IRRIGATION FROM SAN JOAQUIN RIVER. 257 



STREAM CONTROL. 



In reality there is at present no S3steni of stream control in the State of Cali- 

 fornia. Anyone who wishes may claim all the water of a stream he niay see fit, 

 and may proceed to take out as much as he likes until he arouses a contest with some 

 other claimant, when immediately his case goes into court, to remain there perhaps 

 for years. It can hardly be denied that this state of affairs is most unsatisfactory. 

 In place of this there should be constituted a board of control, of the highest char- 

 acter and ability, which should adjudicate all existing claims to water, and have the 

 authority to carry out its judgments. All water not covered by these adjudications 

 should be declared to belong to the State, and should be controlled apd divided for 

 use by this board. 



STATE ENGINEER. 



The board should appoint a State officer, who might be designated as State engi- 

 neer, of the highest scientific and technical abilitj', whose duty should consist in 

 earning out the rulings and decisions of the board in individual cases, such as decid- 

 ing the validitj' of particular claims to water, dividing the watere of streams equably 

 among claimants, etc. 



WHERE CLAIMS SHOULD BE RECORDED. 



If the records of appropriations of water, under the law therefor and as 

 refoi-med according to my recommendation previously made, should be maintained, 

 there should be not only the record in the office of the county recorder, but also a 

 duplicate thereof in the record book in a central office, as for example that of the 

 surveyor-general or the State engineer, for the convenience of the genei^al public. 

 In this way any person, as for instance a newcomer in the State, could find the exact 

 status of any claim to water on any stream. The convenience of such duplicate 

 record is obvious. 



Such appropriations of water and all unappropriated waters of the State should 

 be under the exclusive control of the administrative board previously mentioned. 

 Progress reports of the initiation, prosecution, and progress of diversion works should 

 be regularly made, both to the count}' and central offices, and annual or semiannual 

 reports of the use of the water so diverted should be required. A lapse of a certain 

 interval should automaticallj' work the forfeiture of the claim. The before-mentioned 

 board of control should, under the law, have the supervision and government in all 

 matters of water rights. 



CONSERVATION AND TTSE OF FLOOD WATERS, AND LEGISLATION THEREON. 



For the same reason that the National Government takes control of its rivers and 

 harbors and expends revenues in improving them for the purpose of facilitating navi- 

 gation and commerce — that is, to benefit the country as a whole and all its citizens — 

 should it assist and encourage the irrigation of all arid and semiarid public lands 

 within our borders, thereby affordmg homes to our ever-growing population, and 

 increasing the wealth and prosperity of the nation; and stimulating the basic indus- 

 tries agriculture and horticulture — the most important in every country. To this end 

 it should presei-ve from sale or preemption all available sites for dams and storage 



23856- -No. 100—01 17 



