THE IRRIGATION A G K . 



141 



Ellensburg, were never carried beyond a preliminary 

 stage. 



The report indorses the Benton project as one that 

 could economically reclaim, about 210,000 acres, of 

 which 40,000 acres could be irrigated by pumping from 

 the Columbia River. The Hanford Irrigation company 

 has already organized for that purpose, and this project 

 will, therefore, be reduced in area by that amount. The 

 large initial outlay, about $2,000,000, needed to carry 

 the main canal to any considerable area of irrigable land, 

 and the large ultimate cost, about $7,000,000, makes it 

 certain that the building of this project must be deferred 

 for several years. The project as a whole is feasible and 

 inviting. The land is fertile and transportation facili- 

 ties are excellent. 



Surveys of the Priest Rapids project were made, 

 which indicate that a total of 129,000 acres might be 

 reclaimed, partly by gravity and partly by pumping, 

 but as the development of the projects already approved 

 will leave no funds available for many years for under- 

 taking new projects in Washington, further studies and 

 surveys of secondary projects have been discontinued. 

 Most of the lands withdrawn in connection therewith 

 have since been restored to settlement and entry. 



DRAINAGE.* 



Drainage laws have proven essential factors in the 

 development and continued prosperity of the middle 

 West. They are contemporary with improved farming, 

 thriving towns, commodious rural dwellings, abundant 

 crops, and general agricultural progress. These laws 

 have been enacted in response to a demand for diversified 

 and high class farming and more healthful surroundings 

 which in many localities can not be obtained without the 

 construction of drains which require co-operative efforts 

 on the part of land owners concerned. No operations 

 of this character can be prosecuted under the rulings of 

 common law. Special legislation is required, as was 

 demonstrateed to the cost of many progressive men in the 

 early stages of the drainage improvement. 



The writer desires to discuss this subject from the 

 viewpoint of a layman rather than from that of the 

 attorney-at-law or legal expert. It is said with much 

 truth that our drainage laws as found upon the state 

 statute books are not smooth and euphonious in their 

 literary structure, that they are disconnected in their 

 provisions and constitute a mass of specifications lack- 

 ing legal terseness and logical form. Granting this 



LARGE VALVES FO <. CALIFORNIA. 



The accompanying illustration shows a carload of large valves made by the Columbia Engineering Works, Portland, Ore , for the Edison Electric 

 Co., Kern County, California. Each of these valves weighs 6 300 pounds, and seventeen of them were made for the California plant. 



It is not at all surprising that Mr. Pinchot, head 

 of the forest reserve division, should begin to see that 

 his policy is not popular here in the West. People would 

 be perfectly satisfied if Mr. Pinchot would confine his 

 efforts to the object for which forest reserves were 

 created the planting of trees and the preservation of 

 the lumber, or more properly what little is left. The 

 lumber trust has corraled all the valuable timber it will 

 require for the next fifty years and the taking of the 

 remainder away from the people is exactly what the big 

 timber men desire. How much Mr. Pinchot is co- 

 operating with the lumber trust in his work is of course 

 not known, but he is having a very hard time making 

 the people believe that he has not done everything pos- 

 sible to favor the trust. Ever since his advent into the 

 West on his present trip he has been hung up on the 

 hooks until every utterance is an apology for his un- 

 democratic policy. Here in Colorado after the timber 

 is all gone he runs in and segregates over 14,000,000 

 acres of nearly one-fifth of the State's total area for 

 primary exclusion of settlers and to perpetuate the graz- 

 ing privileges of the cattle barons, and the people do 

 not propose to stand for it much longer. The Denver 

 Field and Farm. 



to be true, I may add that such a condition of affairs 

 is the natural result of the drainage progress. There 

 are three essentials to a drainage law. It must be legally 

 sound, equitable, and workable. Those familiar with 

 drainage operations know what these terms compre- 

 hend. 



Some of the most egregious and costly blunders 

 committed in the framing of drainage laws have been 

 those of a legal character. The most common principles 

 of law, not to say of common sense, have been over- 

 looked in the drafting of some of our drainage laws, 

 and it is to be regretted that the history of these laws 

 does not shed a brilliant halo of glory upon our legal 

 fraternity. 



Drainage laws as far as the field to be covered is 

 concerned have necessarily been amended and revised to 

 meet growing demands and conditions which could not 

 be easily foreseen. They have become cumbersome by 

 reason of the multitude of provisions it has been found 

 wise to add. In order to obviate some of these objec- 

 tions the states of Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota 



An address delivered by C. G. Elliott, engineer in 

 charge of drainage, TJ. S. Department of Agriculture, be- 

 fore the Drainage League, Fargo, N. D., December 11, 1906. 



