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PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 



THE BEAR RIVER VALLEY SYSTEM. 



The past dry season has demonstrated 

 to California people that irrigation is one 

 of the things they cannot do without. 

 This has been brought home so forcibly 

 to the dwellers of Kedland, Cal., that they 

 propose a radical reorganization of their 

 irrigation systems, and intend consolidat- 

 ing all of the water companies south of 

 Mill Creek Zanja under the Bear Valley 

 system. It is intended to place the Bear 

 Valley system upon a paying basis, clear 

 off present indebtedness and make good 

 legal water rights now standing against 

 the system ; that the new company will 

 not pay any dividends to stockholders un- 

 til all debts are paid, and that eventually 

 the system, free of debt, is to become the 

 property of the water users. The man to 

 whom the people look to assist them in 

 this project is George Chaffey, one of the 

 oldest irrigation engineers of the state, 

 who founded the Etiwanda and Ontario 

 systems and who was also the founder of 

 the first and largest irrigation enterprise 

 in Australia. Among the improvements 

 to be made in the Bear Valley system if a 

 satisfactory arrangement can be made, is a 

 new dam, 120 feet high to be built just 

 below the old one, for the purpose of forc- 

 ing the water on the Mojave desert. 



AN INTERESTING DECISION. 

 A decision recently given by a Colorado 

 judge Avill doubtless be of interest to all 

 irrigation farmers. Suit was brought to 

 restrain a farmer from digging a ditch be- 

 tween an irrigation canal and the river to 

 intercept the seepage before it could reach 

 the stream. A restraining order was 

 gi anted by the court and a decision ren- 

 dered to the effect that no one is entitled 



to the use of water unless it is taken from 

 the river in the usual wav. 



A GOOD SUGGESTION. 



In the Pecos Valley, N. M , there seems 

 to be some difficulty in securing a suitable 

 location, at reasonable figiires, for the pen- 

 itentiary farm, and this has moved some- 

 one to write to the Grand Falls New Era 

 an article whose suggestions might be ap- 

 plied to any section of the west and south- 

 west with profit. The writer says he can- 

 not understand why the state should go to 

 the expense of buying back land which 

 she gave away only a few years ago, when 

 she has millions of acres of her own that 

 only needs the application of water to 

 make it the most productive in the state, 

 and suggests that this land be so improved 

 and developed. "The census reports of 

 1890 show that the first cost of the irri- 

 gated system of the eleven arid states and 

 territories, exclusive of the first cost of 

 the land, to be $29,611,000, and their 

 assessed value to be $94.412,000 showing 

 an increased profit of $64,801,000 which is 

 equivalent to 219 per cent on the original 

 investment, "which ought to be enough to 

 satisfy the state of Texas, the land of big 

 ideas. 



By the same authority we find that the 

 average cost of bringing water to this land 

 was $12.95 per acre. The average value 

 of these water rights is $39.28, the differ- 

 ence of $26.33 is the net profit to the 

 owner of the water. 



The employment of the state convicts 

 in developing a system of irrigation, would 

 not conflict in the least with free labor. 

 The farm after it has been put in good 

 shape, could be turned over to the officers 

 of the experiment station and in this way 



