152 THE IRR IGA T ION A GE. 



50 miles long, and number their water users by hundreds. The Rid- 

 enbaugh Canal in the Boise Valley, Idaho, furnishes water 

 to more than 500 farmers. The High Line Canal, in Colorado, has 

 433 consumers under it; the Loveland and Greeley has 257, and many 

 other systems are as large or larger. It can thus be readily seen that 

 the proper operation of such canals involves a very thorough business 

 organization and careful attention to many important details. 



The practical operation of corporation canal systems is, like their 

 construction, under the control of the executive officer or officers of 

 the company, but the representative with whom the farmer and irri- 

 gator comes into most frequent and intimate contact is the ditch rider, 

 who is generally appointed by the manager or president. His duties 

 consist in patrolling the ditch throughout the season of actual opera- 

 tion, for the purpose of seeing that the works are in good repair, and 

 to superintend the proper distribution of water to the various stock- 

 holders or irrigators from the system, and are somewhat similar to 

 those of the water commissioner hereafter described, the main canal 

 in this case taking the place of the stream, and the contracts or stock 

 the place of the priority decree. In order to properly distribute the 

 water the ditch rider is provided with a list of the persons having 

 water rights from the canal, showing the amount to which each is en- 

 titled under his contract; or in case of community stock companies, 

 with a list of the stockholders and the amount of stock owned by each. 

 Such a list furnishes the necessary data to enable him to distribute 

 the water according to the quantity or proportion called for by these re- 

 spective interests. 



The larger irrigation systems generally have several distributary 

 canals leading from the main one and following as nearly as possible 

 the ridges or highest ground of the areas designed to be watered from 

 them. Such distributaries obviate the necessity for such long and 

 expensive individual lateral ditches as would be necessary if all such 

 laterals diverted directly from the main canal. The expense of indi- 

 vidual diverting works, as well as the danger attendant upon a multi- 

 tude of diversions from the main canal, is also much reduced. The 

 distributaries also generally follow the slopes of the ridges, and do 

 not have a uniform light grade, as is the case with the main canals. 

 Sometimes, also, natural drainage channels are followed, thus mater- 

 ially reducing their cost of construction. 



At various points along the main canal or distributary lateral 

 branches are diverted for conveying the water to the land of the indi- 

 vidual consumers. As the amount to which each user is entitled is 

 limited, it becomes necessary to place regulating structures at the 

 points of diversion for the purpose of regulating the flow into these 

 laterals. These consist of wooden, box-like structures in which slid- 



