i68 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



April 



furnished them, the reduction being on 

 a uniform basis among all of the cus- 

 tomers. An act has been passed and 

 approved by the governor providing for 

 the dissolution of irrigation districts, 

 the district irrigation laws having failed 

 to provide any method for dissolving the 

 corporations formed under it. An act 

 has also been approved providing for co- 

 operation with the Federal Government 

 in several lines of work and making 

 appropriations as follows : With the 

 Director of thell. S. Geological Survey, 

 for the purpose of making topographic 

 maps, $20,000 ; for the purpose of gag- 

 ing streams, surveying reservoir sites 

 and canal locations for the conservation 

 and utilization of the flood or storm 

 waters of the state, $15,000; with the 

 Chief of the Bureau of Forestry, for 

 the purpose of studying the forest re- 

 sources of the state and their proper con- 

 servation, with a view to stimulating a 

 proper state forest policy, $15,000 ; with 

 the Director of the Office of Experiment 

 Stations, for the purpose of ascertaining 

 the best methods of distributing and 

 using water, $10,000. These sums are 

 provided to be used in connection with 

 an equal amount to be furnished by the 

 bureaus of the Federal Government as 

 specified. 



Colorado. A bill was passed author- 

 izing the State Canal Commission, hav- 

 ing in charge the project for carrying 

 the water of the Gunnison River by 

 means of a canal or tunnel into the 

 valley of the Uncompahgre River, to 

 turn over its material and other matter 

 relating to the project to the Reclama- 

 tion Service of the Federal Government. 

 As the Secretary of the Interior has 

 within the last few days authorized the 

 Reclamation Service to proceed with its 

 investigations, with a view to the con- 

 struction of the Gunnison tunnel, as ex- 

 plained in another part of this issue, it 

 is probable that the state material will 

 lie turned over to the Federal Govern- 

 ment in pursuance of this statute. 



Idaho. A law has been passed pro- 

 viding for the control and regulation of 

 water-right appropriations by the state 

 engineer. A very elaborate system is 

 provided for by this act, under which 

 the state engineer is required to pass 



upon intended appropriations of water 

 when the application is first made ; then, 

 when it is claimed that the diversion 

 works have been completed, he is to ex- 

 amine them on the ground and to issue 

 his certificate of approval if found satis- 

 factory, and, finally, when the water has 

 been used for irrigation, he is to make 

 further examination in order to decide 

 whether the waters are used in accord- 

 ance with original application, and, if so, 

 to issue a license for the water right to 

 the extent that the same has been com- 

 pleted in accordance with the state law. 



Nevada. A bill for the establishment 

 of the office of state engineer and for 

 general cooperation of the state authori- 

 ties with the Reclamation Service of the 

 Federal Government has been passed. 



Utah. A new set of irrigation laws 

 was enacted at the recent session of the 

 legislature. 



Wyoming. Three measures relating 

 to irrigation were passed by the Wyo- 

 ming legislature. One relates to the 

 duties of water division superintendents, 

 while a second provides that all reser- 

 voirs hereafter constructed shall be car- 

 ried to completion under the supervision 

 of a deputy state engineer. Still an- 

 other bill passed relates to the adjudi- 

 cation of rights along tributary and 

 main streams. 



The following comment on the second 

 of these laws, reprinted here from the 

 Wyoming Industrial Journal, is interest- 

 ing from the fact that provisional orders 

 regarding the pushing of the Sweetwater 

 project in central Wyoming were in- 

 cluded in the recent instructions of the 

 Secretary of the Interior to the Reclama- 

 tion Service: 



' It has been discovered that a law 

 enacted by the Wyoming legislature, 

 recently adjourned, will have much to 

 do with the proposed government con- 

 struction of reservoirs in this state. 

 Indeed, it is held by some authorities 

 who have been acquainted with the full 

 provisions of the law that the state engi- 

 neer of Wyoming will have supervision 

 and that the General Government cannot 

 construct reservoirs in this state until 

 the state engineer has been consulted in 

 the matter. 



' ' The laws already in force in Wyo- 



