240 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



by the owner of the land over which it 

 passed, the defendant cannot, under a 

 general denial of plaintiff's rights to 

 maintain the ditch, introduce evidence of 

 its enlargement or of its want of uniform- 

 ity of grade. 



BIGHT OF WAY FOB DITCHES OVEB OOVEBN- 

 MENT LANDS. 



In the same case as last above cited it 

 was also held: That the revised statute of 

 the United States, 2339, enacted in 1866 

 providing that whenever by priority and 

 possession water rights have vested and 

 accrued under local customs, laws and 

 decisions of the courts, such rights shall 

 be maintained and protected and right of 

 way for canals and ditches for such pur- 

 poses is acknowledged and confirmed, 

 together with the amendment of 1870, 

 2340, providing that all patents granted 

 or pre-emptions of homesteads allowed, 

 shall be subject to any water rights or rights 

 to ditches acquired under, or recognized 

 by 2339, operate as a grant of the right 

 of way for the construction of irrigating 

 canals or ditches over any lands owned by 

 the United States and unoccupied in 1866 

 whenever the right to build such ditch 

 should accrue under the local customs, 

 laws or decisions of courts, and that such 

 right continued so long as title remained 

 in the Government, subject only to pay- 

 ment of damages to the possessory right 

 of the occupying claimant, stipulated for 



in a proviso of 2339 which reads as 

 follows : 



" That whenever, after the passage of 

 this Act, any person or persons shall, in 

 the construction of any ditch or canal, 

 injure or damage the possession of any 

 settler on the public domain, the party 

 committing such injury or damage shall 

 be liable to the party injured for such 

 injury or damage." 



It was also held in the same case that 

 the sections of the United States statute 

 above referred to, are a recognition of the 

 legality of water rights given by local 

 customs and laws, and lands granted to 

 the Pacific railroads continued subject to 

 the rights and easements given to such 

 customs and laws, including the right of 

 way for irrigating ditches; such rights 

 being embraced within the reservation of 

 " and other lawful claims " contained in 

 the Act of July 2, 1864, subject to which 

 said grants were made. 



CONVEYANCE OF LAND BY PATENTEE SUBJECT 

 TO THE ABOVE EASEMENT. 



And also in the same case it was held 

 where an irrigating ditch is constructed 

 over lands while the title thereto is in the 

 United States and the occupant whose 

 possession afterward ripens into a pat- 

 ent, conveys the lands, the grantee takes 

 them subject to the easement of the 

 ditch although no reservation is made in 

 his deed. 



CHEAPER POWER FOR SAN FRANCISCO. 



BY W. C. F1TZSIMMONS. 



ONE of the greatest needs in San Fran- 

 cisco is cheaper power. With abun- 

 dance of cheap power at command, numer- 

 ous industries not now thought of would 

 without doubt spring up on all hands. A 

 wise merchant invites trade by displaying 

 goods in his show windows. It is thus that 

 millions of dollars worth of goods are sold 

 at large profits which would never have been 

 sold at all unless thus shown to be in stock. 

 So it will be in the manufacturing line. 

 When power, cheap and abundant, is " on 

 tap " and may be had by touching the 

 button, the demand for it will increase in- 

 credibly. But first- class coal is, and prob- 



ably will continue to be dear in San Fran- 

 cisco and in fact throughout California. 

 Our oil fields though extensive, are not 

 known to be capable of furnishing a per- 

 manent supply of fuel for steam purposes. 

 Wood for fuel on the large scale required 

 for extensive manufacturing enterprises is 

 out of the question ; it therefore becomes im- 

 perative that other agencies for produc- 

 ing-power be utilized. Fortunately none 

 of the large cities of the country, except 

 Buffalo perhaps, is more advantageously 

 situated than San Francisco for profiting 

 by electrical power derived from water 

 falls. The recent triumph scored by Sac- 



