IRRIGATION PROBLEMS OF HONEY LAKE BASIN. Ill 



Both the money and the brains, which the district system has lacked, would thus be 

 supplied. The State would risk nothing in the operation; the districts would gain 

 everything. The burden of taxation would rest where it belongs — on those who are 

 to receive the benefits. There would be no wearj' waiting of years for State or 

 Federal schemes to materialize and to reach those remote neighborhoods which have 

 few citizens and fewer outside friends. There would be no more heart-breaking 

 private enterprises dealing with undertakings beyond their grasp. 



Let us apply this principle to existing conditions in Honey Lake Valley. Sup- 

 pose there are 150,000 acres to be irrigated without crossing the line into Nevada. 

 A high estimate of cost when the work is done upon a large scale would be $5 per 

 acre, or a total cost of $750,000 for work alone. It would be necessary to purchase, 

 either by negotiation or condemnation proceedings, most of the existing canals and 

 all riparian rights. Probablj' this could be done for less than $500,000; but it is 

 well to add $250,000 for contingencies. This brings the sum total to $1,500,000, or 

 a bonded indebtedness of $10 per acre. This debt would rest not alone upon the 

 agricultural lands, but also upon all other real property in the district to be benefited 

 by irrigation and the growth of population. The annual interest charge would be 

 $75,000, to be collected from all the lands at the rate of 50 cents per acre. Another 

 60 cents would probably meet the cost of administration, making the annual assess- 

 ment for all fixed charges $1. Under the district law, as recently amended, districts 

 may simply pay intei-est for the first twenty years, and begin the accumulation of a 

 sinking fund with the twenty -first year. The bonds run fortv years, so that there is 

 another twenty years for the payment of the principal of the debt. The debt of $10 

 per acre can be retired at the rate of 50 cents per acre each jear, beginning with the 

 twenty-first, which, added to the fixed charges, calls for $1.50 as the total assessment. 

 This could impose no hardship upon the landowners, especially if the national laws 

 be revised so as to cut down the entries to -10 acres, or to 80 acres, at the most. 



In the foregoing figures liberal allowances have been made for each item. It is 

 quite possible that the debt could be kept down to $7.50 an acre, or even $5 per 

 acre. The entire consti'uction fund need not be expended at one time. The situation 

 is peculiar^ favorable to the gradual extension of works. The}- could be extended 

 each year to meet the growth of settlement, and the money not employed in the 

 works could be placed at interest so as to relieve the taxpayers of that portion of the 

 burden. The manner in which settlei's have rushed to the valley when large works 

 have been projected in the past, and the fact that there is perhaps not one instance of 

 failure on the part of farmers who have actually had water for their land, go far to 

 prove that under such a system of public works the people could cheerfully meet the 

 financial demand which would be made upon them and realize satisfactory returns 

 for themselves. Of the various methods suggested for reclaiming Honey Lake 

 Basin, the district system, with such revision as has been suggested, is probably the 

 best. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



After this extended studj^of the conditions presented by Honey Lake Basin, and 

 of the operation of water and land laws. State and national, we are prepared to 

 suggest some of the conclusions to which we are inevitably led. 



