20 IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS IN CALIFORNIA. 



public-spirited citizens of California indicate a growing recognition of the 

 fact that irrigation is more than a matter of ditches and acres. It is 

 beginning to be realized that the arid West has some problems which are 

 new to the people of this country; that there is being laid in the West the 

 foundation of an industrial civilization different from that of the East and 

 capable of better results, if wise laws and just policies shall prevail. It is a 

 civilization which requires that every farmer shall be a thinker as well 

 as a worker, and in which the value of the home depends more on 

 institutions than on either a fertile soil or ample water supply. No State 

 illustrates these truths more clearly than California. It is the most instruc- 

 tive field for the prosecution of these investigations in the United States, 

 because in no other State have water and land so great a value, and because 

 in no other State are the evils and abuses of imperfect and inadequate 

 legislation so clearly manifest. 



REFORM OF WATER LAWS A STATE MATTER. 



An impression seems to prevail in the minds of some of those interested 

 that this investigation is destined to result in a national law for the estab- 

 lishment of water rig-lits which would overturn' or unsettle all existinij ones. 

 This, as will be seen from the conclusions of the special agents in chai'ge, 

 is not regarded as either possible or desirable, and it is certainly not the 

 present or ulterior purpose of anyone connected with the irrigaticm investi- 

 gations of the Department of Agriculture. Rights to water are based on 

 State laws or State customs. There is no reason to believe they will be 

 overturned except with the sanction of those most concerned, and when 

 there is a desire for reform or change no legislative agency can respond 

 so quickly and effectively as that of the State. The object of this investi- 

 gation, and more broadly of the kindred ones carried on by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, is to furnish the facts needed as a basis for correct 

 conclusions and safe legislation. 



Since, therefore, the power to act and responsibility for action rests 

 with those directly concerned, and since action will not follow the recom- 

 mendations of this report unless they commend themselves as just and 

 timely, those connected with this investigation have felt that the greatest 

 service they could render would be to state their views candidly as they 

 have gathered and presented the facts impartially. 



THE SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF THIS INVESTIGATION. 



The investigation has been carried on by eight students of imgation of 

 wide experience and recognized ability, each of whom, with his assistants, 

 has gathered the available facts relative to the character, number, and value 



