ESTIMATE OF COST. 323 



correct. We have omitted from this calculation all estimates for in 

 equality of the ground, by reason of which the amount of excavation 

 may be considerably increased; all expense due to the fact that gen 

 erally one or several miles of canal have to be made at its head be 

 fore the water is high enough relatively to the adjoining land to 

 irrigate it, and we do not include the cost of a dam, which gen 

 erally will be indispensable. Neither do we include the cost of 

 head-works or of the bridges and sluices which will be required, or 

 of the measures that may be necessary to pass the drainage of the 

 country into, over, or under the canal. We do not estimate for 

 these points, for the reason that no estimate can be made, the cir 

 cumstances in no two cases being the same. 



Speaking generally, we are of the opinion that the omitted points 

 will cost as much as the excavation, and hence, that the rate per 

 acre just given should be double. 



This brings us to the conclusion that it will cost about $10 per 

 acre to irrigate these valleys. 



It is, however, to be remarked, that large portions of the eastern 

 side of the San Joaquin Valley are underlaid two or threo feet from 

 the surface by a hard stratum, which it will be necessary to blast, 

 or, if not blasted, the canals must be very shallow. This fact leads 

 us to believe that the cost per acre in these sections w r ill be in 

 creased twenty-five to thirty-three per cent, above the estimate al 

 ready given. 



The irrigation of the foot-hills will of course cost more. Here 

 the problem, will be more similar to that presented in other coun 

 tries. So far as we are able to judge from descriptions given by 

 writers, we are inclined to believe that the physical conditions in these 

 valleys are unexceptionably favorable for irrigation. This fact ac 

 counts in a great measure for the smallness of our estimates, as com 

 pared with the actual cost of canals in Spain, for instance, where 

 the price of labor is so much cheaper than it is in California. 



A further reason for this difference lies in the character of the 

 constructions. The dams, head-works, and sluices of foreign works 

 are made of masonry, and in the most thorough manner. In Cali 

 fornia all these constructions will for many years be of wood. It is 

 cheaper, with the present rates of interest, to build of wood, and to 

 rebuild when the works decay, than to construct once for all of ma 

 sonry. 



The cheapest canal that we find in Spain is that from the Esla, 

 which cost fifteen dollars per acre. The other modern canals in 

 Spain have cost more than twice as much. There are no longer in 

 these old countries any lands which admit of easy irrigation, and on 

 all these lines there is a great deal of heavy work in excavating, 

 tunneling, aqueducts, and in revetment-walls, which the valley 

 works in California will not require. 



Having thus been furnished with approximate data for an estimate 

 of the cost, the main element in the problem, we are prepared to 

 consider the question of the ownership of the water. 



In most countries where irrigation has proved successful, the 

 ownership of the water remains in the sovereignty, and the sover 

 eignty either grants the right to its use in canal companies, or mak- 



