396 



THE IRRIGATION AGE 



are checking development along this line 

 in that state. 



The work is under the general supervis- 

 ion of Mr. Elwood Mead, the expert in 

 charge cf Irrigation Investigation. The 

 field work will be in charge of a corps of 

 experts, including Mr. James D. Schuyler, 

 of Los Angeles, Prof. F. Soule, of the State 

 University, Prof. C. D. Marx, of Leland 

 Stanford University, Messrs. C. E. Grunsk 

 and Marsden Manson, of San Francisco, 

 Wm. E. Smythe, of Susanville, and Mr. 

 J. M. Wilson for several years the state 

 engineer of Nebraska. 



The work being done on the streams and 

 irrigation systems selected for investiga- 

 tion includes study of the following: 



(1). Abstracts of the records of claims 

 to water, character of those records, num- 

 ber of claims, total volume claimed, places 

 where recorded, and the ease or difficulty 

 with which the validity of any claim can 

 be determined. 



(2). Rights to water for purposes ether 

 than irrigation, namely, mining, power 

 and domestic purposes. 



(3). Methods by which the amount and 

 character of water rights are determined, 

 accessibility, and completeness of the 

 established rights. 



(4). Character of litigation over water 

 rights, its causes and cost, its influence on 

 irrigation development, and the principles 

 established by decisions rendered, 



(5). Rights for storage and underground 

 waters, how acquired and how affected by 

 rights to the surface flow of streams, and 

 the influence of the underground waters on 

 the streams's discharge. 



(6). Nature of an appropriation of water. 

 To determine who is the appropriator, the 

 ditch builder or the owner of the land on 

 which the water is used; or is the land it- 

 self the appropriator. Also to determine 

 the true measure of its amount, the size of 

 the claim, the capacity of the ditch, or the 

 area irrigated. 



(7). The volume of return or seepage 

 water and its availability for being again 



diverted, and influence on value of irriga- 

 tor's rights. 



(8). Size, number, location, and capacity 

 of ditches and other distributing works es- 

 tablished, and-irrigation duty of water. 



The work also includes collection of data 

 showing how water is divided among dif- 

 ferent ditches from the same stream; how 

 it is distributed among users; the nature 

 of water-right contracts between canal 

 owners and water users; what contracts 

 have proven satisfactory; and what forms 

 of contracts have given rise to controversy, 

 and the reason therefor. Facts showing 

 rates for sale or delivery of water and the 

 methods by which these rates have been 

 established will also be collected. 



When the field work has been completed 

 a conference of all those taking part in the 

 work will be called and a thorough study 

 of the data obtained will be made. It is 

 hoped that the results will be published by 

 the time the State Legislature meets, in 

 order that the data collected and the con- 

 clusions drawn from them may aid in giv- 

 ing to California a code of irrigation laws 

 which will protect present investments and 

 remove all checks to the future develop- 

 ment of agriculture by irrigation. 



The work has the hearty co-operation of 

 those most interested in the development 

 of agriculture in California. It has been 

 endorsed by the California Water and For- 

 est Association, an organization whose 

 object is the storage of water for irrigation, 

 and the two great universities of the state 

 have given the services of representatives 

 of their faculties, without pay, except 

 actual field expenses. 



WHAT OTHERS SAY. 



I have had a little experience in irriga- 

 tion, and in a different way from most 

 other folks, I reckon. In the summer of 

 '97 I was raising truck, and dry weather 

 coming on, the supply was running far be- 

 hind the demand. About this time my 

 brother returned from a visit to Valley 

 Mills and told a great tale about a man 

 who irrigated wiih a wind pump and tile 



