116 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



PERCOLATING WATERS STATE POLICY. 



An appropriation of water from a common water-bearing 

 strata for use on distant lands not situated over the strata 

 is subject to reasonable use by the owner of other overlying 

 land upon which he has never used water, especially where 

 such owner bought his tracts because of their situation re- 

 specting the water, relying upon the supply, and since without 

 the water the land is of little use. It is not the law's policy 

 to permit any of the available waters of the county to remain 

 unused, or to allow one having the natural advantage of a 

 situation, which gives him a legal right to use water, to pre- 

 vent another from using it while he himself does not desire 

 to do so. Burr v. Maclay Rancho Water Co. Supreme Court 

 of California. 98 Pacific 260. 



WATER SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION. 



It can make no difference that the waters collecting and 

 forming what is known as a spring are seepage and percolat- 

 ing waters, rather than from a well-defined subterranean 

 stream, so long as such waters gravitate to and collect at a 

 certain and definite point and there constitute a volume of 

 water known and designated as a spring. In either case such 

 waters found upon the public domain are subject to location 

 and appropriation for any useful or beneficial purposes under 

 ftie statutes of this state, and are therefore protected and re- 

 served from future disposition under the act of Congress, 

 Section 2339 of the Revised Statutes of the United States 

 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1437.) Le Quime v. Chambers. 

 Supreme Court of Idaho. 98 Pacific 415. 



TAXATION OF IRRIGATING CANALS. 



Under the provisions of Section 1402, Rev. St. 1887, as 

 adopted by act of February 10, 1899 (Sess. Laws 1899, p. 

 221), all irrigating canals and ditches and water rights ap- 

 purtenant thereto are exempt from taxation when the owner 

 or owners of the canals and ditches use the water thereof 

 exclusively upon land owned by the owner of the ditches ana 

 water right, but, where any water is sold or rented from such 

 canal or ditch, the same is taxable to the extent of the sale or 

 rental. Under the provisions of this statute, it becomes a 

 question of fact in each case as to whether or not a canal or 

 ditch or water right is taxable in whole or in part, or is 

 entirely exempt from taxation. Swank v. Sweetwater Irriga- 

 tion N Power Co. Supreme Court of Idaho. 98 Pacific 297. 



GARDEN CITY KANSAS 



VICINITY 



PAYETTE, IDAHO, January 15, 1909. 

 IRRIGATION AGE, Chicago, 111.: 



Once more the name of Canyon County, Idaho, stands 

 in the limelight of public attention as the producer of the 

 finest apples grown in the United States. This acknowledg- 

 ment of its superior apples was made a't the National Con- 

 gress, held recently at Council Bluffs, Iowa. At that national 

 show the apple exhibit from Canyon County was awarded first 

 prize in the contest in which every apple-growing district of 

 any consequence in the United States took part. This is an- 

 other victory for irrigation. 



In Canyon County the principal horticultural district, the 

 place where the wonderful Jonathans are grown, is the 

 Payette Valley. It was from that valley that the larger por- 

 tion of the Canyon County exhibit came. For several years 

 the apples from the Payette Valley have taken the principal 

 prizes wherever they have entered into competition with other 

 fruit-growing districts. 



While fruit growing has been one of the leading industries 

 of that valley for a good many years, it is only within the 

 last few years that the horticulturists have really awakened 

 to the possibilities of their orchards and have gone into the 

 business on a business basis with the idea of making their 

 fruits equal or superior to fruits from any other place. 



Hundreds r of acres of new orchards are being set out in 

 the Payette Valley every year, and within a comparatively 

 short time that valley will be one of the greatest fruit- 

 producing sections in the West. It is noticeable that orchard- 

 ists from other fruit sections are flocking there by the score 

 and buying the best lands and setting out commercial orchards. 



They buy good orchard land at prices ranging from $200 

 to $400 an acre and as soon as their orchards are planted the 

 land is worth from $100 to $200 more than the purchase price, 

 and when the orchard reaches bearing age the land 'cannot be 

 purchased for less- than $500 to $1,000 an acre. 



In that valley from 50 to 60 trees are set to the acre. The 

 Jonathans are the leading variety. 



BY R. H. FAXON. 



The greatest factor in the development of this sec- 

 tion of Kansas, Garden City and surrounding country in 

 particular, and what is known as the "valley" in general, 

 has been due to the Garden City reclamation project of 

 the government. 



This, one of the finest projects in the country, and the 

 only one that has successfully demonstrated the utiliza- 

 tion of the "underflow" and the science of waters electric- 

 ally pumped, was early decided upon after the passage of 

 the reclamation art, approved June 17, 1902. It had a pre- 

 carious existence in embryo for some months and even 

 years, but the friends of the "underflow" finally triumphed, the 

 investigation of Charles S. Slichter was satisfactory, the 

 fund for the state of Kansas soon warranted the construc- 

 tion of the project, and last year's operation of the plant 

 was all its friends could desire. 



Other things have come to Garden City and vicinity: 

 The mammoth sugar plant described in these columns in 

 the January issue of IRRIGATION AGE, the finest and most 

 complete in the country, is a source of pride and a cause 

 for development; and other undertakings that have since 

 come to this section have contributed their full share; but 

 the Garden City reclamation project antedated them all. 



In the publication entitled, "Proceedings of the First 

 Conference of Engineers of the Reclamation Service," 

 published in 1904, two years following the passage of the 

 reclamation act, the faithful Garden City men who were 

 pushing for the government project did not meet with 

 much encouragement. The government was not only 

 skeptical; it was feeling its way in the beginning of this 

 gigantic movement into which it had launched; and it was 

 going to take no chances. Positive proof had to exist 

 before a wheel could be turned. Thus it is we find this 

 little paragraph as about the only direct reference in that 

 first reclamation report concerning what is now the great 

 Garden City project: 



"In Kansas a number of small projects have been 

 examined, but none of these appears to fall within the 

 scope of the reclamation law. A very thorough study has 

 been made of western Kansas and of the Great Plains in 

 general, in order to ascertain the opportunities for obtain- 

 ing deep or artesian water. A map showing the depth to 

 the waterbearing strata and the probability that the water 

 will rise to the surface has been prepared and is in process 

 of publication." 



Thus was the subject dismissed so far as Kansas was 

 concerned. 



In the third annual report of the Reclamation Serv- 

 ice, printed in 1905, we have more space devoted to Kan- 

 sas and to a Kansas project. Little by little the state and 

 the Garden City region were being recognized, and the 

 principle of the "underflow" of the Arkansas river was 

 being demonstrated to the government engineers. 



Another encouraging feature was the fact that the 

 portion of the reclamation fund allotted to Kansas was 

 constantly growing. In the year 1901 it had amounted to 

 only $20,000; in 1902 it was $29,000; in 1903 it fell off 

 slightly from the preceding year and was a little short of 

 $28,000, while in 1904 it was $32,000, or a total by then of 

 $109,000. This began to be a sufficient amount to justify 

 action if the conditions should warrant. And, slowly but 

 surely, the conditions were forcing themselves upon the 

 engineers. 



Meanwhile, and in 1904, Charles S. Slichter of the 

 University of Wisconsin had been making an examination 

 of the underflow of the Arkansas river. The water-plane 

 or ground-water level was accurately mapped out for a 

 distance of from 6 to 12 miles from the river channel, and 

 the electrical method enabled the observance of the un- 

 derflow's movement. The slope of the water-plane was 

 found to be between 7 and 8 feet per mile in a general 

 easterly direction, and from 2 to 3 feet per mile toward 



