40 BULLETIN 1177, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF, AGRICULTURE. 
In 1917 Washington authorized the creation of local improvement 
districts within irrigation districts. Provision is made for the formal 
organization of such a local district by petition of the owners of one- 
fourth of the acreage to the board of directors of the irrigation district 
and hearing before the board of directors, or by initiation of proceed- 
ings by the directors themselves, a protest by a majority of holders of 
title to lands within the proposed local district being sufficient to 
prevent formation in either instance. No local government is pro- 
vided for, all affairs being handled by the central board of directors, 
who adopt plans, issue local improvement district bonds, and consum- 
mate the work. The bonds may bear a higher rate of interest (8 per 
cent) than the usual type of irrigation district bond and are an obli- 
gation of the entire irrigation district. The cost of such local improve- 
ment, however, is assessed in the usual way against the lands benefited. 
The local improvement feature has been put to use by 5 districts 
in Yakima Valley and by 4 in other parts of the State, the most 
extensive use having been in Sunnyside Valley irrigation district on 
the Yakima project. Altogether, to July 1, 1921, there had been 
formed 40 local improvement districts in these 9 irrigation districts. 
The average size of the local districts, with the exception of one of 
disproportionate size formed to cover an entire irrigation district, is 
230 acres. To the above date there had been issued against such 
districts $378,876 of local improvement district bonds, of which 
$17,912 had been redeemed. 
A further application of the local district idea in Sunnyside Valley 
irrigation district is in the formation of "maintenance districts," a 
type of organization not provided for by statute but which has proved 
very satisfactory in this case. The purpose of the maintenance dis- 
trict is to distribute the cost of maintenance on laterals as equitably 
as possible beyond the point where the Government maintains them. 
No permanent construction is handled. The farmers do the canal 
cleaning themselves, choosing a local foreman and arranging the time 
of work to suit themselves, leaving any repairs to be done by the 
irrigation district. The maintenance cost is assessed equally to the 
lands benefited. 
Utah and Nevada have also made provision for the formation of 
local improvement districts, and New Mexico has done so in case of 
districts formed for cooperation with the United States. The Utah 
and New Mexico plans are based upon that of Washington, but the 
Nevada plan differs in many essential details. In none oi these States 
has anything material yet been accomplished by local districts, 
although one was formed in 1919 in Walker River irrigation district, 
Nevada. 
COOPERATION WITH OTHER DISTRICTS. 
Irrigation districts are sometimes authorized to cooperate with 
other districts, in the same State or in adjoining States, in the con- 
struction, acquisition, and operation of irrigation systems. There 
are numerous instances of intrastate cooperation, particularly in Cali- 
fornia, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Colorado, and Nebraska, of which 
the most notable examples probably are the building of La Grange 
dam by Modesto and Turlock districts and the Goodwin dam by 
Oakdale and South San Joaquin districts in California. Cooperation 
between districts in adjoining States, however, has been limited to a 
few cases in lower Snake River Valley in Idaho and Oregon, The 
