224 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Had the appropriates party in California, therefore, 

 during the irrigation water-rights conflict which was 

 most actively in progress from 1880 to 1888, been 

 granted their demand to have the Spanish or Civil 

 law customs and rules of irrigation rights introduced 

 they would have " reaped what they had not sown.' 1 

 Their unlicensed appropriation, or taking of water 

 without leave, must have been stopped. And they 

 would have had a system of State supervision of 

 water courses, with water rights issued and regulated 

 by administrative officers. 



The Civil law principle whereunder water in natural 

 beds and channels is the common property of all 

 men controlled and protected by no man or set of 

 men makes it absolutely necessary that the govern- 

 ment shall, by administrative regulation and super- 



vision, protect the common stock and regulate its 

 partitioning and utilization. 



On the contrary, the principle which gives the bank 

 owners the riparian proprietors on all streams the 

 right to have such streams and waters remain prac- 

 tically undisturbed, makes them the guardians of 

 streams, admits of appropriation, in cases when they 

 consent ; and, hence, governmental supervision of 

 streams and diversions has not been deemed neces- 

 sary, for the streams' protection. This is the Com- 

 mon law system. 



But, except in our own States, this latter system, 

 unaltered, nowhere in the world exists in an irriga- 

 tion country. It is ill adapted to irrigation develop- 

 ment. Can we better it? I shall attempt to answer 

 this question in a subsequent article. 



AMERICAN SOCIETY OF IRRIGATION ENGINEERS. 



""pHE American Society of Irrigation Engineers 

 was organized in Salt Lake City during the 

 sessions of the First Irrigation Congress, Sep- 

 tember 18, 1891. The proposal to form the society 

 originated with L. G. Carpenter, Professor of Physics 

 and Irrigation Engineering at the State Agricultural 

 College, Fort Collins, Colo. The idea met with favor 

 at once and was adopted. The society organized by 

 electing the following officers: President, Arthur D. 

 Foote, of Boise, Idaho; Vice-President, Geo. G. 

 Anderson, of Denver, Colo. ; Secretary and Treasurer, 

 Chas. L. Stevenson, Salt Lake City, Utah. The Board 

 of Directors consisting of L. G. Carpenter, Fort Col- 

 lins, Colo.; H. I Willey, of San Francisco, Cal. ; J. 

 Sire Greene, of Pueblo, Colo., and the previously 

 mentioned officers. No convention was held during 

 the year 1893, but the following officers were elected: 

 President, L. G. Carpenter, Fort Collins ; Vice- 

 President, Wm. Ham. Hall, San Francisco; Secretary 

 and Treasurer, John S. Titcomb, of Denver, Colo. 

 And these with the following named constituted the 

 Board of Directors: Charles R. Rockwood, of Yuma, 

 Arizona; C. K. Bannister, of Ogden, Utah, and Chas. 

 L. Stevenson, of Salt Lake City, Utah. 



The meeting recently held in Denver after the 

 close of the Third National Irrigation Congress was 

 a very successful one and was largely attended, all 

 the prominent engineers in the country interested in 

 irrigation being present. Among them may be 

 mentioned the following: Prof. L. G. Carpenter, 

 President, Fort Collins, Colo.; Wm. Ham. Hall, Vice- 

 President, San Francisco, Cal.; John S. Titcomb, 

 Secretary and Treasurer, Denver, Colo. ; C. L. Steven- 

 son, director, Salt Lake City, Utah; Geo. G. Ander- 

 son, Chas. P. Allen and H. L. Aulls, Denver, Colo.; 

 C. S. Batterman, Aspen, Colo.; Morris Bien, Washing- 

 ton, D. C.; J. E. Belt, Minneapolis, Minn.; Edward 

 M. Boggs, Tucson, Arizona; Dean Burgess, Omaha, 

 Neb.; H. J. Chambers, Denver, Colo.; Arthur P. 

 Davis, Los Angeles, Cal.; John S. Dennis, Ottawa, 

 Canada; Adna Dobson, Lincoln, Neb.; W. W. Follett, 

 Denver, Colo.; Walter H. Graves, Crow Indian 

 Agency, Mont.; J. Sire Greene, Pueblo, Colo.; Richard 

 J. Hmton, Bay Ridge, N. Y.; R. B. Howell, Omaha, 

 Neb.; Daniel Krath, St. Francis Kan.; Allan G. 

 Lamson, Boston, Mass.; J. S. J. Lallie.Wm. B. Law- 

 son, Denver, Colo.; J. B. Lippincott, Los Angeles, 

 Cal.; Edmund P. Martin. Denver, Colo.; A. J. Mc- 

 Cune, Grand Junction, Colo.; Elwood Mead, Chey- 

 enne, Wyo.; John H. Nelson, Denver, Colo.; F. H. 



Newell, Washington, D. C.; J. E. Ostrander, Moscow, 

 Idaho; William Pearce, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; 

 Walter Pearl, Wm. A. Peck, P. J. Preston, Denver, 

 Colo.; S. B. Robbins, Great Falls, Mont; Ed. L. 

 Rogers, Denver, Colo.; Fred J. Stanton, Cheyenne, 

 Wyo.; O. V.P. Stout, Omaha, Neb.; John C. Ulrich, 

 Denver, Colo.; J. Ramon de Ybarrola, Mexico City, 

 and others. The papers presented at this meeting 

 covered a wide range of subjects, arid were very 

 interesting. Many instructive speeches wers made, 

 and the society had the pleasure of listening to Senor 

 Ybarrola describe the methods of irrigating, the crops 

 and other features of interest to engineers, in Mexico. 

 A few evenings previous to the regular meeting of 

 the society, Mr. John S. Dennis, of Ottawa, Canada, 

 Government inspector of surveys and irrigation, had 

 the pleasure of addressing a few members on the 

 methods practiced in Canada, and on the survey now 

 being made in the province of Alberta, southwest of 

 Calgary. 



At this Second Annual Convention also were distri- 

 buted copies of the first " Annual " of the society, a 

 publication of 272 pages, and which contains a great 

 number of very interesting papers on all phases of 

 irrigation engineering by the most prominent men 

 in the profession, fully illustrated with maps, sketches 

 and engravings of some of the many great difficulties 

 that have been met and overcome in the conquering 

 of arid America. To accomplish this result, making 

 a veritable garden of the desert, on which to erect 

 the homes of thousands of contented and independent 

 people, reservoirs, capable of containing millions of 

 cubic feet of water, and canals many miles in length, 

 carrying streams as great as many rivers, have been 

 built, mountains have been tunneled, and the very 

 bowels of the earth probed, requiring engineering 

 skill and science of the highest order. 



At the recent meeting the following officers for 

 the coming year were elected: President, James P. 

 Maxwell, of Boulder, Colo.; Vice-President, Edward 

 M. Boggs, of Tucson, Arizona; Secretary and Treas- 

 urer, John S. Titcomb (reflected), Denver, Colo.; 

 Directors: Geo. G. Anderson, Denver, Colo.; Samuel 

 Fortier, Logan, Utah; James G. Shuyler, San Diego, 

 Cal. These with the foregoing named officers and the 

 past presidents of the society constitute the entire 

 board. 



The society is steadily growing in membership and 

 becoming stronger financially, and the prospects for 

 the coming year are very bright. 



