240 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



A WOODEN PIPE LINE OF THE BEAR VALLEY SYSTEM. 



from $1,000 to S2.000 per acre. The annual net re- 

 turn is from 250 to $1,000 per acre. But this indus- 

 try depends absolutely upon the water supply. The 

 orchard is the child of the ditch. To say that divi- 

 dends will not be paid upon the securities of a com- 

 pany supplying such a community with water, assum- 

 ing that the works of that company are completed 

 and its contracts fulfilled, is to say that these orange 

 orchards, with their surrounding vineyards and gar- 

 dens, are about to disappear from the face pf the 

 earth. The world existed for some centuries without 

 railroads and telephones. When it learns to exist 

 without the products of the soil, then prudent invest- 

 ments in properly managed irrigation enterprises 

 will cease to earn reasonable profits, but not before. 

 Briefly, this is the philosophy of irrigation invest- 

 ment in its general aspect. It remains for us to 

 measure Bear Valley by this yardstick. 



NEGOTIATIONS FOR REORGANIZATION. 



The Bear Valley Irrigation Company passed out of 

 the control of its managers December 9, 1893, when a 

 receiver was appointed upon the petition of the 

 Alessandro Irrigation district. The State court named 

 Mr. F. P. Morrison of Redlands for the receivership, 

 an appointment which gave general satisfaction, as 

 Mr. Morrison is a banker and business man of high 

 standing and thoroughly familiar with the property 

 and its requirements. The property having been 

 placed in good hands, the stockholders began to con- 

 sider its condition and to formulate plans for its 

 future with little delay. Early in January several 

 meetings were held in New England, while the 

 European stockholders appointed a committee to 

 look after their interests. In view of the vital inter- 

 est which the irrigation world in general felt in the 

 outcome of the affair, the editor of THE IRRIGATION 



