98 



being augmented every day. This river and its tributaries are the 

 arteries which feed these industries. Every farm must have water 

 to be productive; not a factory could run without water to feed its 

 boilers; not a household could be maintained without water for do- 

 mestic uses ; all present development and all prospective development 

 depends on the flow of this stream. 



Thousands of miles of ditches and laterals have been built to divert 

 and distribute this w^ater supply ; scores of reservoirs have been con- 

 structed to catch surplus and flood waters; wells are being dug, 

 ditches and canals excavated to capture underground streams and 

 water which escapes from irrigated fields as waste or from ditches as 

 seepage. The amount expended on works to distribute water among 

 users can not be definitely ascertained, but in the aggregate it is many 

 millions of dollars, and the expenditure, if ascertained to-day would 

 not answer for to-morrow, because the extension of old works and 

 the construction of new ones is constantly going on. 



When the first ditches were built the idea of the w^ater itself having 

 a property value was not considered. The prices charged for water 

 rights in the first place were fixed by the cost of ditches and varied 

 from $2.50 to $4 an acre. To-day water has a value entirely inde- 

 pendent of the cost of diversion works or of the service required to 

 distribute it among users. This price is fixed in part by the fertility 

 and productiveness of the land, by the nearness to cities and towns, 

 and by the priority and legal status of the right in the stream. The 

 older the right the greater its value. Water rights which originally 

 sold for $-t an acre now sell for $35^ an acre, and stored water sells for 

 even higher prices. The rental of enough water to irrigate an acre 

 of land has reached $15 a year. 



Factories and cities can afford to pay more for water than farmers, 

 and as cities and towais grow and factories multiply their demand 

 for water wall tend to augment its price. Thus far on this stream 

 the use of w^ater for power purposes has not assumed great impor- 

 tance, but in some sections of the West — -notably in Utah and Cali- 

 fornia — early water rights are being bought by the owners of elec- 

 trical power plants for the purpose of exercising control over the flow. 

 The limit on prices for water rights in the future can not be foretold. 

 It will be affected by the growth of cities, by the profits of agriculture, 

 and by the limitations placed on speculative ownership of streams. 

 If only rights to use are recognized, then the values will inhere in the 

 farm and in the factory rather than in the water; but if rights to the 

 water are made personal proj)erty, there is danger of water monopo- 

 lies which will virtually control the values of all kinds of industries 

 which depend on water. 



The extent to which cities and towns are to absorb this w^ater sup- 

 ply and the influence which their growth w^ill have on the value of 



