START MICROFILMED 1985 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - BERKELEY GENERAL LIBRARY BERKELEY, CA 94720 COOPERATIVE PRESERVATION MICROFILMING PROJECT THE RESEARCH LIBRARIES GROUP, INC. Funded by THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION Reproductions may not be made without permission. THE PRINTING MASTER FROM WHICH THIS REPRODUCTION WAS MADE IS HELD BY THE MAIN LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY, CA 94720 FOR ADDITIONAL REPRODUCTION REQUEST MASTER NEGATIVE NUMBER §5- 910 AUTHOR: Estee, Morris M. d. 1903. TITLE: Annual address delivered before the state agrienttun society of Californie --- PLACE:[ San Franauiseo J DATE: | $94 VOLUME Fg62 oo 28 CALL ET MASTER 39 NO. X NEG. NO. 920 bod cn < Bs Z Estee, Morris N d. 1903. Annual address delivered before the ctate agri- culturel society of California, et Sacremento, Sep- tember 23, 1874, by Norris NK. Estee. The irripe- tion problem. Published by order of the Society. «San Francisco, Women's prirting unions 1874. 24 p. cicm. | —-r — to FILMED AND PROCESSED BY LIBRARY PHOTOGRAPHIC SERVICE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY, CA 94720 "REDUCTION RATIO | 8 BEN SE. 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ESTEL. remem meena 4 {msm eee THE IRRIGATION PROBLEM. eee) pm me PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE SOC IETY. ‘4. 187 ANNUAL ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE STATE Agricultural Society OF CALIFORNIA, AT SACRAMENTO, SEPTEMBER 23, 1874, By MORRIS M. ESTEE, 4.190%, 7 THE IRRIGATION PROBLEM, PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE SOCIETY. 1874. LT ge LY xX p— QOMEAN \ rinting flnion, Sy rn 4 2, ) » ANNUAL ADDRESS MORRIS M. ESTEE. od Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : The topography of California presents a greater variety of scenery, the soil and climate offer opportunities for a larger variety of production, than any other place under the dominion of civilized mun. The sublime and the beau- tiful sit upon either hand of us; our mountains are capped with perpetual snows; our valleys are perfumed with per- ennial flowers. The sunshine and the storm come at stated periods, so that we know when to expect the one and when to prepare for the other. Yet this is not a land of enchantment. That which is worth having here must be earned as it is elsewhere. The reward is not all due to climate and soil. Much is due to labor. California is an originality in climate, soil and people. She stands alone among her sisters of the Union—alone in her greatness and in her weakness, walled in by mountains and by sea, and with resources not half developed. She furnishes more money and more bread to more people by less actual labor than is produced by any other like number of persons on the habitable globe. I pause in the consideration of this wonderful prosperity, to ask how much of this is due to the country, and how much to the people. There are countries and climates which would seem to be more favored by nature than the State we live in. We have all read of the charming islands in the great sea which washes our State upon the west, where nature does all the work, and nothing is left to man but to enjoy; where his food and his clothing come to him almost un- 4 sought, and a voluptuous climate renders shelter unneces- sary. But this is not the life for which man was designed. The great Creator, who endowed him with quick thought and skillful hand, did not intend he should pass the time in slothful inaction, the idle and contented consumer of His bounty. If proof of this be needed, the history of our race sup- plies it. The conquerors of the world have come from the stern and rugged north, where existence must be battled for and life without labor is impossible. With ease have come effeminacy and indulgence. The indolent races inhabiting the tropics have cut no figure in the story of the world. No great names have risen above the dead level of their national insignificance to act as beacon lights to posterity, and nation after na- tion has passed away, leaving no impress upon the land they occupied but never benefited. In countries like the one described, man’s mission is ended with his existence; there he performs no great deeds, he builds no cities, he establishes no new and ben- eficient systems, he makes no progress on the road to knowledge, possesses no love of wealth, no inspiration of religion, no thirst for truth. Nothing can turn him from the narrow, benighted customs of his fathers. The very land he inhabits, the air he breathes, and the sun that shines upon him, seems to encourage his dreamy, lazy life. While a balmy climate and a productive soil are of in- finite value to an enlightened, industrious people, the