Irrigation in California. 283 



King's river by the expenditure of a few months' work, by a 

 small force of the farmers themselves. On King's river, individual 

 and simple cooperative effort is sufficient to bring water enough 

 upon the plains to irrigate thousands of acres, while in the case 

 of the Tuolumne river it is absolutely necessary to have associated 

 capital in large amount — an entirely different principle of organi- 

 zation from that which was originally applied on King's river and 

 the Kern and other rivers in the southern part of the great central 

 valley. In discussions on the subject of irrigation some people 

 have advanced the idea that the works should be undertaken by 

 the farmers, and that capital should have nothing to do with 

 them. That may do very well where the physical conditions will 

 admit of such a course, and where nothing but the farmers' own 

 service depends upon it ; but the great majority of the streams of 

 California are of such a character that the work of the farmers 

 can avail nothing. There must be strong associations and large 

 capital. For this purpose special laws are required. On the 

 Santa Aiia, in San Bernardino county, water has been easily 

 diverted, and such is the case with every stream in the interior 

 valley of San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties. 



Capital for the first works was not required. The water was 

 procured by primitive methods and the works were simple. But 

 in San Diego, an entirely different condition of affairs prevailed. 

 There the waters are back in the mountains, twenty or twenty- 

 five miles from the coast, and the irrigable lands are close along 

 the coast, or within ten or twelve miles of it. To bring the 

 water out of these mountains requires the construction of ditches 

 following the mountain sides for 20 to 35 miles. But simple 

 ditches do not answer, because of the great quantity of water 

 lost from them. So the companies have resorted to fluming,^ 

 and even to lining the ditches with cement. Thus in San 

 Diego, individual effort is out of the question. Farther north 

 again, in the great interior valley. King's river is a stream where 

 cooperative and individual effort have been efficient, although it 

 requires a greater amount of capital there than in the southern 

 interior valley. In the southern interior valley, perhaps, $10,000 

 would often build a ditch and divert all the water that the supply 

 would furnish. On King's river the works have cost from $15,000 

 to $80,000 each ; on Kern river the works have cost from $15,000 

 to $250,000 each ; and on the Tuolumne they will cost from 

 $1,000,000 to $1,200,000 apiece. On Merced river, the cost has 



