204 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



be induced to lend their services, and yet there were 

 many obdurarte farmers who had failed or had declined 

 to appear at the reclamation headquarters and sign over 

 the titles to their farm and homes and sign away their 

 birthrights. So it was decided to hold a series of climax 

 meetings and spring upon the unsophisticated "sage- 

 brusher" some of the much-advertised chief officials from 

 Washington. The local papers began a week or two 

 in advance to announce with all possible blandishments 

 the coming of these official "sunbursts" under the cap- 

 tion of "press news" dated at Washington. They finally 

 came and a public meeting was announced for a certain 

 evening in one of the leading towns of the district. In 

 addition to columns of advertising matter and adula- 

 tory personal notice in the town papers, posters and 

 handbills were distributed throughout the town and 

 surrounding country. In the evening the brass band 

 paraded the principal streets and afterward "rendered 

 a number of selections in front of the opera house." 

 The audience was large, well composed and the ladies 

 were there in their Sunday best. The distinguished 

 citizens were assembled on the stage and the mayor 

 presided. After one or two short addresses by the local 

 lights the mayor made his introductory speech and 

 closed by saying: "And now ladies and gentlemen, I 

 have the flattering honor to introduce to you the Hon. 

 Professor Frederick H. Newell, the chief engineer of 

 the United States, and the greatest living authority on 

 irrigation in all the world. Ladies and gentlemen you 

 will now listen to Dr. Newell." 



While this was being uttered the honorable "doc- 

 tor's" countenance was so beaming with unctuous de- 

 light that it actually became radio-active, under the in- 

 fluence of which the very thoughts in the minds of 

 "Dr." Pinchot and "Dr." Eoss, who sat near by, were 

 revealed to those in the rear seats of the audience. 



The aphorism, "a stream will not rise above its 

 source," was never more applicable than to the United 

 States Reclamation Service. 



IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS, UPPER SNAKE 

 RIVER, IDAHO. 



The registers and receivers of the United States 

 land offices in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, 

 Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, North 

 Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, to- 

 day were instructed by the commissioner of the general 

 land office to notify all persons who have heretofore en- 

 tered, or who may hereafter enter any of the lands which 

 have been segregated imder the provisions of the Recla- 

 mation Act of June 17, 1902, that the leasing of such 

 lands or portions thereof to other persons who have 

 been and are conducting the business of selling alco- 

 holic liquors on said lands, principally to the employes 

 engaged on the Government works, that such leasing 

 either by themselves or others will be deemed sufficient 

 cause for the cancellation of the entries embracing the 

 lands so used or occupied. 



The officers of the land offices are further directed 

 to give the widest possible publicity to the fact that 

 such use of any lands withdrawn under this act, whether 

 such lands have been entered or are unentered, will be 

 prevented by proper actions in ejectment, by injunction, 

 or otherwise. 



These instructions have been called forth by the 

 deplorable conditions existing in Nevada, where the 

 Government work employs several thousand men. 

 Homesteaders have leased a portion of their lands to 

 persons engaged in the liquor business, and murder and 

 robbery have been rampant in consequence. 



BY E. B. DARLINGTON, 

 Field Manager for State Engineer. 



The Office of the State engineer of Idaho has just 

 completed maps and reports upon irrigation conditions 

 in the Upper Snake River valley, an examination of 

 which was undertaken about a year ago. 



These maps and reports are for the use of the 

 court in adjudicating water rights, and serve as evidence 

 in probably the most important and comprehensive suit 

 at law ever brought in the State. This is the famous 

 case of the Rexburg Irrigation Company et al., vs. the 

 Teton Irrigation Canal Company et al., which involves 

 all the water rights on Snake River and its tributaries 

 in Fremont and Bingham Counties. It is estimated 

 that there are at least 30,000 parties in interest in 

 the suit. 



The survey embraced the measurement of all irri- 

 gation ditches and canals diverted from Snake River 

 and its many tributaries above American Falls, and a 

 determination of the irrigated and irrigable areas de- 

 pendent thereon. 



About 250 canals were thus measured and their 

 courses and dependent lands acurately mapped and 175 

 detailed reports describing each canal, the point of di- 

 version, the condition of the works, listing the irrigated 

 and irrigable lands and furnishing all other information 

 that would be of service to the court in adjudicating 

 rights, have been made up and copies sent to the court 

 having jurisdiction. In connection with these reports 

 240 large maps were required, showing the lands in 

 various colors, to correspond with the canals which serve 

 them. It is safe to say that the data thus presented 

 forms a record that has never been duplicated in the 

 history of the State. 



The compiled statistics show that 290,679 acres are 

 at present irrigated in that locality, 502,501 acres are 

 susceptible of irrigation and over 50,000 acres lie under 

 mountain streams which are inadequate for irrigation 

 purposes. In the accumulation of the data probably 

 1,500 square miles were covered. The field parties were 

 engaged from March until December, and though work- 

 ing under very adverse circumstances, the examination 

 was thoroughly and successfully carried out. 



Work was begun about the middle of March, 1904. 

 At that time five parties were organized, but this num- 

 ber was afterward increased to six. Each party con- 

 sisted of a transitman, a field draughtsman and two- 

 stadia rodmen. It was found that at times a third 

 rodman could be used advantageously, but on the whole 

 four men proved to be the most economical and mobile 

 party organization. 



Each party was assigned a territory estimated to con- 

 tain two or three weeks' work from one camp, but effort 

 was made to distribute the parties in such a way that 

 two teams could handle them all. This arrangement 

 was found to be quite satisfactory and resulted in a 

 considerable saving for team hire. In emergencies extra 

 teams were engaged from the farmers without difficulty. 



Usually when a party commenced an assignment 

 the headgate or point of diversion of the most important 

 canal in the territory was tied to the nearest section 

 corner by course and distance, the true meridian being 

 determined by solar observation. The alignment of 



