IRRIGATION UNDER THE CAREY ACT. 481 



lowest responsible bidder for the reclamation and colonization of 

 those lands when withdrawn. No projects have been initiated in 

 this manner as yet, and the value of this feature therefore is not 

 known. It is sound in theory, however, and if properly administered 

 might prove an advance in Carey Act legislation that could be 

 adopted Avith profit by other States. 



Under the old law title to the irrigation system remained perpetu- 

 ally Avith the company, the settler paying the company a fixed sum 

 each year for the maintenance and delivery of the water. This fea- 

 ture of separate ownership of land and water was eliminated with 

 the jDassage of the new law, and now it is required that Avithin 10 

 years from the date of the contract — time specified in each contract — 

 the control and management of the system shall be turned over to 

 the purchasers of water rights, the contractor retaining an interest 

 proportional to the amount of water unsold. To insure to the settler 

 the transfer of the system in good condition and repair, the con- 

 tractor is required to make a deposit, usually $1 per acre, when the 

 settler makes application for his entry, this deposit to be returned 

 by the board at time of transfer if the system is in good condition. 

 The title received by the settler from the State, Avhen the full lien is 

 satisfied and final proof made, is in the form of a quitclaim deed, con- 

 veying only such title as the State may have in the lands conveyed. 



About 20 different projects were initiated soon after the passage 

 of the old laAv in 1901. Only 2 of these have been carried to 

 successful completion. Nearly all of the remaining 18 failed out- 

 right because of the conditions already referred to. A few of the 

 original undertakings have been reorganized and are making head- 

 way, but the stigma of ineffectual State management remains upon 

 most of the earlier projects. For a period of five years prior to the 

 adoption of the ncAv laAv in 1909 no ncAv projects Avere initiated. This 

 was due in large measure to the attitude of the board in withholding 

 approval of projects in cases where there were uncertainties as to 

 water supply, there being at that time no adequate water legislation 

 to make possible the determination of the amount of unappropriated 

 water in the various streams of the State. With the concurrent pas- 

 sage of the new Carey Act law and the new Avater code in 1909, the 

 final obstacles to normal and healthy dcA^elopment were removed, 

 and in the past two years reclamation under the terms of the Carey 

 Act has been greatly stimulated. Plate XXII shows structures on 

 the largest Carey Act project in the State. 

 91866°— 11 31 



