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THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



The last few meetings of this body have been a 

 source of amusement to the men who organized and 

 were active in the work of the Irrigation Congress of 

 past years. 



The object to be attained under the new plan is 

 primarily to give settlers on the various projects an 

 opportunity to air their views and open a discussion 

 which will result in resolutions being put through 

 that will attract the attention of the authorities in 

 Washingon and result in reforms for which the ordi- 

 nary settlers have been clamoring since the passage 

 of the Reclamation Act. 



It was the opinion of many that the Irrigation 

 Congress would fill this need, but it soon became ap- 

 parent that outside influences were at work to 

 thwart this plan and eventually the Reclamation 

 Service and its henchmen were in full control and 

 the settler who attended . with the idea of registering 

 a complaint was quickly sidetracked or altogether 

 ignored. This condition has been somewhat modi- 

 fied under the Lane regime, but is not yet entirely 

 eliminated, hence, the need and demand for a con- 

 gress where the settler may tell his troubles with 

 some likelihood of being given proper attention and 

 assistance. 



A prominent western city, centrally located, has 

 offered through its Chamber of Commerce to assist 

 in the formation of this congress and stand under 

 any expense for halls, publicity and entertainment, 

 provided the congress is held permanently in that 

 city. 



Owing to its central location and unusual rail- 

 way facilities, this offer will no doubt be accepted 

 by the new organization. 



More full details will be given in future issues 

 of THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



From the Portland, Oregon, Tele- 

 Government gram. May 21, it is learned that En- 

 Should gineer Louis W. Whiting has filed a 

 Control report on the Buck Lake irrigation 

 Water Power and power project for one . J. J. 

 Chambers, of Ashland, Oregon. This 

 report informs us that Buck Lake covers about 4 

 square miles, is situated near the divide of Jackson 

 and Klamath counties and has an elevation of 5,000 

 feet. The lake has a mountainous watershed of be- 

 tween 80 and 100 square miles and its discharge in 

 the dry season is given as 60 second feet. 



It is estimated that a dam across the outlet of 

 the lake will raise the water 46 feet, yielding a stor- 

 age of 115,000 acre feet, enough to irrigate 46,000 

 acres. 



Continuing, Mr. Whiting presents the follow- 

 ing figures, which should be interesting to Gifford 

 Pinchot, Homer Reed and hundreds of other think- 



ers who are trying to prevent the people from being 

 deprived of their rights by grasping money kings. 

 Mr. Whiting has in his report exposed the real ob- 

 jection to giving rights of this character to any in- 

 dividual or corporation. 

 He states : 



"It is estimated that 18,000 horsepower 

 can be developed. The sale of part of 

 horsepower would bring $500,000 per year. 

 The irrigation of 10,000 acres at $40 an 

 acre, together with $1.50 net annual main- 

 tenance cost, would yield $530,000. The 

 total cost of installation, including a 

 power plant, is $765,000. It is proposed to 

 cover that with a bond of $1,000,000. The 

 . net annual income from this plant is esti- 

 mated at $300,000." 



The foregoing is a fairly good illustration why 

 either the state or Federal Government should in- 

 terfere and save this great income for the people so 

 that it could be applied to work that would develop 

 other resources of the state, the income from which 

 could be used for the benefit of the public and not 

 turned over bodily to individuals or corporations. 



THE AGE has not always agreed with the poli- 

 cies of Gifford Pinchot nor his friends, but he is 

 right in his present fight and should be supported 

 by all right-thinking people. 



NEW IRRIGATION LAW 



PREVENTS "WILD-CATTING" 



Arizona Adopts Statute Which Will Remedy Many 

 Irrigation Evils 



We have read with a great deal of pleasure an 

 account written by Prof. Smith, irrigation engineer 

 of the Agricultural Experiment Station of Arizona, 

 in which he tells of the proposed irrigation law for 

 this state. From the account, it would seem to us 

 that this law embodies all that is good in the irriga- 

 tion laws of most of the western states and leaves 

 out that which is bad. The bill provides for a state 

 water board. This board is made up of the gover- 

 nor, state engineer and the corporation commission. 

 It will be the duty of this state water board to fix the 

 priorities of the present ditches and all new appro- 

 priators must make application for a permit from 

 this board to divert a certain amount of water. The 

 state engineer's office will have or obtain data con- 

 cerning the unappropriated water in that particular 

 stream. If there is unappropriated water there, the 

 permit will be granted, if not, it will be refused, or 

 will be granted on condition that the applicants 

 build a reservoir and store the flood water. If this 

 water commission rightly handles the problem, it 

 will protect the water users as well as prevent the 

 "wild cat" irrigation schemes that have been so det- 

 rimental to some of the other western states. It 

 seems to us that Arizona is on the right track and 

 if she can pass the law as proposed, she will relieve 

 herself of much litigation in the future. E. B. 

 House, Colorado Agricultural College, Fort Collins. 

 Colo. 



