THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



775 



is a great distance from eastern conditions and what is 

 known as Civilization. 



There are, however, to be found many beautiful cities 

 all along the Pacific Coast, and it would be difficult to find 

 a more delightful and complete city than Portland, Ore- 

 gon. 



When one settles in a valley like that of the Rogue 

 River, or the Willamette, he is sufficiently near to Port- 

 land to feel that all of the benefits to be derived in the 

 way of entertainment, as well as of a social manner, are 

 close at hand. While, on the other hand, one is so near 

 to the wildness of the mountain ranges that all of the 

 allurements of a mountain wilderness are open to the 

 sportsman, or those in seach of health. 



Taken all in all, it is doubtful if there is to be found 

 within the borders of the United States a more pleasing 

 combination than may be secured in this section of 

 Oregon. 



To 



Amend 



Water 



Code. 



Representative McKinney of Baker 

 County, Oregon, Chairman of the Com- 

 mittee on Irrigation of the House, in- 

 troduced a measure recently which 

 amends the water code of 1909 in many 

 respects in compliance with the recom- 

 mendation of the State Engineer and members of the 

 Water Board of Control. 



It also provides other things: for instance, an increase 

 in salary of the State Engineer, as suggested by the act- 

 ing governor in his message. 



The amendments in the water code are principally 

 to facilitate the work and the practice before the water 

 board and relate for the most part to matters of pro- 

 cedure. These amendments will operate so as to make 

 the law conform to what the experience of the board in 

 the two years the bill has been in effect, has demon- 

 strated it should be. The amendment asks for an addi- 

 tional fund of $5,000 for surveys to be made in connec- 

 tion with the adjudications of the water board of control. 

 Owing to its rapid development in the irrigation field, 

 Oregon is entering a period which will require many 

 changes in its present irrigation laws and these should be 

 carefully investigated so that no errors may creep in which 

 may prove detrimental to the water users or citizens gen- 

 erally. 



In 'a letter received from a subscriber, 



Misleading who is a settler in the Canadian north- 



Information west, dated January 29th of this year, it 



About is stated that the weather since the last 



Canada , week of December has been very cold 



and stormy, being 35 and 40 degrees be- 

 low zero. 



The writer further states that the crops last year were 

 very light owing to the dry weather, the smallest ever known 

 since our correspondent moved to that country. 



This statement is somewhat at variance with the char- 

 acter of literature being put out by the Canadian Pacific Rail- 

 way, that claims almost everything for the northwest territory. 



The AGE has found occasion in former issues to criticise 

 the officials of this system for statements which, to put it 

 mildly, may be classed as misleading; it is unfair to lure set- 

 tlers who are doing fairly well in the United States to that 

 country, where they oftentimes meet with discouragement and 

 disappointments. 



A farmer who is prospering in the States should con- 

 sider long and well before moving across the line. 



There are, no doubt, many favorable locations through- 

 out Sasakatchewan and Alberta, and it is equally true that 

 many of the settlers from here have gone over there and ac- 

 complished much in the way of building up a home and pro- 

 ducing good crops. The same inducements, however, are 

 offered by our own states in the west, and it is safe to say 

 that there are many of the western states that can be de- 

 pended upon to treat the settler better in the way of 

 results than any section in the northwest part of Canada. 



The writer is not prejudiced in any way against Canada; 

 in fact, was born in that country and has, naturally, a kindly 

 feling for its government and people, but the fact remains 

 that there are many who go over there with a misunder- 

 standing of the opportunities offered, and this is the result 

 of the highly romantic and colored literature put out by the 

 Canadian railwavs. 



Dispatches from Washington late in 

 Committee January inform us that the Senate Corn- 



Holds mittee on Irrigation, which met behind 



Heated closed doors, has been holding heated 



Sessions. sessions over the attempt of Chairman 



Carter to "use the committee to injure 

 Director Newell and the friends of conservation." 



To those who are not familiar with the history of 

 irrigation development, these lines would indicate that 

 Senator Carter is some sort of a hydra-headed creature 

 who is attempting to deprive Mr. Newell of some of his 

 prerogatives and to withhold opportunities from prospec- 

 tive settlers in the West. 



Those who are familiar with the history of irrigation 

 development under Federal control readily understand 

 that Senator Carter is one of the best inofrmed men in the 

 Senate on irrigation affairs. Both he and Congressman Mon- 

 flell, of Wyoming, have given this subject a great deal of 

 thought and study and when Mr. Carter was selected chair- 

 man of the committee and acted as the head of that com- 

 mittee and its investigations, something over a year ago, those 

 who were familiar with the situation felt that a report of 

 the exact conditions as existing, would be presented. The 

 report was prepared, so we are informed, in full and the com- 

 mittee was asked to sign it, but several of them refused and 

 it is assumed that those who refused were less familiar with 

 conditions, or members who had been approached by the 

 alleged father of the forestry and conservation movement, 

 Pinchot, and by some of the friends of Director Newell. 



It is not necessary for us to state at this time our opinion 

 op^cnowledge of either Messrs. Newell or Pinchot. The AGE 

 has devoted a great deal of space to these gentlemen in the 

 past and all of our readers fully understand our position. 



It is a well known fact that there has been a sort of 

 lobby conducted in Washington with a view to popularizing 

 certain individuals ; among them, Pinchot, Newell, Ex-Secre- 

 tary of the Interior Garfield; and one or two others who have 

 been boosted through the assistance of this coterie of con- 

 servationists to live positions, such for instance as head of 

 the Smithsonian Institute. This group of men attempted at 

 one time to control all western legislation and development. 



There was a time, not many years ago, when, if one 

 picked up a daily paper and failed to find either the name of 

 Pinchot or Newell in its columns, the question would arise 

 as to what delayed the matter in reaching from the press 

 bureaus at Washington and Chicago to the newspapers on 

 their list. 



This fight has been toned down somewhat by Pinchot's 

 enforced retirement as chief forester and by the fact that 



