86 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



HISTORY OF THE IRRIGATION DISTRICT IDEA IN 



\Y/FTQT A VALUABLE CONTRIBUTION TO THE RECORDS 

 W ELkJ 1 OF RFC! AMATION IN THF. UNITF.D STATF.S 



THE IRRIGATION AGE is in receipt of Bulletin 

 Xo. 2 of the Department of Engineering, State of 

 California, which is a review of the irrigation work 



Raising Canal Banks on a New California Project. 



done in that state between the years 1887 and 1915. 



In the past 15 years there have been formed in 

 California, under the Wright Irrigation Act, which 

 was recently rewritten to meet changed conditions, 

 62 irrigation districts, with an area of close upon 

 3,000,000 acres. 



Although definite data as to cost has not been 

 available in all instances, it is estimated that the 

 total cost of watering this great area of agricultural 

 land, changing it from barren waste to the richest 

 land in the world, has been close to $20,000,000. 

 Definite figures on 3,132,489 acres under irrigation 

 show the cost for that acreage, when 

 completely under irrigation, will be 

 $12,142,011. 



Since the report was prepared 

 and placed in the hands of the state 

 printer for publication, the Car- 

 michael district, 1,306.52 acres; West 

 Side, near Tracy, 11,500 acres; Terra 

 Bella, 12,500 acres ; Lindsay-Strath- 

 more, east of Lindsay, approximately 

 18,000 acres; and South Lassen, near 

 Doyle, with 22,000 acres, have been 

 organized. 



The report also brings out the 

 point that the state is in the very 

 middle of one of the greatest irriga- 

 tion booms in the history of the 

 country, indicated by the fact that 

 along with the newly-formed districts 

 and those under formation there are 

 still a number of other districts 

 contemplating immediate formation. 

 They are : Paradise, Thermalito, Oro- 



ville, all in Butte county ; Willows, Princeton, lone, 

 Morgan Hill, Merced, Maderia, Stratton and Cardiff. 

 New projects, it may be seen, are concentrating in 

 the Sacramento Valley district. 



Undue speculation in land avail- 

 able for irrigation is scored by the 

 report, which declares that the main 

 problem before several of the districts 

 recently organized is to obtain set- 

 tlers for the lands for which water 

 has been made available, and one of 

 the most prevalent deterrents to rapid 

 settlement would seem the high price 

 asked for the land. 



Of interest also is its history of 

 the irrigation district idea. The re- 

 port says : 



"The irrigation district idea did 

 not originate in California. Prior to 

 the passage of the Wright Act Italy, 

 France and Spain had provided for 

 neighborhood irrigation systems to 

 which the district plan is somewhat 

 similar. Municipal organization had 

 also been employed in drainage. The 

 first irrigation district legislation in 

 the United States was passed by Utah in 1865. That 

 legislation provided that county clerks, on applica- 

 tion of a majority of landowners in areas proposed 

 to be organized, should create districts. In those 

 districts landowners were the electors, if land taxes 

 were to be levied, or taxpayers, if general property 

 taxes. A few districts were formed under that act, 

 but nothing important was accomplished. The first 

 California irrigation district act was passed in 1872, 

 'An Act to promote irrigation by the formation of 

 irrigation districts.' It provided that owners of 

 lands desiring to irrigate or drain them might peti- 



Excavating for a Ditch on a New Montana Project. 



