THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



231 



The Federal Water Users on the 

 Put Your Klamath project in Oregon are mak- 



Water Users' ing plans for a co-operative bank, 

 Association warehouses, refrigerating plant and 

 to Work g r i st mills. They are also discuss- 



ing the idea of acting together in 

 the sale of their produce and in the purchase of their 

 supplies. They are putting their Water Users' as- 

 sociation to work. 



These undertakings of the Klamath settlers are 

 tremendous in their possibilities and in their im- 

 port. The farmers will have many obstacles with 

 which to contend and some of their enterprises may 

 meet with failure in the beginning, but they are 

 bound to succeed in the end. 



Co-operation has proven successful among far- 

 mers on privately constructed projects. It should 

 prove even more successful on the government pro- 

 jects because of the splendid foundation on which 

 the Water Users have to build. This foundation is 

 the Water Users' association, to which if the gov- 

 ernment contracts are obeyed, every settler must 

 belong. These associations have power of taxa- 

 tion. This is a big asset not enjoyed by the aver- 

 age organization of farmers. They have other com- 

 prehensive powers, which will aid greatly in the 

 development of various methods of co-operation. 



The settlers should have taken advantage long 

 ago of the potentialities in their Water Users' as- 

 sociations. If they had, their financial condition 

 would be much beter today and they would be a 

 happier lot of citizens. There is no question among 

 economists but that communities so far removed 

 from the markets as are the Federal irrigation pro- 

 jects must so organize as to be able to sell their 

 produce in large bulk and when the markets are at 

 their best if they expect to obtain fair profits. 



The Water Users should not be buncoed by 

 the latest cry of certain Reclamation Service offi- 

 cials, who fear the power of well organized Water 

 Users' associations. These men, who desire to 

 keep the associations empty, helpless shells, are 

 now talking "neighborhood co-operation." 



This is only another attempt to keep the set- 

 tlers divided in little helpless cliques. 



. No small community of interests can accom- 

 plish such results in the development of markets, 

 the handling in bulk of produce, the construction 

 of warehouses, elevators, refrigerating plants and 

 other equipment for marketing as can a co-opera- 

 tive body, such as a Water Users' association, made 

 up of all the settlers on a Federal project. The in- 

 terests of these farmers are not so diversified but 

 that all can be served through the Water Users' 

 association. The structure is ready. Put your Wa- 

 ter Users' association to work. 



Pioneers 

 Are 

 Often 

 Forgotten 



Pioneers and leaders in great move- 

 ments are often forgotten. Events 

 move rapidly and the foundation 

 work performed by sturdy and far- 

 seeing men is covered up by the 

 superstructure which fills the eye and blinds the sight 

 to what it rests upon. For a little spell the Western 

 Irrigation Congress at Denver gave recognition to two 

 valiant workers in the cause of irrigation, two pioneers 

 whose splendid achievements ante-dated Government 

 action in the reclamation of desert lands. It was grati- 

 fying to those who know the true history of Western 

 irrigation to have such recognition accorded to these 

 men. H. L. Hollister of Chicago and I. B. Perrine 

 of Idaho were at work in Southern Idaho when the 

 idea of a large irrigation system had not been tried 

 out. It was a new and bold conception to build a 

 great dam that should divert a large river and with 

 a canal a hundred miles long spread the water 

 through a thousand miles of laterals over a dozen 

 townships. Everybody acknowledged it was a 

 grand idea, but those who were enthusiastic about 

 it were not capitalists or bond buyers. 



Messrs. Hollister and Perrine went about their 

 work on the theory that somewhere the men with 

 the money or means of getting it were waiting for 

 them. No hunter ever beat the jungle with greater 

 zest or more untiring spirit. Capital generally does 

 not seek. It waits. It is the bride of enterprise. 

 Not particularly blushing but coy, timorous, hesi- 

 tating, ready at any moment to gather up her skirts 

 and vanish like a puff of smoke, leaving her cour- 

 tier not only astonished but nonplussed and in the 

 direst extremity of not knowing what to do but 

 seek another bride. 



But, to shorten the story, Hollister and Per- 

 rine were money getters and they found the money 

 for the magnificent development of the Twin Falls 

 country which is now a reality and is their enduring 

 monument. Not only irrigation but the large power 

 interests were fathered and fostered by them. Fifty 

 thousand people testify to their good judgment. 

 Fifty millions of dollars could not now buy that 

 country which a few years ago was an uninhabited 

 desert. So many are the men who have made for- 

 tunes by the development of the Twin Falls region 

 that it would be impossible to enumerate them. The 

 towns that have been created, the homes that have 

 been built, the farms and orchards that have been de- 

 veloped, the extensive hydro-electric power plants 

 and transmission systems that have been con- 

 structed are objects of wonder and admiration. 

 There has been grief lots of it. There always is 

 in large undertakings. But land values are going up 

 all the time. Countless others are yet to make their 



