292 THE 1ERIGATION AGE 



water registers has been .given much attention by this branch of the 

 department, and a number of new patterns have been invented and 

 are now being furnished to irrigators, by some of the leading instru- 

 ment makers of the country, at very reasonable prices. 



Congress at its last session increased the appropriation for this 

 work from $50,000 to $65,000, and provided for the extension of the 

 work along three lines: Investigations of the rights of riparian pro- 

 prietors, the removal of seepage and surplus waters by drainage, and 

 the use of different kinds of power for irrigation and other agricult^ 

 ural purposes. These subjects have only incidentally been included 

 in the previous work of the office. 



Some of the arid states early abrogated the common law of ripa- 

 . rian rights, while in others the law is as definitely established. In 

 Bothers it is not yet settled by the legislature or the courts just what 

 is the status of the rights to water. While opinions may differ as to 

 what rights should attach lo riparian lands, there can be no difference 

 as to the fact that it should be definitely settled just what those rights 

 are and just what lands are riparian. If all riparian lands have a 

 right to a reasonable use of water for irrigation, and that right can 

 be enforced against those using water on non-riparian lands, the own- 

 ers of such lands, whether they will or not, act as a menace to the use 

 of water by others. Non-riparian lands may be much more valuable, 

 but the owners will not reclaim them, knowing that at any time their 

 whole investment may be rendered worthless by the use of a previ- 

 ously dormant riparian right. If it is well known that these rights 

 .exist no individual injustice is done the only harm may be in pre- 

 venting development. But if it is uncertain whether riparian rights 

 exist, large investments, made in good faith and with every reason for 

 success, may be robbed of their value. The work of the irrigation in- 

 vestigations of the Office of Experiment Stations is to gather such 

 data as may furnish a rational basis for legislation and court decisions 

 on questions relating to this important matter. 



Along most streams the lands first reclaimed by irrigation have 

 been the low lands. This is due to the ease with which water can be 

 brought to such lands. As settlement has advanced the higher lands 

 farther back from the stream have been watered, with the result that 

 .much of the low land formerly cultivated has been made unfit for use 

 by the drainage and seepage from higher lands. In other sections 

 large areas of land having little slope have been ruined by the rise of 

 the ground water, due to the filling of the subsoil by irrigation. In 

 both cases the condition of the land has often been aggravated by the 

 accumulation of alkali near the surface. This alkaline condition of 

 the soil is uniformly attributed to poor drainage and excessive use of 

 water in irrigation. _ ^The work of the irrigation investigations along 



