272 



THE IERIGATION AGE. 



has been carefully and intelligently cultivated, the 

 financial returns have been astonishingly large. 

 The incomes from irrigated farms read like fairy 

 tales to the men who are grubbing away on the 

 old plan. 



Not only are the yields from irrigated lands 

 phenomenally large, but the quality is so good that 

 the products invariably command a premium. 

 When to this is added the further fact that there 

 are no crop failures, we have an ideal condition. 

 No droughts to burn up the crops, no excessive 

 rains to drown them out or delay seed time or 

 harvest. The wise man is he who settles on a 

 40 or 80-acre tract and cultivates it intensively. 

 It will make him rich. 



During the past month there was sold 

 A under the hammer of the referee in 



Bankrupt bankruptcy at Vale, Oregon, the assets 

 Irrigation and property of the Willow River 

 Concern Land and Irrigation Company. Infor- 

 mation which comes through the press 

 indicates that the property value is much below the 

 liabilities, and that heavy expenditures will have to 

 be made to bring the project to a point where any- 

 thing can be realized by those who made the 

 original investment. Report is current that the 

 people who have taken over the property intend to 

 place the entire acreage in orchard lands with the 

 hope of ultimately selling it at the price of $1,000 

 per acre. This, it strikes us, is an extremely, vision- 

 ary view, and they who are working out the plan 

 will find it difficult to accomplish. One of our 

 western exchanges in discussing the subject has the 

 following to say that is timely concerning the gen- 

 eral situation. 



It may be well to state here that THE IRRIGA- 

 TION AGE has avoided criticisms of this character 

 for fear that injury would be done to legitimate 

 concerns that are struggling to make good. The 

 following is from the Carey Act Farmer: 



In the meantime it may be well to inquire as to 

 what representations they will make to the pros- 

 pective buyer as an inducement to invest in the 

 property after it is in the orchard. 



It is presumed that they will use every means, 

 legitimate or otherwise, to get their money out of 

 the project. We have failed to note any construc- 

 tion company that have put their money into these 

 projects for the fun of the investment. 



Failures of this kind, and the Lost River affair 

 is what makes irrigation securities a drug on the 

 market, and should wake up the states to a closer 

 scrutiny of proposed schemes of reclamation. With 

 the proper supervision and inspection such condi- 

 tions would be impossible, and every fly-by-night 

 company would not be permitted to speculate with 

 the last dollar of the settler they succeed in coaxing 

 onto their projects. 



Citizens of Idaho returning from the east bring 

 the gossip of the papers and the people of those 

 states that have sent thousands of people and mil- 

 lions of dollars for the development of the arid 

 West. They are anything but flattering. They in- 

 dicate extreme distrust in any and all western in- 

 vestments. They impress one with the idea of a 

 great commonwealth standing by and permitting 

 the false pretenses to be traded for the life savings 

 of the man on the land. State officials sit in their 

 easy chairs and "pass" on applications of companies 

 to segregate and water land without knowing 

 whether or not the project is feasible. Or whether 

 there is protection for the man who will invest all 

 he has in the land. 



When the state permits a company to get set- 

 lers on arid land they should be sure that there is 

 available water, and should compel its delivery as 

 per the contract. Failing to do this the state stands 

 convicted of being an accomplice to the fraud, and 

 does not deserve prosperity. 



There should be provision in the law that, in 

 case the company did not succeed in its undertak- 

 ing, all money paid to them by the settler should 

 be returned, with interest and the expense of com- 

 ing onto the land, and this provision should be en- 

 forced and the settler protected by a good and suffi- 

 cient bond for that purpose. 



If there is to be a loss it should fall upon those 

 who have initiated the project for the purpose of 

 making money out of it, and not upon the settler. 



If the bonds are sold to "widows, orphans, etc.," 

 as is usually claimed, then there is double argument 

 for state protection and supervision. 



From any angle there appears to be some vital 

 flaw in the whole system, and after all the years of 

 experiment the state does not seem to be nearer a 

 solution than before. 



Bankruptcies, receivers and total losses seem 

 to follow in the wake of the irrigation promoter. 

 It is up to the state. 



One of the most s,erious things the 

 Too Much honest manager of an irrigation 

 Water in plant has to contend with is the 



Irrigation tendency of the beginner to use too 



an Evil much water. In many cases it takes 



two or three years of bitter experi- 

 ence to convince the greenhorn that too much water 

 is fully as bad as not having enough. Efforts of 

 the managers to instruct him on this subject at 

 the start are usually of no avail. Advice to "go 

 slow" is looked upon with suspicion and set down 

 to a desire on the manager's part to save water 

 for the company so a larger area may be served. 



"Smart cuss, that manager. Thinks he's going 

 to bunco me out of the water I'm entitled to so's 

 he can sell it to someone else. But he can't fool 

 me. I'm going to have all I want." 



This is the average argument with which ad- 

 vice to go slow with the water is met. The 

 beginner, before he learns better, gets all he wants, 

 and more. So long as it doesn't stand in puddles 



