THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



337 



THE IRRIGATION CONGRESS ITS OPPORTUNITY 



AND RESPONSIBILITY. 



By Edward P. Bohin, 



Author of The Carey Act Manual, Paper* on Irrigation 



Finance, Member Executive and Congressional 



Committees National Irrigation Congress. 



The text quoted below is a facsimile copy of a 

 letter which I drafted and mailed to each member 

 of the present Board of Governors of the Irrigation 

 Congress, shortly after the adjournment of the last 

 session, at Salt Lake City, in October, 1912. It con- 



at the beneficial measures introduced in Texas, 

 California and Oregon to observe the leaven at 

 work. In these measures of reform the Congress as 

 an active force for promoting legislative activity 

 took no part. Its present board of governors is not 

 to be censured for its lack of activity. Every one 

 familiar with the affairs of the Congress knows that 

 for months on end the location of its next meeting 

 place and, consequently, of its sources of a full 

 year's revenues "hung in the balance." When the 



Flume of Yellowstone and Canyon Creek Co., Laurel, Mont. 



The halftone, herewith shown, is from a photo showing an end section of a 9-foot diameter flume furnished by the 

 Klauer Manufacturing Company, Dubuque, Iowa, to the Piper Construction Co., Billings, Montana, for the Yellowstone and 

 Canyon Creek Ditch Company, near Laurel, Montana, along the Yellowstone River. 



tains the essence of a paper I had prepared for 

 presentation at that session but which, on account 

 of the crowded state of the program, was not in- 

 troduced. The statements as to the need of activity 

 upon the part of the Congress are of as much force 

 today as when first made almost a year ago, inas- 

 much as there has been no change for the better 

 in the status of the irrigation industry. There has, 

 however, been a great improvement in the attitude 

 of a number of the western states towards the vital 

 problems of water control. One has only to look 



city of Phoenix finally delivered its decision, it was 

 found impossible to interest any other communities 

 in the subject at least to the extent of offering it 

 hospitality in 1913. Just why the Arizona city chose 

 to reverse itself has never been made clear, officially 

 the writer has heard the explanation advanced, in 

 confidence, by some of its best known citizens. Ac- 

 cording to these accounts, there were good grounds 

 for their action, which could be criticized only on 

 the ground of unwarrantable delay. 



If there is to be a constructive policy in 



