THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



265 



and beaming with zeal. Under these circumstances it 

 is not at all surprising that much that finds its way into 

 print, and is accepted on that account with a greater or 

 less degree of faith, is, as a matter of fact, entirely out- 

 side of the realm of reality, and does not at all coin- 

 cide with the literal truth and the actual facts as they 

 are dug from the earth by the real toilers. It is not 

 a case of infrequent occurrence that a flying visit to 

 the headworks of some irrigating canal, followed by an 

 even more hasty visit to the fields of some successful 

 farmer living under it, suffices to furnish material for 

 a learned and elaborate disputation upon the scientific 

 principles and proper methods of canal construction and 

 distribution and application of water, or a verbose dec- 

 laration of the benefits and advantages of certain lines 

 of practice in the art of irrigation. It is hardly char- 

 itable to presume that among the many bright and 

 shining lights in the field of irrigation today, any should 

 thus have acquired reputations as expert irrigationists, 

 and yet it is altogether possible that this may be the 

 case. After all is said, and all due credit given to the 

 learned treatises and the literary efforts, we sometimes 

 think that the most effective as well as the most elo- 

 quent tributes that can be paid to the cause of irriga- 

 tion, is a properly designed and well executed system 

 of canals, adequate to the requirements of the case, 

 and not a burden of expense to the owners. Surely, the 

 expert knowledge and experience required in such a 

 case can not be supplied by the library, nor do they 

 emanate from the literary sanctum. They must be ac- 

 quired by familiar association with hobnail shoes, the 

 irrigating shovel and mud. The field of literature and 

 theory is so distinct and apart from that of practical 

 operation that one can hardly hope to occupy both suc- 

 cessfully at the same time. 



Whether irrigation may be defined as a science, an 

 art, or a practice, depends upon the standpoint from 

 which the subject is considered. However it may be 

 regarded it is no longer a theory or a circumstance, 

 but a condition of such importance that it has not 

 only established itself between the covers of the stat- 

 ute book but molded about itself the very politics of 

 many of the States. In some respects it has laid the 

 lines of a new jurisprudence and innovating the an- 

 cient and time honored common law traditions and prec- 

 edents, it has achieved its own processes of adjudication. 



Distinctively a western idea and of western origin, 

 it is astonishing its most sanguine advocates by invad- 

 ing the dense prejudice of the extreme East and we 

 read of irrigation undertakings in New England, New 

 York and Florida. These efforts, though they may be 

 upon a small scale, signify an implied recognition of 

 irrigation as a valuable aid to agriculture even in 

 humid quarters. 



The Annual Irrigation Congress which will con- 

 vene at Portland, Ore., August 20 to 24 of this year, 

 is in a measure indicative of the prominence of this 

 subject in the public mind. The purpose of these meet- 

 ings appears to be partly to arouse popular interest, 

 but chiefly through public discussion to gather as much 

 light and information upon the various questions re- 

 lating to this subject as is possible. It is light upon 

 the manifold complications and perplexities arising out 

 of the readjustment of new social and industrial con- 

 ditions to old ideas that statesmen and thinkers are 

 searching for, and it is light on the manner of harmon- 



izing now principles and doctrines to old laws and prec- 

 edents that the lawyers most desire. Philanthropists 

 are interested in the relation these questions sustain to 

 social economies. Financiers and capitalists are eager 

 for information on the questions of security and profit 

 as afforded by this new field of investment. Engineers, 

 are seeking for light and information on these subjects 

 as they relate to largest utilization of the natural re- 

 sources and questions of applied sciences and skill in 

 matters of construction and practice. So we see this 

 many sided question serves a diversity of interests and 

 the plan of convening these interests and the gathering 

 of representative men for the interchange of ideas and 

 opinion? appears to be wise and commendable and it 



Irrigated Potato Field Two Miles from North Yakima, Wash., 

 on Northern Pacific Railway. 



is to be hoped that it will result in much good to the 

 cause of irrigation. 



Irrigation evolved along the lines of individual and 

 co-operative effort. In all its succeding stages it fell 

 into the hands of corporations, those vicarious institu- 

 tions that are resorted to in this glorious land of ours, 

 in lieu of paternalism. In other countries the govern- 

 ments are the patrons of irrigation development. It 

 remains to be seen whether the future of irrigation can 

 be successfully met by the corporation or by the Gov- 

 ernment acting through the Reclamation Bureau. One 

 potent fact comes now before us, that the Reclamation 

 Bureau is trying to absorb and pass off as its own 

 handiwork several successful enterprises which, merged 

 with additional water supply, made possible by . vast 

 expenditure of money secured from the reclamation 

 fund, will lead the uninformed to believe that the 

 whole scheme developed in the brain of certain offi- 

 cials, while in point of fact, the ground plan, the part 



