A VIEW OF THE ALESSANDRO AND MORENO VALLEY IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 



A TYPE OF IRRIGATION INVESTMENT. 



A REORGANIZATION OF THE BEAR VALLEY SYSTEM IN CALIFORNIA. 



BY THE EDITOR. 



THE Bear Valley Irrigation Company of Cali- 

 1 fornia occupies a unique place in the history of 

 irrigation investment. It was by no means the first 

 enterprise of its class to find capital in eastern States 

 and foreign countries, but it was the first and only 

 irrigation company to enter the general market with 

 large amounts of dividend-paying stocks. A few 

 of our important canal systems have been con- 

 structed with the private capital of their owners. 

 The rest have been built with the proceeds from the 

 sale of bonds, which are admittedly the evidence of 

 debts incurred in the interest of development. The 

 Bear Valley Company alone has attracted large in- 

 vestments as the result of the payment of dividends, 

 selling its stock upon a constantly rising market. 

 Under these circumstances this enterprise was ac- 

 cepted as the best type of irrigation investment. 



238 



ITS INFLUENCE ON THE MARKET. 



It would be interesting to trace, if such a thing 

 were possible, the total amount of money invested, 

 directly and indirectly, in irrigation and kindred 

 enterprises as a result of the Bear Valley policy of 

 paying dividends of eight per cent, upon its preferred 

 stock and fifteen per cent, upon its common, but it 

 is certain that the total would be very large. These 

 dividends were quoted in nearly every prospectus 

 distributed by promoters of irrigation projects, and 

 the success of the great California corporation was 

 heralded everywhere as conclusive evidence of the 

 soundness of this new class of investments. Bear 

 Valley obtained for its own and its dependent 

 enterprises something like $3,000,000. This came in. 

 part from New York and the New England States 

 and in part from foreign countries, principally from 



