51 
the requirements and the best methods of placing the gates and flumes. 
Superintendents and commissioners arc paid equally by the Beveral 
counties in which they serve (in some cases as many as ten <>r fifteen 
counties) and suffer the inconvenience of having their bills audited 
that number of times. The State engineer receives a yearly salary, 
paid by the State. 
Besides the duty of distributing and dividing the water, the com- 
missioner is required to gather. crop statistics and to see that no water 
is wasted; and while he lias no power to settle disputes over the dis- 
tribution of water which is in the ditches, by mutual agreement he is 
generally made arbitrator in these family disputes. 
The State 1 engineer occupies a somewhat anomalous position in the 
irrigation system. While it is true the law places him at the head of 
affairs, he does not in fact act in that capacity unless some ditch or 
canal owner, feeling aggrieved at the rulings of a superintendent, 
appeals to him. In addition, the State engineer is required by law to 
gather and compile data of rain and snow fall, measure the streams, 
rate ditches, measure and keep records of reservoirs, examine their 
dams, supervise their construction or repair, condemn unsafe struc- 
tures, and give professional advice to other departments of the State 
administration. 
In this district, most of the ditches being owned by the water users, 
few written contracts exist, the conduct of the ditch officers being 
determined by the by-lawsand constitutions adopted by the ditch com- 
panies. In most cases, whether the flow in the ditch be great or small, 
the water is distributed pro rata. Often, by agreement, when water 
is short one section of the ditch will use all the water for a few days, 
after which it is given to the consumers on the next section. 
The cost of distribution is quite small and is approximately as 
follows for this district, which is fairly representative of the more 
important and better settled districts: 
Cost of distribution oftuater, water district No. 4- 
Officials. 
State engineer's office 
Superintendent of irrigation 
Water commissioner.., 
• officers of the ditch companies 1 12 companies). 
Ditch riders (12 ditches) 
Miscellaneous and extra help 
year. 
$100 
100 
1,000 
2,000 
5,000 
1.800 
Total. 
10,000 
Paid by- 
State. 
Counties. 
Do. 
Ditch companies. 
Do. 
That is to say, the total cost of distributing the water from the river 
to the ditches is about $1,200, and from the main canals to the Laterals 
$8,800, a total of $10,000 per year for perhaps 80,000 acre-, or 12£ 
cents per acre. 
