174 REPORT OF THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



of water, shall be settled without appeal by the officials of the 

 Government Department charged with the administration of the Act. 



Before the right to any stream, lake or other source of water supply 

 is granted to an individual or company, it is necessary that complete 

 plans and estimate of the proposed works be lodged, along with a 

 statement of the amount of water wanted and the purposes for which 

 it is required. If it is for irrigation purposes, it is necessary to 

 indicate the land which it is proposed to irrigate. All applications 

 are thoroughly examined and care is taken that any previous rights 

 be respected. When there is no valid objection, the application is 

 granted and a licence issued, the Government Department retaining 

 and filing all particulars including the amount of the water which 

 in the case has been disposed of. Future complications and diffi- 

 culties are thus guarded against. Up to the present time, the 

 foregoing arrangements — enacted by the Dominion Parliament — 

 apply only to Saskatchewan and Alberta, but it is expected that 

 shortly somewhat similar regulations will be introduced for British 

 Columbia, where at present the provisions of a local Act are in force. 



Three of the main Irrigation Schemes of Western Canada were 

 visited, and some slight reference may here be made to each of them. 



1. The White Valley Irrigation and Power Company's Scheme 



At the Coldstream estate, owned by the Earl of Aberdeen and 

 his associates, and situated in the Okanagan Valley in the dry belt 

 of British Columbia, very successful experiments in irrigation have 

 been made. Some years ago the estate consisted of a cattle ranch 

 of a very ordinary character ; now there are a highly specialised 

 farm where fruit, hops, and vegetables are grown on a large and 

 paying scale, a considerable nursery for young trees, an extensive area 

 under grain and hay, flocks of poultry, and herds of cattle and 

 horses of a high quality. This change, it is claimed, has been brought 

 about by means of irrigation, the water of the stream flowing 

 through the estate being diverted by ditches to the lower lands of 

 the property, rendering these, with the favourable climate, pro- 

 ductive in the extreme. From comparatively small beginnings the 

 scheme developed, and not a few holdings of twenty well-watered 

 acres each have been sold, any one of which affords a comfortable 

 living, under careful management, to its occupying owner. About 

 five years ago, steps were taken to form a company, which for 

 technical reasons is called the " White Valley Irrigation and Power 

 Company," with the object of bringing the water from Jones Creek 

 on to parts of the Coldstream estate and intervening lands which 

 had not as yet been dealt with. This undertaking, commenced 

 in 1906, is still in process of construction, and aims at irrigating 

 10,000 acres. The engineering problems and difficulties have been 

 considerable, including the construction of storage reservoirs — 

 one of which, Lake Aberdeen, is 1000 acres in extent — and the laying 

 of a pipe line by which the water is conveyed across the White 

 Valley 6 miles above the Coldstream ranch. A wooden stave 

 pipe of 24 inches diameter, and 6300 feet long is already laid, and it 

 is the intention to build immediately another of 36 inches diameter. 



