THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



71 



that are navigable. The Supreme Court has decided 

 that the States are responsible for the control and dis- 

 tribution of waters that are not navigable. It would 

 be presumed that where irrigation is essential, where 

 prosperity of the fanner depends upon an actual di- 

 version and use of water, where the doctrine of riparian 

 rights cannot prevail, except in theory, the State would 

 be active in formulating and putting into effect such 

 laws as would protect the water user as has the gov- 

 ernment in the protection of the homesteader. 



"When we review legislation along this line, we 

 find that the States have but partially realized and ac- 

 cepted this responsibility. Unfortunately California 

 was the first State to furnish an example of the need 

 of local regulations. The public failed to recognize 

 that water is naturally public property. Those who 

 used water and needed protection in that use could 

 only go to the court. It was natural that the courts 

 should recognize principles which are applied in humid 

 sections of the United States. This brought about the 

 application of the doctrine of riparian rights in an 

 irrigated country! Never before in the history of the 

 world was an attempt made to apply a principle more 

 unsuited to conditions and to the needs of those who 

 were using the waters of the streams. 



"Colorado followed California, and the water users 

 have expended more in litigation than in the construc- 

 tion of irrigation works. They have overcome the ob- 

 stacles placed in their way by Nature, only to be en- 

 gulfed in more serious troubles for which man can 

 alone be held responsible. 



"The newer States have done better. The law mak- 

 ers there have realized that the questions which should 

 rightly establish a right to use water and on which that 

 right should be based are simple. The duty of the pub- 

 lic is therefore to establish that kind of administrative 

 machinery which will be able to ascertain the facts. 

 When these are found and assembled the relative rights 

 automatically fix themselves and it only takes a declara- 

 tion by some public authority to place a proper deter- 

 mination into practice. 



"Wyoming must be given the credit for bringing 

 the first relief to the water user. Her example would 

 have been initiated by many other States had events 

 followed in natural sequence. After the passage of the 

 Reclamation Act by Congress, the Reclamation Service 

 took an active interest in State legislation relating to 

 the use and distribution of water. The recommenda- 

 tions of that branch of the government service were 

 finally crystallized into a code which sets forth plainly 

 the desire of this branch of the government service to 

 control the States in this particular. Not only does 

 this code provide for special favors to the Reclamation 

 Service, but it places the appointment of the Stats 

 Engineer in the hands of the director of the Geological 



Survey. The code was prepared by an officer who never 

 had charge of an irrigation administration and whose 

 sole purpose seems to have been to prevent the States 

 adopting laws which might reflect credit on men who 

 have been recognized for many years as experts in this 

 kind of work. 



"The Reclamation Service code is judged to be a 

 failure. Those who have tried it in practice not only 

 admit this, but they are willing to go out of their way to 

 demonstrate it. This code lays a foundation for ob- 

 taining the necessary facts for a determination of rights, 

 but it does not bring a prompt settlement of disputes 

 relating to the use of water, neither does it prescribe the 

 proper machinery for carrying any determination into 

 effect. 



"The settlement of water right controversies should 

 not in the first instance go to the court. Our courts are 

 already over-burdened with work. Irrigation and the 

 problems it involves are of a scientific nature. Some 

 kind of a competent authority should have charge of 

 an administration which would devote its entire time 

 and ability to the many details of this important work. 

 If a question of law arises in connection with this ad- 

 ministrative work, an appeal always lies and the courts 

 can then accept the duty that comes to them with 

 facts and evidence complete. 



"It is to be hoped that reform in this direction will 

 not be delayed another period of five or ten years by an 

 opposition that is based on bureaucratic politics or 

 through prejudice against those whose advice must fin- 

 ally be accepted." 



A western publication recently devoted a 

 Oppressive page and a half to an article written by 

 Use of Gifford Pinchot, Chief of the Forestry 



Power. Bureau, which might easily deceive its 



readers into the belief that there was no 

 valid base for the opposition which has been raised by 

 the needless and unjust regulations which have been 

 established under his direction. 



That these objections to the rules of the Forest 

 Service are not groundless THE IRRIGATION AGE has 

 reason to know, having on hand several sworn state- 

 ments by miners and others, showing where they have 

 been deliberately misused by officers of the Forest Serv- 

 ice, usually rangers. 



The methods employed to repress and thwart the 

 development of the Owens River Valley is well illus- 

 trated by a statement from a gentleman in that valley 

 who says: "A number of gentlemen lately came from 

 the Northern part of California to secure land for homes 

 in the vicinity of Independence. They had traveled a 

 long distance at considerable expense, and had left their 

 business interests until they could secure a new loca- 



