IRRIGATION DISTRICT OPERATION AND FINANCE. 47 
It was not until 1907 that the formation of irrigation districts for 
new development began to take place on any considerable scale. 
About that year, however, when interest in irrigation was becoming 
widespread and was attracting an increasing amount of attention 
from eastern investors, it began to appear that large profits might be 
made through the reclamation of areas on the plains east of the 
Rocky Mountains. Sufficient time had elapsed since the early Cali- 
fornia failures to lessen the prejudice against irrigation district bonds, 
and Carey Act bonds in the meantime had been selling well, so that 
with the recovery from the financial stringency of 1907 it became 
possible to market such securities with comparative ease. There- 
fore, with no control on the part of any State official to act as a 
check, the allurements of large returns visualized by promoters, bond 
dealers, and landowners led during the next few years to the 
rapid organization of irrigation districts and to the issuance of bonds 
and expenditure of the proceeds in many cases without adequate 
water-supply and engineering investigations. Some projects were 
fraudulently financed and constructed; others were entirely honest; 
but the general tendency of the times was to overestimate available 
water supplies, and it is this feature that has led to most of the 
troubles from which districts formed at that time have suffered. 
Finally in 1912 and 1913, following the default of interest on bonds 
of several districts and the failure of an eastern bond house which 
had been financing Carey Act and district enterprises, it became 
impossible to dispose of further district bonds. New development 
by irrigation districts practically ceased in 1913 and to the end of 
the year 1921 had not been resumed. 
All district activity after 1907 was not by any means concerned 
with speculation. Several of the most successful districts in the 
State were organized during that period, and other thoroughly com- 
mendable projects were proposed but were unable to sell bonds. 
Over against the failures of this period of speculation, with their 
unfortunate effect upon legitimate irrigation district development in 
Colorado and other States, must be set the records made by many 
very successful districts in Colorado which have accomplished much 
in the way of reconstructing and extending irrigation systems and in 
providing additional water supplies for the irrigation of late-season 
crops. It is not questioned in Colorado that the irrigation district 
has proved well adapted to this form of development. Eleven Colo- 
rado districts, with a combined original bonded indebtedness of 
$2, 939, 000 have already redeemed nearly one-fourth of this amount 
and several others are about to begin bond redemptions. 
Most of the irrigation districts in Colorado are found in the valleys 
of the South Platte, the Arkansas, the Rio Grande, and the Coloiado 
(formerly known as the Grand River) , the largest number having 
been formed in South Platte Valley. A few districts were located in 
other portions of eastern Colorado and in the extreme northwestern 
and southwestern parts of the State. 
Idaho. — The first district act was passed March 9, 1895, and the 
latest complete enactment is found in the Idaho Compiled Statutes of 
1919. Development did not begin until 1900 but has been fairly 
steady since then, only one year having passed without witnessing 
the formation of at least one district. The greatest interest in the 
formation of new districts was in 1920. 
