IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS ON CACHE CREEK. 189 



prunes, apricots and nectarines, and figs — are for the most part dried in the sun. 

 This maives |x)ssible the saving of much defective fruit, and atiords an outlet for the 

 surplus which can not be canned or shipped or used localh'. Indeed, the risks 

 attending this method of dealing with the fruit are so much reduced and the results 

 so satisfactory that man^^ of the larger fruit growers dr}- nearly all their product. 

 Unlike the fresh fruit, it is not perishable, and the risks of shipping are small. 

 California dried fruit is staple and has a regular quotable value in the markets of the 

 world. 



If in this favored vallej' health or needed rest call for change of climate or 

 scene, within easj- reach on the west is the bracing air, the health-giving springs, and 

 all the wealth of scenic beautj' for which the Coast Range is so justly famed. To the 

 north the snows and the mountains of Shasta; to the east the wild and rugged Sierras, 

 with all their atti'actions of lake and forest and crag and stream; to the south the 

 ocean beach, with its moist and cooling breezes. All these to choose from and within 

 easy reach of even slender means. 



For a market there are the interior and coast cities and the lumbering and 

 mining camps of the Sierras and the Coast Range. During the summer the Southern 

 Pacific, with its fruit express, taps this territory, and through eastern connections 

 places its fresh fruits and early vegetables on all the markets of the mining States, 

 the Middle West, the Centi-al States, and even the cities of the Atlantic seaboard and 

 Canada. Later in the season over the same great highwaj' are carried the less 

 perishable products of the cannerj- and the vineyard, the dried fruits, the nuts, and 

 the citrus fruits to the great distributing centers of the East, whence they find a 

 market east and west, north and south, and even across the Atlantic. Within easy 

 rail and water communication to the south lies San Francisco, the great commercial 

 entrepot of the Pacific coast, with her matchless harbor, on whose waters might ride 

 in safetA' the commercial navies of the world, and through whose Golden Gate is 

 pouring an ever-sweUing tide of commerce with our growing Pacific coast cities and 

 with Alaska, Hawaii, and the Philippines; with Mexico, Central America, and Peni; 

 with Australia and New Zealand; with Russia; with India, China, and Japan, and with 

 all the countless islands of the Pacific and the eastern seas. With generous soil and 

 favoring climate and the world for a market, this is indeed a favored land. 



DEFINITIONS OF TITLES TO WATER. 



The farmers of Sacramento Valley under the existing s\-stem are exhausting the 

 fertility of their lands and wasting their substance in a failing system of agriculture, 

 while the waters that should make their thirsty fields fruitful and themselves and 

 their families comfortable and prosperous go idh' bj- to trouble the lower h'ing 

 lands and to breed malaria in the swamp. These farmers have a right to the use of 

 the water, and they should know the limit of its appropriation. It is clearly the duty 

 of the State to provide — 



First, for a clear definition of everv beneficial use now made of these waters; 

 second, to make clear the limit of riparian rights; third, to provide for the determi- 

 nation of what Avaters remain unused; fourth, to provide for regulation and control 

 when new appropriations are sought; fifth, to provide a complete record of each 

 perfected right and of each application or permit for a new diversion or use; sixth, 



