252 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



ville. It is hoped to have the first unit, comprising 

 about 1,000 acres, watered this season. 



Senator Jones recently introduced a bill appro- 

 priating $1,800,000 for constructing storage reser- 

 voirs to impound flood waters of the Yakima river. 

 This will provide for the irrigation of 120,000 acres 

 of land in the Yakima Indian reservation. The bill 

 provides for free water for 64,000 acres of land now 

 owned in fee by Indians. Twenty-eight thousand 

 acres under Indian ownership are to bear propor- 

 tionate acreage cost for providing this storage, while 

 claims for water of owners of the remaining 18,000 

 acres, Indian title to which has been extinguished, 

 shall be adjusted by the Secretary of the Interior. 

 Eight per cent of allotted and patented lands will 

 have to be pledged by owners, however, before an 

 enlargement of the Wapato project will be under- 

 taken. 



CALIFORNIA. 



John Dupee and Walter H. Dupee, of Chicago, 

 have purchased the H. D. Williamson dairy ranch 

 of 446 acres adjoining the town of Santee on the 

 north for a reported consideration of $100,000. The 

 property has for some years been Considered one of 

 the finest appearing farms in the El Cajon valley 

 and as one of the best producers of the back coun- 

 try. The San Diego River passes through the 

 property and there is a complete pumping and irri- 

 gation system on the ranch. There is also a resi- 

 dence, large barns and outbuildings. 



A large amount of material consisting of water 

 pipe, farm and road-making implements, roofing, 

 etc., was received from Los Angeles recently for 

 the use of the Gibraltar Company. There is a larger 

 number of men employed this week than ever, some 

 putting it as high as 150. It is certain that a large 

 amount of work has been accomplished already this 

 season by this company. According to a recent 

 statement over 60,000 feet of cement mains and 

 laterals have been installed for irrigating purposes 

 and over 4,000 feet of steel pipe of the domestic 

 system laid. About 13,250 trees are planted in the 

 orchards, over 5,200 eucalyptus and many palm 

 trees line some of the roads and 22 buildings are 

 either completed, being built, or have been ordered 

 by the owners of land, who will make this their 

 permanent residence when erected. 



The installation of a clock meter at the Kings 

 River weir of the Fresno Canal and Irrigation Com- 

 pany will be one of the early steps taken by the 

 Fresno Irrigation Farms Company to compel the 

 canal company to deliver to the farms company 

 tract its due proportion of water. 



The Patterson Irrigator says that the work of 

 putting the rich lands of the great West Side under 

 irrigation is going on apace, and it is certain that 

 before long many more important projects will be 

 started. The people in and around Tracy are very 

 much interested in the problem of getting water 

 to the grain lands, and recently a committee was ap- 



pointed to secure information about forming an 

 irrigation district in that section. 



The Planada Development Corporation, it is 

 stated, has the Holt tract plant ready to connect up 

 with the irrigation system and expects to have 

 water flowing at once. The new well on the Hayden 

 tract is completed. It is a twelve-inch well, 261 

 feet deep with water rising to within 26 feet of the 

 surface. The pipe is laid for the Hayden system 

 and much of the ground prepared ready for alfalfa. 



J. F. Lambert, superintendent for the Planada 

 Development Corporation at Planada, spent two 

 days in Los Angeles recently on business connected 

 with the corporation's many improvements now 

 under full sway at Planada. 



A large number of water consumers have filed 

 a complaint with the Railroad Commission against 

 the Fresno Canal and Irrigation Company. The 

 complaint comes from Laton, Cal., and is signed by 

 a number of water consumers residing on the 

 Laguna de Tache grant. They allege that the com- 

 pany has furnished inadequate service, an insuffi- 

 cient amount of water and has failed to properly 

 distribute the water. The Commission is asked to 

 decide upon some method of relief. 



Judge Fulkerth has sustained the demurrer to 

 the answer in the case of M. S. Sperry Land Com- 

 pany, which firm is suing the Supervisors of Stanis- 

 laus county and the Turlock Garden Land Company, 

 alleging that no notice of the time in which the cer- 

 tain reclamation petition was to be heard by the 

 board was given. 



Several months ago the Turlock Garden Land 

 Company petitioned the Supervisors for the privi- 

 lege of forming a reclamation district in the county, 

 the district to be formed being approximately 5,000 

 acres of the old Chatom ranch, lying along the San 

 Joaquin River about ten miles south and west of 

 Modesto. The Supervisors granted this petition 

 and the Turlock Garden Land Company immedi- 

 ately began preparations for the undertaking of 

 the work. Before any action could be taken, how- 

 ever, the M. S. Sperry Land Company, which com- 

 pany owns about 350 acres of land in the proposed 

 reclamation district, brought suit against the Super- 

 visors and the land company, alleging that the Su- 

 pervisors acted without jurisdiction, and further 

 that no published notice had been given of the time 

 and place of hearing the petition for a reclamation 

 district. 



The case was argued before Judge Fulkerth 

 some time ago, at which time the court advised all 

 parties concerned that the board did go out of its 

 jurisdiction in granting this petition. When the 

 court sustained the demurrer as submitted by the 

 plaintiffs, the action by the Supervisors became null 

 and void. 



The Turlock Garden Land Company will now 

 be compelled to again submit a petition to the Board 

 of Supervisors, at which time the attorneys for the 

 Sperry Land Company will be present and set forth 

 their arguments against the granting of the petition. 



The decision is a most important one, as the 

 forming of the proposed reclamation district is one 