most favored places of nature for the development of the highest type of manhood are where man must work or die. There men rise to the highest stage of civilization, and there more is due to the man than to the country he lives in; for, after all, the noblest gift which the Creator has given us, is the impulse and the power to become our- selves creators, and just so far as we succeed in this, so far have we performed the great and solemn duties im- posed upon us. Nor does the obligation rest more heavily upon the tillers of the soil than upon the statesman and educator. Each in his own sphere and in his own way is ‘ 5 called upon to act his part upon the side of honesty and progress, in public as in private life. Among the duties imposed upon us, and to which I shall especially call your attention, are those that have a direct reference to the development of the resources of the State; for even in the presence of the wonderful advantages this State affords, labor and enterprise and intelligence must be called into activity to develop them. In an age of peace, no people can become great and prosperous unless agriculture is made its chief pursuit. It is the corner stone of every national structure. It is the foundation of national as it is of individual wealth. The greater the production, the better the market. For now every farmer has the world for a market, and the whole people never yet had enough to eat. The question is, how can we best develop these re- sources ? In my opinion, the highest and best cultivation can only be obtained by IRRIGATION. It has been said that he who makes two blades of grass grow, where one only grew before, has benefited his race more than the most successful general. I submit that simply doubling the production in this State, will not be half the increase, where land is irrigated. But. before dwelling upon this branch of the subject, many inquiries of grave importance, and some of doubtful solu- tion, present themselves to be answered. Irrigation has been successfully practiced from the earliest historic times. It was old when the Pyramids were new. Irrigation made Egypt the granary of the world, and to-day the valley of the Nile produces two and three crops a year, one or two of them by irrigation only, and that irrigation of the rudest and simplest character. In China, in Italy, in Spain, in India, and in some parts of France, irrigation dates back to the commencement of land culture. It commenced in necessity, and has been pursued ever since for profit. It is not an experiment, resting upon the future to prove its advantage or uselessness, but a suc- 6 cess, tested by the most careful inquiry, made by the most civilized nations of the world. These experiments have been so numerous and so varied, that they give us authority upon: every side of this, to us, intricate problem. CLIMATE AND IRRIGATION. In general, irrigation will not succeed where the winters are long and cold. Indeed, it has been shown that only in such mild and balmy climates as Egypt, Italy, Spain, India and California, will irrigation prove successful. This arises from the facts: | 1st. Where there is hard freezing, the ditches and canals require expensive repairs every spring before us- ing. 2d. That when the winters are long, the summers are short, and the soil so moist that irrigation is not required. 3d. Irrigation will not in general pay, when but one crop can be raised in a year. HAS CALIFORNIA SUCH A CLIMATE ? We have in this State over two hundred cloudless days in the year, and, according to the statistics furnished by Mr. Hittell in his admirable work on the Resources of California, on an average not over sixty rainy days. In San Francisco the difference between the average temperature of July and January is only eight degrees, in Monterey six, in Sonoma twenty-one, in Sacramento twenty-eight, and in Santa Barbara eighteen; while in New York it is forty-two, in Naples thirty, in Genoa thirty- one, ard in Algiers twenty-three. In San Francisco the average mean temperature in January is 49 deg.; in Los Angeles, 52 deg.; in Sacramen- to, 45deg.; while in Naples it is 45 deg. ; in Genoa, 46; and in Algiers, 52. It will thus be seen that our climate is the perfection of all that Providence has bestowed upon any land. "Our summers are long and rainless, grain never rusts from moisture, nor is labor ever stopped by storms. We have neither snow nor ice to retard cultivation. There is 7 not a day in the year that grain cannot be sown if the land be moistened by rain or artificial means. Our winters, under our present system of dry culture, are our seasons for planting, and May, June and July for harvest. By irrigation an enormous crop of wheat, barley, oats or hay can be, raised in the winter and spring, and in the summer corn, potatoes, tobacco, cotton, and garden vege: tables. There will be no limit to our production under a system of irrigation as extensive as that in India, Italy or Egypt. 