190 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



In 1882 your President, Hon. H. M. La Rue, expressed it as his solemn 

 opinion that, while diversified agriculture is highly desirable, and in most 

 countries is indispensable to successful farming, he felt bound to say that 

 greatly diversified agriculture is not possible or practicable in this State; 

 that the only practical diversity to farming in the great wheat growing 

 areas of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys, except when irrigation 

 is resorted to, relates to growing stock. Now, that we are confronted with 

 the fact that wheat can no longer be grown at a profit, and that stock grow- 

 ing alone could not be made profitable on these high priced lands, this 

 opinion leads to very serious reflections. My own opinion is that Mr. La 

 Rue has greatly understated the fact that, certainly, in most of the Sacra- 

 mento Valley lands, fruits of many kinds may be grown without irrigation, 

 and that diversified farming may be entered upon safely and profitably, 

 but the introduction of water would greatly facilitate this and greatly 

 enlarge the diversification. It is the opinion of many intelligent persons, 

 and it is my opinion, that the watersheds of the Sierras and Coast Ranges 

 and flowing wells will furnish enough water, if properly conserved, to sup- 

 ply the wants of the great valleys without impairing the navigable streams. 

 We must make reservoirs in the mountains: we must have a wise system 

 of laws for the protection of those who desire to use this fructifying ele- 

 ment as it now flows through its channels; we must have laws framed in 

 the interest of the great future stretching out before us — laws made to meet 

 the needs and demands of our people, and not upon fanciful theories, or 

 based upon reasons wholly inapplicable to our wants. The question is not 

 new, yet, strange to say, it is only since a recent decision of our Supreme 

 Court that the people have begun to think in earnest and seriously upon it. 

 In many portions of the State, irrigation is indispensable — in all the val- 

 leys it is desirable. Some just principle must be found upon which the 

 interest of the few must yield to that of the many. The question will affect 

 the growth of population until settled; it menaces many and important 

 interests at this moment; this society cannot be indifferent to the result. 

 For years your orators dwelt upon the injury being inflicted by hydraulic 

 mining, and for years the warning was unheeded, and your farms were 

 being destroyed and your navigable waters impaired, when suddenly, with- 

 out fresh cause, the people arose, and, in a struggle unparalleled in legal 

 history, the law became fixed and certain, and it is now conceded, what 

 was always the law, that a person must so use his own as not to injure 

 another. 



So with your water interests and your water rights. You have gone on 

 with the law unchanged, when suddenly our highest Court, which we are 

 bound to assume interpreted and applied the law as they found it, ren- 

 dered a decision that shook the foundations of the State, and threatened 

 the prosperity of the whole people. How to provide for this new phase in 

 our material interests I confess I do not know. I would not with my pres- 

 ent knowledge undertake to formulate a remedy. I think it would have 

 been premature for our Legislature, called suddenly together, without 

 previous study of this great question and its bearings upon individual and 

 public interests, without the benefit of calm and reflecting inquiry, to have 

 undertaken the solution. The atmosphere was filled with the heat of per- 

 sonal contending forces, recently arrayed in the Courts. There would 

 always have been a doubt attaching to the sincerity of any legislation at 

 this moment, as well as to its wisdom, and our Legislature wisely, I think, 

 relegated the question to its successor. It is not a question with which 

 the Courts alone may deal. The diverse and complicated interests can 

 only be protected by legislation, and possibly by amendment of our funda- 



