254 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



syndicate or association be formed, and to it the grant 

 is made. By this means subsequent conflict with 

 other water right holders and dissension among the 

 grantees themselves is cut off ; for, in the formation 

 of the syndicate and fixing its water rights all points 

 of probable conflict have to be settled and recorded. 

 In granting irrigation water rights to a speculative 

 company the government insists that the owners of 

 the lands to be irrigated shall first be formed into a 

 district syndicate, and then this association is made 

 a party to the water right concession, in such man- 

 ner that its relations to the company which is to 

 build the works are thoroughly established, and al- 

 ways with the condition that after the life of the con- 

 cession to the company (twenty-five to fifty years) 

 the works and water rights become the property of 

 the syndicate or district. It is in this class of cases, 

 especially, wherein the government reserves the right 



to enforce the collection of district taxes, in order to 

 make good the payments due to the water-supply- 

 ing company. Thus the rights of all parties are 

 protected. 



The principle of association was early recognized 

 in the irrigation development of France, and its ap- 

 plication has prevented the growth of many evils 

 such as have attained overshadowing magnitude in 

 the older irrigation country of Italy. Very large 

 works of irrigation and extensive irrigation enter- 

 prises are for the most part of comparatively recent 

 dating in France, although innumerable small neigh- 

 borhood ditches and irrigations have existed for cen- 

 turies. The topography of the country admitted of 

 small works being carried out by riparian proprietors 

 and other small landowners near to streams. 



[TO BE CONTINUED.] 



HOME MAKING IN IDAHO UNDER THE CAREY LAW. 



BY D. W. ROSS. 



THE man whom we most admire and respect is he 

 who claims every hour of sunshine, every drop 

 of rain and dew, who smiles back on budding 

 nature in springtime and with parental pride lays up 

 the fruits of his labor in the autumn, who plants trees 

 to shelter his children's children, who feels that his 

 labor is duty and his abiding place is home. 



He is the man whom we trust, the man who sup- 

 ports the State, who casts an honest ballot, and the 

 first to buckle on the sword of defense for his native 

 land. 



The truest soldier is he who fights to save his home 

 and country. 



The wisest and best Statesman is he who labors to 

 the end of making his State prosperous and her peo- 

 ple self-supporting and happy. 



A new commonwealth is like the individual, it can 

 be made or ruined in the spring of life. In its early 

 days it requires developing as well as ruling, and at 

 no time during its life does it call for as wise States- 

 manship as when its history is yet to be made. 



Twice blessed are they who in enacting laws for 

 the development of a young commonwealth look 

 ahead of their own generation. 



THE CAREY LAW AND IDAHO. 



Near the close of the last session of Congress a bill 

 was passed now known as the Carey Land Law, giv- 

 ing in trust to each of the arid States one million 

 acres of irrigable, public land, to be reclaimed under 

 the auspices of the respective States and sold to the 

 actual settler. Thus by the provisions of this bill 

 Idaho has been given the opportunity of reclaiming 

 according to her own plans enough land for twenty- 

 five thousand homes, or one hundred and twenty-five 

 thousand people. 



Not a dollar need be sacrificed, not an hour's sleep 

 lost in transforming this arid desert into a garden 

 spot, in doubling the population of the State and 

 adding to the general wealth an incalculable amount. 

 Estimating the cost of reclaiming the million acres 

 at $7.00 per acre, we will have expended for construc- 

 tion of dams, canals, etc., $7,000,000 in cash, furnish- 

 ing employment for thousands of people at a time 

 when they will most need it. Putting the lar^d on the 

 market at a price which will pay for reclamation and 



carrying charges until each canal is in good running 

 order and self-supporting, we will have land for 

 homes within the reach of thousands of the most de- 

 sirable settlers, viz: those with a surplus of from $500 

 to 82,000 each. 



Making the farm unit forty acres, and many expert 

 irrigators would put it at half that, and assuming 

 that each family at the end of two years' settlement 

 will have made its home worth 81,000, we have added 

 the enormous amount of $25,000,000 to the value of 

 the State in farm property alone. 



METHOD OF PROCEDURE. 



Before Idaho has any rights under this Act, maps 

 must be filed with the Secretary of the Interior show- 

 ing lands to be reclaimed, method of reclamation, 

 water supply, etc., such plan of contemplated irriga- 

 tion to be sufficient to thoroughly irrigate and reclaim 

 said land for agricultural purposes. Then the Sec- 

 retary of the Interior may make necessary regula- 

 tions for the reservation of the lands applied for by 

 the State to date from the date of filing of the map 

 and plan of irrigation, but such reservation shall be of 

 no force whatever if such map and plan of irrigation 

 shall not be approved. 



The State is authorized to make all necessary con- 

 tracts to cause the selected lands to be reclaimed and 

 to induce their settlement and cultivation. As fast 

 as lands are reclaimed and occupied by actual set- 

 tlers, patents will be issued to the State or its assigns 

 for lands so reclaimed and settled. It is also pro- 

 vided that the State shall not sell or dispose of more 

 than 160 acres of said land to any one person, and 

 any surplus money derived from sale of said lands 

 in excess of the cost of their reclamation shall be ap- 



Elied to the reclamation of other desert lands in the 

 tate. 



By the provisions of the Act a great body of land 

 may be segregated from the public domain and the 

 State empowered to make contracts for its reclama- 

 tion and settlement. This plan has many advan- 

 tages, and one of the greatest and most lasting will 

 be that the districts thus reclaimed will be nat- 

 ural hydrographic districts resulting in their re- 

 clamation at the least possible cost and the work 

 of administration may be carried on without con 



