THE IRRIGATION PROBLEMS OF HONEY LAKE BASIN, CALIFORNIA. 



By William E. Smythe, 

 Vice-President of the California Water and Forest Association. 



INTRODUCTORY. 

 HISTORY AND RESOURCES. 



The region on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains differs materially 

 from all other parts of California. To the minds of its earliest pioneers these differ- 

 ences appeared to present an insuperable ot)jection to the inclusion of Honey Lake 

 Valley in the new State. They felt that the great mountain range had reared a 

 natural boundary between the two slopes which men should respect, and in conse- 

 quence sought b^' every means in their power to be left outside of California. The 

 chief objection laj' in the difficult}- of communication between this remote region and 

 the seat of government in the Sacramento Valley, especially in the winter season 

 when legislation would be enacted. 



Their tirst effort to free themselves from this embarrassment aimed at the 

 formation of a new Territorj*, to which they gave the pleasant name of '"Nataqua." 

 Such a Territory was actually organized bj' a handful of settlers on April 26, 1856. 

 The boundaries established included a large portion of Nevada, as well as a part of 

 California. By a ludicrous blunder, arising from misunderstanding in regard to 

 the exact location of the one hundred and twentieth meridian of west longitude, the 

 founders of the new Territory were themselves excluded, while a much larger popul;i- 

 tion in western Nevada which had not been consulted were within the boundaries 

 of the impossible commonwealth. The code of laws adopted for the new political 

 division disposed of the irrigation problem in the following brief paragraph: 



Sec. 8. No person shall divert water from its original channel to the injury of any prior occupant. 



Probably this provision was intended to refer, not to the "prior occupant" of 

 the water or the channel, as it reads, but to the occupant of the land along the 

 stream, and was thus the first assertion of the riparian doctrine in this locality. 



After the failure of this attempt to provide themselves with civil government, 

 the settlers petitioned Congress to be included in Nevada. In the meantime they 

 assembled in mass meeting and adopted (February 13, 1858) a new code purporting 

 to be "The Laws of Honey Lake Valley." In this code the same provision for water 

 appropriations was made as in the case of "Nataqua." The locality experienced 

 various political vicissitudes, including an armed struggle (locally known as "the 

 sagebrush war") between the Nevada people and those of Plumas County, Cal., 

 before it was safely and finally incorporated as a part of the Golden State, in 1864. 

 This was accomplished by the act of April 1 of that year, authorizing the formation 

 of the new county of Lassen, which took its name from the valiant pioneer. 



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