THE IRRIGATION AGE. 12g 



It has for its underlying purpose the creation of the best possible 

 conditions for extending the area and promoting the success of irri- 

 gated agriculture. I believe that public opinion in both the state and 

 the nation will be largely influenced by the results of your labor, and 

 that it will have an important bearing on our future progress and 

 the ultimate character of our irrigation laws. 



PLAN OF WORK. 



At the outset eight streams will be included in the investigation. 

 These are the Yuba, Kings, Susan, Salinas, Los Angeles, Santa Anna 

 and Sweetwater rivers and Hemet Creek. On each the endeavor will 

 be to secure all of the facts showing the operation of the present 

 irrigation system and the causes which contribute to or modify the 

 success which has been achieved, and to include: 



First. Abstracts of the records of claims to water; character of 

 these records, including the number of claims, total volume claimed, 

 places where recorded, and the ease or difficulty with which the 

 validity of any claim can be determined. 



Second. The nature and extent of riparian rights. 



Third. Rights to water for other purposes than irrigation, 

 namely, mining, power and domestic uses. 



Fourth. The method by which the amount and character of 

 water rights are determined, accessibility and completeness of the 

 record showing the nature of the established rights. 



Fifth. Character of litigation over water rights, its cost, the 

 causes therefcr, its influence on irrigation development, and the 

 principles established by decisions rendered in cases arising on the 

 stream being studied. 



SixtJi. Rights for storage and undergound waters, how acquired 

 and how they are affected by rights to the surface flow of streams, 

 and how the use of underground waters influences the stream's 

 discharge. 



Seventh. Nature of an appropriation of water. Who is regarded 

 as the appropriator, the ditch builder, the land owner on which water 

 is used, or is the land itself the appropriator? What is the measure 

 of its amount, the size of the claim, the capacity of the ditch, or the 

 area irrigated? 



FIELD INVESTIGATIONS. 



Eighth. Collection of data showing discharge of stream, or 

 measurement of its discharge where no such data can be had. Study 

 of volume of return or seepage water and its availability for being 

 again diverted, and influence on value of irrigator's rights. 



Ninth. Size, number, location and capacity of ditches and other 

 distributing works established, and irrigated duty of water obtained. 



METHODS OF DISTRIBUTION. 



Tenth. Collection of data showing how water is divided among 

 different ditches from the same stream. Collection of data showing 



