326 RURAL CALIFORNIA 



effort for larger conservation purposes all of the sep- 

 arate irrigation districts or interests dependent in 

 common on a given water source or related group of 

 sources. Besides these extremely important acts, the 

 legislature of 1921 enlarged the powers and increased 

 the funds of the State Water Commission to permit 

 it the more effectively to correlate and protect, in 

 the interest of the public, the control of waters for 

 the principal uses named above. Furthermore, it 

 made a liberal appropriation to the State Department 

 of Engineering (consolidated with other related 

 State agencies into the State Department of Public 

 Works) to enable it to extend greatly the public 

 study of the water resources of the State and their 

 fullest utilization for the public good. The ultimate 

 attainment, however, seems to require that the great 

 enterprise of the future, for the heartening both of 

 those who plan and achieve it and those whose capi- 

 tal shall furnish it forth, shall be a world concern, 

 certified to all mankind by the public credit of the 

 State, possibly of the nation also. 



HIGHWAYS 



The system of highways now installed which gives 

 California distinctive position among the states for the 

 mileage, gradients, and smoothness of her rural road- 

 ways, has been realized by a process of evolution. 

 During Spanish and Mexican possession, the popu- 

 lation moved in the saddle along bridle paths and 



