234 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



gineer Mead wrote that the State En- 

 gineers of Utah. Colorado, Nebraska, Kan- 

 sas and Wyoming had hold a meeting for 

 the purpose of. "considering measures far 

 the better determination of our oppor- 

 tunities for irrigation development and 

 the promotion of that development. It 

 was concluded to unite in asking a grant 

 of 5.000,000 acres of grazing land to each 

 of the arid states, this land to be rented 

 and the proceeds to be applied to irriga- 

 tion investigation and development. The 

 idea was taken from a memorial to our rep- 

 resentatives in Congress, prepared by the 

 Wyoming State Board of Control last sea- 

 son." 



Mr. Meade writes further: ''The view of 

 the state engineers is that each state lias- 

 its own water laws and the development of 

 the state's resources is a local rather than 

 a general affair, and that instead of the 

 government making appropriations, the 

 state ought to be placed in a position to 

 carry on this work. The people who are 

 to administer the water laws ought to be 

 the ones to investigate the conditions 

 which those laws are to control." 



The memorial referred to by Engineer 

 Mead was prepared by the Wyoming State 

 Board of Control. It is urged that the 

 conditions represented in it apply to Mon- 

 tana as well as Wyoming. In part the 

 memorial reads: 



"To enable the state to inaugurate 

 needed reforms in our land laws and carry 

 out the beneficient provisions of our water 

 laws, we respectfully solicit your aid in 

 securing from the general government a 

 grant of 5,000,000 acres of grazing land, to 

 be given to the state in trust, in aid of irri- 

 gation, the title to remain perpetually in 

 the state, the land to be leased to farmers 

 and resident stockmen, and the revenue 

 arising therefrom to constitute a trust fund 

 to be expended by the state to pay the ex- 

 panses of the state administration of its 

 water laws and to aid in the location and 

 construction of irrigation works of too 

 great cost for piivte enterprise. 



The reports of the United States geo- 



logical survey show that 54.000,000 acres 

 of this state's sin-face are public grazing 

 lands. These are now an open common. 

 There is no law for their management or 

 disposal, nor attempt made to protect these 

 pastures from overstocking, and the con- 

 sequent destruction of the native grasses 

 which ive them their sole productive 

 value. On the contrary, every condition 

 favors and makes inevitable this unfor- 

 tunate re-ult. This is not a matter of 

 conjecture, but of experience. The les- 

 sened growth of grasses in Wyoming and 

 the other arid states, the enormous losses 

 which have been sustained by the range 

 industries through overstocking and in- 

 sufficient winter pasturage, leaves no pos- 

 sible doubt as to the result of a continu- 

 ance of present conditions. The destruc- 

 tion of free timber on the mountains is not 

 more certain than that of free grass on the 

 plains. 



This work should be done under state 

 supervision, by the authority which con- 

 trols the appropriations of sti earns and 

 supervises their distribution and use. It 

 cannot be done, however, unless the state 

 receives some aid from the national gov- 

 ernment. A state government which has 

 to maintain civil order over an area larger 

 than New England, of which less than 10 

 per cent contributes anything to its sup- 

 port in cither rentals or taxes, cannot pro- 

 vide the funds for this work. The best 

 possible method of doing this is through 

 the donation of land asked for by your pe- 

 titioners 



We believe that Wyoming is entitled to 

 this grant as a measure of justice; that the 

 state was discriminated against in the ex.- 

 tent and value of the lands granted to it in 

 the act of admission, and that the treat- 

 ment of many of her sister states was 

 much more liberal. Sixteen states received 

 grants of 500.000 acres each in aid of in- 

 ternal improvements. Wyoming received 

 nothing in aid of such improvements, al- 

 though her needs are exceeded by no other 

 commonwealth and equaled by few." 



In conclusion the memorial says: "We 



