mr.. Baoson
that he, Babson, was a monumental
| iackass and suggested that Babson
obliee Forlorn Valley by going out into
the lavatory and cutting his throat
| A ee-for-all fight instantly developed
and when the sheriff and some volun-
teer assistants had succeeded In re-
storing order the board, wishful OF re-
moving itself from such highly
charged atmosphere, it promptly adj
iourned; whereupon all OF the pro-
ponents, including Mr. Babson. ad-
journed also-to local speakeasy and
there, with one-sided argument and
LIQUID local disturbance, soon worked
up a tremendous faith in the Justice
and unassailable security Of their po-
Sition.
| The project moved forward without
delay. Sixty days from the date OF
! the approval of the petition by the
Board of Supervisors the Forlorn
Valley irrigation district had come into
legal existence by very substantial
majority of the residents in the area
| to be irrigated Silas Babson, tired. but
happy and triumphant, was its presi-
dent; Henry Rookby, who owned 10
acres in the district, was the secretary,
and the Bank of Valley Center was
the depository Of the funds OF the
district.
Up to this time no hint Of legal
| interference had come from Nate
Tichenor or Lorry Kershaw, with the
result that the directors OF the district
had no difficulty persuading them
selves that GaganS warning had con-
stituted a final Intellectual bluff; that
Tichenor and Lorry Kershaw, realizing
the bluff had been called, had now
despaired Of averting the inevitable
and had concluded to make the best
of the situation-a SuppoSition still
further strengthened by Babson's
knowledge that Nate Tichenor had re-
turned to New York for an indefinite
stay. DR.. Donaldson was authority for
this report.
Within two weeks after the district
had come into official being the State
Water Commission obligingly allocated
to it the flood waters of Eden Valley
Creek. A bond issue was got out
within a week; within two weeks the
State Bond Certification Committee
had certified the bonds as legal in
vestment for trust companies and
savings banks and. by unanimous vote,
Silas BabSon was given the job of
diSposing of them to the highest bid
der. A New York house wired in a
bid of 81 and, after devoting a month
to the task. Babson decided this offer
was one point higher than he could
secure locally, so the district closed on
the offer and, with the receipt Of the
money, proceeded at once to spend it.
1t was early Fall by this time and
too late to commence construction of
the diversion dam up in the Handle,
but all other construction work could
proceed during the Wjuter-and did,
with the result that when the Spring
freshet had subsidized in Eden Valley
Creek about the first of May, all work
had been completed save the diversion
dam, and work commenced on that at
once. BY July this dam was COM
pleted and, although Babson longed
to see goodly portion of the Summer
flow in his main canal, a letter from
Gagan reminded him that any ATTEMPT