THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



329 



MANAGER AND IRRIGATOR FACE TO FACE 



The Human Problem on the Project; How to Solve It 



By W. O. COTTON 



Civil Engineer and Irrigation Manager, Idaho Falls. Idaho 



AFTER an irrigation system is completed, it is 

 found that questions yet remain for decision 

 that are far more perplexing than the mere con- 

 struction of ditches. Probably no canal has been 

 constructed in this country of which this has not 

 been true. 



On the new project it might be said that the 

 engineering, physical and legal problems are very 

 well worked out and the most important problem 

 confronting the irrigation men of today is the hu- 

 man problem, and one of the most important items 

 of this problem is how best to reach the farmer, get 

 his viewpoint and diffuse knowledge to him. 



While practically all 

 managers of irrigation 

 systems have their 

 methods of handling 

 this problem, there are 

 some in charge of large 

 systems of distribution 

 who are much more suc- 

 cessful than others and 

 there are probably few, 

 if any, who are entirely 

 satisfied with their 

 method. Every super- 

 intendent or manager 

 realizes that his first 

 duty is to divide and 

 deliver the water carried 

 to every irrigator in a 

 just and practical man- 

 ner, and do this tactful- 

 ly, as the irrigator 

 knows only one test of 

 successful canal oper- 

 ation an ample water 

 supply when and where 

 needed. 



It is my belief that 

 at the bottom of this 

 problem is the need of 

 better understanding 

 between the farmer and the men in charge. The 

 farmers on many of our projects are men of all 

 classes and vocations, and it goes without saying 

 that these people have many different ideas, hence 

 it is hard to settle upon any one rule which will 

 work in all cases. The men in charge are, in most 

 cases, men who thoroughly understand either the 

 engineering, physical or legal conditions, but there 

 are few who have a combination of these three and 

 with it an understanding of the human problem. 

 Nor is it any wonder, as it is only a short time since 

 the irrigation men thought that when the engineer- 

 ing, physical and legal questions were solved, the 

 system was completed. 



Few farmers can take the same viewpoint of 



A waier wheel which lifts 



canal operation that the professional manager does. 

 The manager must look after the interests of many, 

 scattered over a large territory; try to give the 

 farmer the best and most economical service and 

 at the same time look after the best interests of the 

 system for the future. All of this is out of the 

 farmer's line and he often takes grave excep- 

 tions to it, and too often when the farmer 

 sees a professional irrigation or agriculture man 

 come into his field, he immediately thinks he 

 is after something, either his water right, his 

 farm or his money, for he reasons "What interest 

 can this man have in me unless it be a monetary 

 one?" 



These roads traveled, one by the farmer, the 

 other by men in charge, 

 seem to be parallel and 

 perhaps convergent in 

 the distant future, but 

 just how to get off the 

 wrong road and meet 

 half-way the farmer is 

 the question. 



First: The manager 

 must, through the joint 

 division and distribution 

 of water, gain the con- 

 fidence of the farmer; 

 then, through keeping 

 his word in all cases and 

 at all times, and by dis- 

 playing a character well 

 above reproach, he may 

 gain the farmer's re- 

 spect. 



Second : The man- 

 ager should consider 

 visiting his farmers a 

 part of his duty and do 

 as much of it as his 

 other duties will allow 

 him ; in this way the 

 farmer will come to see 

 that the manager is not 

 only a technical man, 

 but is also a practical man, and there is no one who 

 has the chance the manager does of knowing the 

 aggregate production of his particular section, and 

 with this knowledge is in a position to give helpful 

 suggestions in regard to the plants best adapted 

 to soil, climate and market conditions. I aided a 

 farmer to secure a prize on his potatoes at the Na- 

 tional Land Show, which helped wonderfully in 

 winning him over and also some of his neighbors. 

 Third : The success of irrigation lies to a 

 great extent in specializing; the manager cannot 

 hope to be a specialist on all lines, but he knows 

 where to find the State or Government specialist 



The cuts used in connection with the story by Mr. Cotton are from 

 photographs made for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. 



rrigating waters from Grand River in 

 Colorado. 



