108 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



GETTING FULL PAY FOR THE SETTLERS' WORK 



A Remarkable Article on the Usefulness of the Water Users' Association 



By GEORGE W. BRUCE 



President of the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users' Association of Colorado. 



THE field of usefulness for a Water Users' As- 

 sociation on a Federal irrigation project is 

 practically limitless. It has to begin with the force 

 of an existing corporation . Each land owner with- 

 in the project is already a stockholder, and as such, 

 interested in the welfare of the Association. The 

 Corporation has the additional merit of having the 

 live and continued interest of all the members in 

 the organization from 

 year to year, in the 

 fact that the Associa- 

 tion distributes the 

 water for irrigation 

 from year to year, to 

 every stockholder 

 within the project. 

 This feature insures 

 an active interest in 

 the Association, and 

 practically unanimous 

 participation in the an- 

 nual or special meet- 

 ings of the stock- 

 holders. 



The Association 



. 



A Wheat and Corn Crop on the 



should become the * Pro ' ect - in South 

 clearing house for the 

 people of the valley, 

 both for the purpose of disposing of the surplus 

 products and for the purpose of furnishing needed 

 supplies, builder's hardware and dairy stock. I 

 mean by this, the Association should have house 

 and storage facilities and sell at cost farm lumber, 

 builder's hardware and dairy cows of the best type, 

 and be prepared to take care of surplus potatoes, 

 onions and fruit until the market justified shipping. 

 In our particular project a beet sugar factory 

 or factories should be built by and owned by the 

 Association and the profit go to the shareholders. 

 The soil of the Uncompahgre Valley is particu- 

 larly adapted to the growing of sugar beets of large 

 sugar content, and there is a sufficient acreage to 

 support two or three moderate sized plants There 

 are many reasons why this project should have its 

 own sugar factory, the chief reasons being that it 

 leaves the by-products, syrup and pulp, close at 

 hand for the growers to obtain to feed to livestock. 

 This item alone is profitable and encourages own- 



ing and feeding and consequently developing farm 

 lands to a greater production and greater perma- 

 nent value. 



Another industry equally important, and in the 

 minds of some, of greater importance than the 

 sugar factory, would be a milk condensing plant 

 A plant of this kind, in my judgment, would fol- 

 low within a year or two the building of sugar 



factories, and both 

 these industries could 

 be not only realized 

 upon but made very 

 profitable to the people 

 directly interested the 

 farmers or producers. 

 Another matter of 

 great importance, in 

 fact, the greatest prob- 

 lem confronting the 

 producers of the val- 

 ley, is the problem of 

 marketing at a fair 

 price the product of 

 the farms. The Gen- 

 eral Government and 



Belle Fourche Valley Federal Irriga- 

 irtesy Chicago & Northwestern Rail- 



the States, through 

 Agricultural Colleges, 



and many of the counties, through advice and 

 assistance of agricultural and horticultural agents, 

 have been assisting in the production of greater 

 yields, losing sight of the equally or still more im- 

 portant question, the economic distribution of farm 

 products. The facts are that the gain in production 

 exceeds that of our increase in population, and it is 

 safe to estimate that this production could be yet 

 materially increased if a remunerative market can 

 be found for the products. "At no time," says Peter 

 Radford, "since Adam and Eve were driven from 

 the Garden of Eden have the inhabitants of this 

 world suffered from lack of production, but some 

 people have gone hungry from the time of creation 

 to this good 1 hour for the lack of proper distribu- 

 tion." 



Xow the question : How can a Water Users' 

 Association be of service? In the first place, we 

 are organized and incorporated and every acre of 

 irrigable productive land in the valley is subscribed 



