THE 1RKIGATIOX AGE. 



499 



which strangers in any strange land are likely to make. 

 The active work r.f the campaign is under the direction of 

 Alfred Patek, State Commissioner of Immigration. Mr. 

 Patek is a man of great resources and energy, and already, 

 within the few weeks since the organization of the cam- 

 paign, his work has begun to show fine results. 



Colorado ha-s about 3,000,000 acres of irrigated land 

 and as much more irrigable, but undeveloped, a total of 

 nearly 6,000,000 acres which can be brought under the 

 plow and made highly productive. There are yet about 

 13,000,000 acres of government land, arable and open to 

 entry, but in spite of this fact and the rapid advance of 

 agriculture in that State during the past ten years, large 

 amounts of agricultural products are shipped in every 

 year. Mr. Patek says that last year the imports to Colo- 

 rado were valued at $32,000,000, every dollar of which 

 should have been raised on the farms and orchards of the 

 State. 



Colorado still owns about 3,000,000 acres of school 

 land, some of it of the very best class. These lands are 

 sold at public auction, the last sale on July 5 realizing 

 more than $300,000. The purchaser pays down 10 per cent 

 and the remainder in installments for 18 years. Some of 

 this land brings as high as $60 per acre, while other tracts 

 are selling as low as $4.50, the average being about $12. 



The State will endeavor to induce practical farmers to 

 settle on the irrigated lands, buy the school lands and 

 make their permanent homes in the State. Settlers on 

 the Carey act projects will be protected and the State will 

 see to it that purchasers get back their money in case of 

 failure to receive water at the proper time. New farmers 

 who come into the State will be looked after as long as 

 they remain, or until they are entirely independent ,and 

 every means possible will be adopted to get them started 

 right and to help them to become prosperous and con- 

 tented. 



Water 

 in the 

 Timber 

 Country. 



We trust that it will not be deemed im- 

 peitintnt to ask why it is that we no 

 longer hear anything about the argu- 

 ments of the Forest Service relating to 

 the conservation of moisture by timbered 

 areas? Evidently this theme is no longer 

 considered as furnishing a basis for the kind of adver- 

 tising that the Forest' Service desires. We are in- 

 formed that it was Mr. Xewell, the Director of the Re- 

 clamation Service, who first.gave Mr. Pinchot the tip that 

 this subject was safe and would enable the Forest Service 

 to get some following. It was played with for a long time. 

 Mr. Pinchot never lost an opportunity to try and scare 

 the people concerning the dwindling water supply as the 

 timbered areas disappeared. Facts are against him, how- 

 ever, and unfortunately for his crusade, they have been 

 made public. Engineers who know the most about the 

 subject are lined up solidly against the theory. We are 

 told that Mr. Pinchot feels somewhat disgruntled towards 

 Mr. Newell for having given him advice that appears un- 

 wise and without firm foundation in truth. The incident 

 is interesting at the present time. It illustrates how 

 anxious Mr. Pinchot has been for material for advertising. 

 For anything that seems to threaten life, liberty and the pur- 

 suit of happiness of the people, he has been able to find 

 a remedy in some forestry antidote. He has been able 

 to keep himself in the limelight and by deceiving readers as 

 to his actual accomplishments, he keeps them fully in- 

 formed as to his theories and his "reform" policies. We 

 ask those who believe in Mr. Pinchot and who will not 



undertake any investigation which will show them the 

 truth, what kind of government would we have if every 

 officer would spend his time and the public funds given in 

 his charge for public work in advertising himself and in 

 placing before the people his personal views and the poli- 

 cies he has accepted? Every public officer doubtless has 

 theories and ideas that he would like to see the general 

 government accept. The officer having the largest appro- 

 priation and the most time to exploit his ideas would soon 

 dominate. The administrative department would soon 

 over-ride the legislative department and policies would 

 originate by command of executive officers and not come 

 from the people or their representatives in Congress. If 

 those who blindly follow Mr. Pinchot, believe in his theo- 

 ries, they cannot indorse his methods. We trust that they 

 will investigate his theories. This is all that is needed to 

 demonstrate that these are on a par with the methods he 

 employs. 



Water users and those interested in canal 

 Water Users nn{ j jjt,-^ systems are often careless con- 

 Should cerning rights of way. When a man ob- 

 Know tains what he calls his water right or his 

 Their Rights permit to build a ditch, he often feels 

 that he is fully protected and that there 

 are no other laws that should be observed to afford full 

 protection. A part of the proposed ditch may be on gov- . 

 ernment land, a ;>art of it may be on land belonging to the 

 State, a part may be in a forest reserve and still another 

 part may be located on lands in private possession. State 

 authorities can generally give the interested party advice 

 as to how to proceed to obtain a right ot way across these 

 various tracts Df land. 



The local land office will be able to furnish a pam- 

 phlet relating to rights of way over the public domain; or 

 better still, the surveyor or engineer who laid out the 

 ditch and who !inds that it is to cross government land 

 should make his -vork in the field conform with the re- 

 quirements of the Interior Department so that a right of 

 way application and the necessary maps and field notes 

 may be furnished by him at any time. Rights of way 

 across forest reserves should be handled in the same man- 

 ner, except that more or less trouble will probably be had 

 with the forest service. The initial right of way papers 

 are filed with the local land office and referred to the for- 

 est service in Washington. State Land Boards generally 

 have rules which must be followed in order to obtain a 

 right of way over State lands. 



Rights of way over lands in private possession can 

 be obtained by the consent of the owner of such lands or 

 without his consent by condemnation. It may be that 

 neighbors exchange courtesies of this kind. In this case 

 rights of way should be secured by deed and recorded, so 

 that trouble will not oe had with any later owner of the 

 lands. Where the lands have to be purchased a deed 

 should always pass. This deed should describe the lands 

 necessary for the construction and maintenance of the 

 ditch by metes and bounds. Where the landowners refuse 

 to permit a ditch to pass through their property, or refuse 

 to set a price or make a price that is exorbitant, a right 

 of way can be condemned. The laws relating to condem- 

 nation are very similar in all of the States. Parties in- 

 terested in looking up the law relating to this subject will 

 generally find it in the revised statutes of the State, under 

 the heading, "eminent domain." 



So much trouble has arisen because of the failure of 

 parties interested in ditches, canals and reservoirs to take 



