40 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



apprise the people of Idaho as to their condition and 

 to prescribe a remedy, and that in this process THE 

 AGE has incidentally taken a fall out of the Land 

 Board's past and present of that State" ; continuing 

 the editor says, "this discussion was brought on 

 by the appointment of a Commission to look into 

 the matter and report to the Governor. THE IRRI- 

 GATION AGE by virtue of its name, has seen fit to 

 deal itself a hand, and there will be a merry war 

 from now on. "We think," says the Farmer, "THE 

 AGE has no talk coming unless they represent the 

 bondholders, as they certainly do not represent the 

 settlers." 



The editor of THE AGE takes exception to these 

 statements made by the Carey Act Farmer, and 

 wishes to emphasize the fact that it has never at 

 any period, during the 14 years it has been under 

 his control taken sides with the bondholders. It has 

 regularly and forcibly stood for the settler in every 

 instance, and if the gentleman who edits the Carey 

 Act Farmer had followed our columns carefully, 

 statements of the character above quoted would not 

 have been made. It may not be out of place to 

 state here to the editor of the Carey Act Farmer, 

 that the editor of THE IRRIGATION AGE covered the 

 entire Twin Falls territory many, many times before 

 the sage brush was removed from any of that land 

 now so largely exploited throughout the United 

 States. He visited that section as far back as 1891 

 and has gone into the territory several times a year 

 since that time. Hence, the statement of the Carey 

 Act Farmer's editor is unfair in so far as his state- 

 ment goes that THE AGE "certainly does not repre- 

 sent the settler." We are inclined also to take ex- 

 ception to their statement that THE AGE certainly 

 should, if it had any suggestions to make, have 

 made them in private, and not through its columns. 

 It appears to us that this is rather a peculiar position 

 for the publisher of a paper to take, and places the 

 editor of the Carey Act Farmer in a rediculous light. 

 It was our impression that the Carey Act Farmer 

 was fair in its editorial conduct, but we are not in- 

 clined to take that view since going over the article 

 mentioned. It is safe to say that the editor of THE 

 IRRIGATION AGE has covered the Twin Falls tract 

 as thoroughly as any man outside of old time set- 

 tlers in the State, and perhaps it would not be a bad 

 plan to learn the personnel of the publishers of the 

 Carey Act Farmer and obtain, if possible, some defi- 

 nite knowledge as to their wide experience in irriga- 

 tion affairs, locally or otherwise. It may be possible 

 later on to learn something about the gentlemen 

 whose names head the editorial column of this pub- 

 lication and give our readers some idea of their 

 experience along irrigation and reclamation lines. 



IRRIGATION IN OREGON. 



By John H. Lewis, State Engineer. 



In the State of Oregon, we have but recently 

 passed from the pioneer stage of irrigation develop- 

 ment into the more complicated stage of expensive 

 works, shortage in water, and numerous contro- 

 versies. With only seven people to the square 

 mile (over 500 to the square mile in one county) it 

 is apparent that there is yet much room for develop- 

 ment. We expect in the near future to reach that 

 stage of irrigation development where the ordinary 

 summer flow of our streams will be augmented 

 many fold through the release of stored water, as 

 is the case in a number of the older irrigation 

 states. 



This transition from the pioneer period of un- 

 regulated diversions to that of strict public con- 

 trol of all diversions is not easy of accomplishment. 

 The entire thought and life of the water user must 

 be adjusted to the new order. He must abandon 

 the indefinite miner's inch and think of water in 

 second feet and acre feet. He must respect public 

 and private rights to water and suffer the penalty 

 for violating law. Until the water user, the courts, 

 and public generally, understand the reasons for 

 each feature of the new system and appreciate the 

 general benefits to be derived from a strict en- 

 forcement of its provisions, it will be difficult for 

 the administrative officers to attain the best results. 



Irrigation is necessary in eastern and southern 

 Oregon, but until recently has not been' considered 

 necessary in the northwestern, or more densely 

 populated section of the state. The annual pre- 

 cipitation is unevenly distributed, as illustrated by 

 the government record : at Glenora, 135 inches ; 

 Portland, 45 inches; Government Camp, 90 inches; 

 The Dalles, 15 inches, and Umatilla, 8 inches; each 

 point being approximately 50 miles east of the one 

 preceding. 



In the extensive and fertile Willamette Valley 

 only three inches out of the 45 inches of annual pre- 

 cipitation falls during the summer months, while 

 about 20 inches fall during the winter months. 

 Already several irrigation projects are being con- 

 structed with a view to supplement this summer 

 deficiency. 



Throughout much of central Oregon, which 

 ranges in elevation from three to four thousand feet 

 above sea level, the precipitation varies from about 

 eight to fifteen inches. This district which has long 

 been famous as being the largest area in the United 

 States without railway transportation, is now being 

 rapidly settled, due in part to the active railway 

 construction now under way, to the reduction of 

 from five to three years' residence required for 

 homestead entry, to the increase from 160 to 320 

 acres allowed to each entryman, on non-irrigable 

 land, and primarily to the fact that the precipita- 

 tion in this vast empire is believed to be ample for 

 dry farming purposes. 



With only 686,129 acres of land irrigated out 

 of a total of 61,200,000 acres, and with about 4,000,- 

 000 acres susceptible of irrigation, the public has 

 become aroused to the importance of irrigation de- 

 velopment in Oregon. It is apparent that from six 

 to ten times the population can be supported on 



