184 SECOND ANNUAL MEETING. 



we prepared and printed five hundred copies of a petition to the 

 Legislature for an act creating a general system of irrigation, setting 

 forth the views in the aforesaid Resolutions, and caused the same to 

 be distributed throughout the State to every Grange then organized . 

 We also issued a circular letter to each Master, asking in the name 

 of this State Grange his personal influence in furthering this enter 

 prise, by obtaining signatures to these petitions. In such localities 

 as have realized, by the saddest of experience, the great need of this 

 measure, the petitions were very generally signed; and we were en 

 abled to present the petition to the Legislature backed by the names 

 of several thousand petitioners. We regret to say, that in some of 

 those localities where the need of such a system is not as plainly 

 felt, or where it would prove of less direct advantage than elsewhere, 

 subordinate Granges refused to give their countenance and support 

 to the measure, and disregarded the fact that this State Grange had 

 authorized such effort, and considered it to be of vital importance to 

 the agriculturists of this State. We believe it to be the grandest 

 scheme, and entirely feasible withal, ever inaugurated in this State, 

 and one which would, if successfully carried out, bring 1 to us untold 

 wealth, and fill our valleys with an immense population. 



In conformity with the instructions of this Grange, your Commit 

 tee prepared a &quot;bill to provide for a general system of irrigation 

 throughout the State,&quot; which system was to have been inaugurated 

 and conducted by the State, authority vesting the rights to the water 

 in the soil forever; and although imperfect, as human institutions 

 always are, it would have been the initiative of one of the grandest 

 enterprises yet projected for the benefit of the agriculturists of the 

 State, and one than which no other is more needed at this day. As 

 can be seen by reference to section 12, page 4, of this bill, it was re 

 quired that the expenses on the part of the State, in carrying out 

 the provisions of this act, should &quot;in no case exceed the sum of 

 thirty thousand dollars in any one year.&quot; So that the objection 

 that it would have been a great expense to the State does not hold 

 good. 



The deep interest felt in the success of this measure induced a 

 portion of your Committee to spend most of their time in Sacra 

 mento, during the time of preparing the bill and its pendency be 

 fore those august bodies, the Senate and Assembly. Our efforts to 

 discharge our trust as a Committee were ably seconded by West San 

 Joaquin Grange, No. 3, which spared no expense in their power to 

 secure the success of the measure, sending to the aid of your Com 

 mittee its Worthy Overseer, to whom your Committee tender their 

 sincere thanks for his earnest efforts. 



Our bill was presented in the Assembly January 21st, 1874, by 

 Brother Venable, of Los Angeles, and was known thereafter as 

 &quot;Venable s Bill.&quot; Your Committee would take this opportunity to 

 publicly return their thanks to Brother Venable for his efforts in be 

 half of this great enterprise. After the usual delays attendant upon 

 all Legislation, the bill was passed by the Assembly by a majority of 

 thirty. The bill was then introduced in the Senate, and although 

 there seemed to be little direct opposition to it, did not come up on 

 its final passage until March 24th, 1874. The principle seemed gen- 



