WATER APPROPRIATION FROM KINGS RIVER. 



By C. E. Gkuxskv, C. E., 

 City Engineer of San- Francisco. 



KINGS KIVER. 



There is probably no river draining the western slope of the Sierra Nevada 

 whose irrigation svstem is more worthy- of careful consideration than Kings River. 

 PI. XXIV. 



Ph_ysical conditions are favorable for the diversion of the river water upon the 

 great eastern plain of the San Joaquin Vallej. To the right and to the left the lands 

 commanded are fertile and smooth surfaced, well adapted to irrigation and of great 

 extent. The river has a large discharge, particularly in the months when water is 

 most in demand for irrigation. The early settlers on the banks of the river and in 

 the river delta were appreciative of the advantages resulting from the use of water 

 for irrigation, and the efforts to extend the irrigation system have been persistent 

 and more than ordinarily successful. 



It goes without saj'ing that the results would have been still better and that 

 much less litigation relating to water titles would now be pending if opei-ations could 

 have been conducted under adequate and eq\iitable water laws. 



Under the somewhat doubtful sanction of law, and in direct contravention of 

 the riparian doctrine, as sometimes inteipreted, water has heretofore been taken, and 

 and is being taken, for use in irrigating lands not riparian b^' anyone in need 

 thereof, or in a position to take advantage of opportunities, for the supplj' of his 

 own needs and of those of his neighbors. A lamentable absence of recorded facts in 

 the matter of the claiming and the taking of water and the putting of the same to 

 some beneficial use not only renders a study and discussion of water rights and water 

 appropriations difficult and almost impossible without an elaborate and extended 

 inquiry into physical facts and conditions, but, coupled with the uncertainty of being 

 able or peraiitted to acquire any permanent rights to its use and to receive adequate 

 protection therein, has discouraged all except a few bold and faA^ored ones from put- 

 ting forth special efforts or taking any considerable financial risks looking toward 

 the development and control of water for irrigating purposes. So it happens that 

 but few of the Kings River canals are managed for profit from the sale of water. 

 Most of them are owned by the landowners. 



It was perhaps fortunate for the region now watered by Kings River that the 

 first comers thought the high plains of the valley fit for general agricultural purposes, 

 and particularly for wheat raising, without irrigation, because these settlers, com- 

 paring their crops with the luxuriant growth upon the river bottoms, could not 

 but appreciate the contrast, due mainly to the presence of abundant moisture. And 



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