340 EEPOET UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



amounting to over $100,000. With a portion of this money the land 

 was bought, and with another portion the irrigating canals were con- 

 structed and a fence built around the whole domain, a distance of 45 

 miles. A canal 10 miles long waters the town and suburban property, 

 being 15 feet wide and 2^ deep. It lies on the south side of the Cache 

 la Poudre. The other canal is 36 miles long, 22 feet wide, and 5 feet 

 deep. As these canals were paid for out of a common fund, the right 

 to use water is attached to the fealty or to the soil, always being desig- 

 nated by the proper subdivisions of the section and township. The 

 price originally attached to a water-right was $150, but, enlargements 

 having been made, the cost has been added, and now the pries is about 

 $300. There is, therefore, no charge made for the use of water, but 

 there is an annual charge for superintendence and repairs, usually about 

 25 cents an acre per annum. All other canals in the State are owned 

 by companies, and the charge for water per acre, for one season, is $1.50 

 to $2, so that the cost of water for a year, for 160 acres, is more than a 

 whole water-right in the Greeley canal. Now, while a water-right is 

 attached to a particular piece of land, as above stated, it is permitted 

 that the owner of a right may transfer his water to another piece of land 

 for one season, or sell it for the same time to another farmer, the price 

 being from $20 to $30, but increasing year by year. The volume of 

 water which a water-right carries has been about 40 inches, delivered, 

 say, under 6 inches pressure, and this one right will water 40 acres, that 

 is, an inch to the acre. But as the average size of farms is 80 acres, a 

 farmer either owns two rights, or hires another, or as frequently ex- 

 changes. Thus farmers on a common lateral agree that one farmer shall 

 have the use of half a dozen water-rights for one day, or two days, then 

 another farmer will take the same body of water, and so around, whereby 

 an immense volume of water is obtained and a large area is more ex- 

 peditiously irrigated than a smaller one would be in proportion. This 

 arrangement works extremely well ; indeed, the plan of making water 

 nearly as transferable as a horse adds immensely to the capacity of the 

 stream itself. 



When irrigation first commenced great difficulty arose in dividing 

 water, for those living along the upper part of the canal got most water ; 

 much of the time those living at the lower end got none, and disputes 

 and complaints were general ; nor could any light be had on the subject 

 from those who had been irrigating elsewhere long before. This is a 

 difficulty that seems general even in southern Europe and in Oriental 

 countries. 



To J. Max Clark, of Greeley, are the people indebted for a device which 

 settles the whole question in an entirely satisfactory manner. Thus : 

 The flumes from which water is admitted into the laterals are set down 

 to the level of the canal, and being about 12 feet long and from 1 foot 

 to 3 feet wide, they reach clear across the embankment. A gate set at 

 a fixed uniform height admits the water from the canal, and thus a 

 body of still water of a fixed depth is presented, and from this still wa- 

 ter a gate on the field side is opened as high as will supply the number 

 of water-rights claiming below. The rate or volume for each man is 

 ascertained first by measuring the amount which the canal carries^ 

 and dividing this by the number of water-rights, whereby the whole of 

 the water is used and each man on the canal gets his proper share. In 

 a similar way farmers divide water at their fields from a common lateral. 

 This principle for dividing water has been repeatedly demonstrated to 

 be correct ; perhaps the best proof is the unusual satisfaction which it 

 gives. At each flume a notice is posted which indicates who have a 



