IRRIGATION DISTRICT OPERATION AND FINANCE. 7 
"shoestring" and "spotted" development, resulting in disproportionate 
maintenance and operating expenses, has likewise been unfavorable 
to success. 
Before public lands were made liable to inclusion within irrigation 
districts, some districts which had placed too great dependence upon 
the voluntary incorporation of such areas found themselves em- 
barrassed by the lack of revenue therefrom. 
Inadequacy of water supply. — Inclusion of more land than could be 
adequately irrigated with the available water supply has been a 
fruitful source of trouble to districts. Remedying such a situation 
necessarily involves a higher acreage cost than anticipated, either by 
securing additional supplies of water for the entire area or by 
eliminating portions of the district and concentrating all the water 
and all the cost on the remaining portions. In some cases this has 
not been fatal, but the wide margin allowed in other cases between 
the early productive value of the land and the cost of the irrigation 
system has been sufficient to cause failure. 
Overcapitalization. — A frequent condition found in irrigation dis- 
tricts promoted for profit has been the unduly large difference 
between the actual cost of construction and the price the settlers 
had to pay. In other words, a system costing, say, $30 per acre 
has sometimes been sold to or built for the settlers for $45 per acre, 
the difference of $15 per acre, or one-third of the bond issue, 
constituting promotion profits. Legislative attempts to prevent 
overcapitalization by providing that bonds should not be disposed of 
for less than 90 or 95 or even par did not hinder promoters from 
placing excessive valuations upon the works and trading them for 
district bonds at what purported to be a legal figure. The difficulty 
with such an overcapitalized district was that the additional charge 
of S15 per acre sometimes represented the difference between success 
and failure. 
Faulty engineering. — Unwise location of irrigation works, faulty 
design and construction, poor choice of materials, etc., have been 
responsible for some of the troubles of irrigation districts, but have 
been far less prominent as causes of failure than have most of the 
other causes enumerated. The science of irrigation engineering has 
developed more rapidly than have the solutions of some of the other 
problems that districts are confronted with. 
Insufficient settlement of land. — Settlement of sufficient land to 
provide revenue for district requirements is vital to the success of any 
irrigation district. Irrigation enterprises of all types are dependent 
for eventual success upon the same thing; but the method of 
financing an irrigation district through the disposal of bonds makes 
the early settlement of land especially important, for the district is 
dependent upon its own efforts for money to operate the system and 
must in addition provide for interest payments on bonds. Capital- 
ization of interest on the bond issue eases but does not wholly 
relieve the situation. It is very essential that the district become 
self-supporting quickly. Coupled with such necessity is the need for 
having the right kind of settlers from the standpoints of industry, 
adaptability, and some degree of financial means. Lack of adequate 
land settlement or capable settlers has been a source of trouble in a 
number of districts, has prevented the financing of others, and has 
proved to be one of the greatest obstacles in the way of success. 
