IRRIGATION PROBLEMS OF HONEY LAKE BASIN. 83 



The whole subject is treated as if it were a matter of no particular consequence 

 and as if there were no more need of safeguarding the water supply than of govern- 

 ing the use of the air we breathe. 



THE LAW OF APPBOPBIATION AT WORK. 



The first irrigation ditch in Honej' Lake Valley was built in 1854. The notice 

 of claim was as follows:' 



I, the undersigned, claim the privilege to take all the water out of Smith Creek (now Piute 

 Creek) at the junction of the two forks where the stake stands. I shall build the dam some 6 feet 

 high and carry the water along the South Hill to the emigrant road. 



Is.\AC Roop. 



August, A. D. 1854. 



Recorded this Ist day of May, 1856. 



While it is thus apparent that water has been in use for irrigation in this valley 

 since 1854, and while the countv government was organized in 1864, a search of the 

 records reveals the fact that the first claim filed and recorded in accordance with 

 the law is dated April 27, 1872. It is the claim of D. C. Hall for 200 inches of Gold 

 Run. There can be no doubt that during the interval of eighteen years between the 

 filing made by Isaac Roop and the formation of the countj' government manj' appro- 

 priations were made, of which several were put into use. Doubtless the same was 

 true of the period between 1864 and the first legal record which was filed in 1872.^ 



Taking the two periods together, there were twenty -six j'ears — more than a 

 quarter of a cenhiry — when the streams were being used without any legal record of 

 appropriations. It is possible that the county records were destroyed by some of the 

 numerous fires which have afflicted Susanville; but, asthe record is intact" for the last 

 twenty -eight years, it seems more likety that lack of oflicial data bearing on early 

 appropriations is due to the looseness of the law and the slight significance which 

 was attached to it bv the public mind. Vested interests of considerable value must 

 have been created by the use of the watei's during the long period about which the 

 official records are absolutely silent. 



We have now reached the point where we may study with profit the record of 

 appropriations on streams entering Honey Lake Basin and observe what light they 

 throw upon the operation of the California irrigation law and the necessities of future 

 development. For this purpose the voluminous record has been carefully searched 

 and the entire data placed at the disposal of the author of this report, thanks to Prof. 

 J. M. Wilson and his painstaking assistants. When these appropriations are viewed 

 as a whole it is eas}' to see the risks involved in the irresponsible methods prescribed 

 by the law and in the total absence of anj- sj'stem of administration for the protection 

 of the public. 



Bv far the most important stream entering the valley is Susan River, draining 

 the rich watershed created by the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. As 

 we have seen, it is estimated that about one-half of the entire drainage entering into 



' History of Plumas, Lassen, and Sierra Counties. San Francisco: Fariss & Smith, 1882. 



^This is evidenced by some of the records of claims. One has the note: "Used the water for 

 several years before posting notice." A more remarkable instance is a filing recorded 'May 10, 1898, 

 which says: ''Have used the water since 1862," thirty-six years before filing. 



