THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



165 



fuddles the settler who is asking only fair play and 

 the righting of flagrant wrongs, "the powers that 

 be" are so woefully vague that they can only dis- 

 tinguish through the mist the figure of Secretary 

 Lane and his man Friday, Mr. Ryan. 



This brings us to another thought : why did 

 Secretary Lane put Mr. Ryan in as comptroller of 

 the Reclamation Service? What did Mr. Ryan know 

 about gravity flow or general irrigation work when 

 his appointment was made? Why did not Secretary 

 Lane search (and he would not have found it neces- 

 sary to go far) for some man to fill this position who 

 thoroughly understood irrigation and one who had 

 a heart in him sufficiently large to take some of the 

 burdens of the water users over, or at least confer 

 with them individually, or in groups, and work for 

 the betterment of their condition, rather than as- 

 sume a haughty attitude and compel them to beg for 

 what was theirs by right. 



Can anyone answer these simple questions? An- 

 other: who and what was Mr. Ryan before his ap- 

 pointment? Was his past record sufficient 'to recom- 

 mend him to this position? 



"BENEFICIAL USE" THE NEWEST 

 PRINCIPLE 



IRRIGATION PROJECT FOR RICE CULTURE 



The Grand Prairie Canal Company, organized 

 to construct a 28-mile irrigation canal to provide 

 water from White river to further develop the rice 

 growing industry on the great prairie, has begun con- 

 struction work on the big ditch. It is expected that 

 it will take a year to finish the project, the first big- 

 canal irrigation scheme in Arkansas. Twenty-five 

 thousand acres of rice land can be served from the 

 canal and three main line laterals, though in a few 

 years it is expected the irrigation district will fur- 

 nish water for much of Grand Prairie, which is 90 

 miles long and about 20 miles wide. 



The main canal will tap White river three miles 

 above De Vails Bluff, Arkansa's, and run almost 

 due south to within two miles of Stuttgart, a dis- 

 tance of 28 miles by the course of the survey. It 

 will pass De Vails Bluff between two and three 

 miles to the west and extend south to Mesa, near 

 where the first mainline lateral will be run off, a 

 point seven miles below the head of the canal. 

 Eleven miles below White river the_ second lateral 

 will be run off. and the third will run from the end 

 of the canal above Stuttgart to the north and east 

 of Stuttgart, according to present plans. 



The company is capitalized at $300,000. A 

 pump station will be put in on White river to lift 

 water 60 feet into the canal, which will follow the 

 highest ridge through the prairie. There is a 

 natural drop or drain of one foot to the mile in 

 the 28-mile course. Excess water will be drained 

 off in small streams that the canal will cross. 

 Eventually, numerous laterals will be constructed 

 to take care of thousands of acres of rice farms in 

 the district. 



Grand Prairie is said to be the biggest rice pro- 

 ducing center in Arkansas, last year's production 

 running 5,000,000 bushels, which commenced from 

 90 cents to $1.10 per bushel. 



(By George E. McLeod, Special Agent of the California Water 

 Commission) 



The former idea of the principle involved in 

 water appropriation was that individuals or corpora- 

 tions might file upon and appropriate the waters of 

 the state at their pleasure, with little or no regula- 

 tion, in as great an amount as they might elect, and 

 continue to 'hold and possess such waters without 

 placing the same to any immediate "beneficial use," 

 depriving others of appropriation, capitalizing the 

 water rights so obtained at get-rich-quick figures 

 and speculating in a natural resource through the 

 growth of the community all to the detriment of 

 the real owners of the water, the people. Under 

 this idea immense appropriations of water have been 

 made, and there has been an impression held by 

 some that not much water remained unappropriated ; 

 but such is not the case. There is a vast amount of 

 water still unappropriated, and it is this vast empire 

 of water which it is the intent of the Water Com- 

 mission Act to protect and conserve to "beneficial 

 use," as well as the waters which may revert to the 

 state through forfeiture and again become unappro- 

 priated waters. 



The aims and objects of the Water Commission 

 Act are therefore directed toward a continual study 

 to protect the waters that are left and to see to it 

 that they are "beneficially used," not merely held, 

 and with an avoidance, as far as may be, of long, 

 unnecessary and costly suits to determine the rights 

 of various claimants on common sources of supply. 

 The use to which waters may be put under the act 

 is divided into four classes, viz. : agricultural, power, 

 mining and municipal supply. In the matter of do- 

 mestic supply for cities, that is, water used for what 

 may be termed "human consumption," municipali- 

 ties have what is termed a "preferential right" over 

 the individual ; and the state, any city, city and 

 county, municipal water district, irrigation district, 

 lighting district, or any political subdivision of the 

 state shall have a right any time after the expiration 

 of a period of twenty years from the time a license 

 has been granted to an individual (or corporation) 

 to purchase the works and property occupied and 

 used under such license, paying therefor a price to 

 be determined under proceedings of eminent domain 

 that is, condemnation of the property by the 

 people, with compensation for the property so con- 

 demned. Thus it may be -seen the intent of the act 

 has always in mind the People, the People, the 

 People. 



This latest idea of "beneficial use" is somewhat 

 a new one and one of strict construction. An in- 

 tending appropriator cannot merely formally declare 

 that he will put waters of the state to "beneficial 

 use," for the purpose of acquiring the water, but he 

 must say how, when and where, to express it 

 tersely. All applications are subjected to the closest 

 scrutiny and examination by competent authority. 



Send $1.00 for 1 year's subscription to the IRRIGA- 

 TION AGE and bound copy of THE PRIMER OF IRRIGA- 

 TION, If you desire a copy of The Primer of Hy- 

 draulics add $2.50 to above price. 