1t may be safely admitted that no place where irrigation is extensively practised is as well situated in all respects as California. In the universe of God it is said there are no accidents. In the gift of these transcendent qualities of climate and soil to California, it would seem that a benign Provi- dence intended to close man’s migratory circuit of the earth in a land laden with His bounty. These marvellous gifts are inert. Labor must develop them ; nature will not. Nothing but sturdy enterprise and unvarying purpose can accomplish this to its fullest end. If accomplished, the story of our growth will be more wonderful than the dreams of oriental fancy. No such treasure was ever be- fore committed to man. None will be more unwisely wasted if we permit it to go undeveloped. THE EXPENSE OF CANALS. The cost is one of the problems connected with this subject’ which is difficult of solution. The same grave question met De Witt Clinton when he commenced the construction of the Erie Canal. It came face to face with M. De Lesseps when he gave inspiration to the Suez Ca- nal. Yet these were made, and canals for irrigation and transportation will be constructed through the great val- leys of this State within the next twenty years, large enough to transfer the waters of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, the Tulare and other lakes out upon the plains, if it will pay for the investment. Money is conserva- 8 tive; and before cne dollar of private capital will be put into such a great enterprise, it must be made to appear that it will be remunerative. The cost of some of the irrigating canals of Italy and India is enormous. From careful estimates made in the construction of the Ganges, Bora, Doab, Sutly and Soane canals of India, it seems that a canal with a capacity to ir- rigate 75.000 acres or more will cost what would amount to $35 per acre for the entire district irrigated. This in- cludes side channels (the side channels often cost more than the main canals). The first seventy-five miles of the Madras irrigating ca- nal cost $40,000 per mile. This canal is 100 feet wide and eight feet deep. The great Ganges Canal cost $12,000,000. Its length in- cluding branches is 900 miles. The branches comprise the larger part of its length. Width 170 feet, depth 10 feet, and it will irrigate 1,500,000 acres. The cost is much less per acre than the above estimate. Some of the canals in Italy are lined with solid masonry, with locks of the most massive character, and they have been in actual use for centuries. I am persuaded, after comparing the expense of navigation in Italy and India, that $20 per acre will be a fair estimate of all expense for making channels large enough and long enough to transfer all the waters of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, which is not required for navigation, the Tulare, Tahoe and other lakes. The cost for irrigating 2,000,000 of acres would be, say $40,000,000. This amount of money, thus expended, seems enormous; but it must be considered that the making of such gigan- tic works would extend through a quarter of a century, and it pre-supposes a largely increased population, and still larger increase of wealth. This question of cost is certainly the most debatable problem the subject presents. Yet other people, not more enterprising, not more wealthy, and not as favorably situated as we are, have not hesitated to expend greater sums than this for a like pur- pose. For instance, by a report published in London as recent as Sept. 5th, 1873, it appears there has been ex- 9 pended by the government in India on Irrigating Canals what in our money would amount to $51,045,000, and that at this time similar works in India are in course of con- struction, which will actually cost $30,580,000 in addition. More than half of this sum is to be expended within the next five years. The English are a cool, calculating, money-making and money-saving people. “India has been the great source of their wealth for the past century, and it seems destined to be for the next ceutury. THE OWNERSHIP OF THE WATER. In most countries where irrigation has proven success- ful, the ownership of the water remains in the sovereignty, and the sovereignty either grauts the right to its use to canal companies, or makes the canals and rents water to those desiring to irrigate. Our American law of riparian ownership, and the recognized doctrine that each naviga- ble stream is a highway, open alike to the use of the whole people, and especially the ease by which private parties acquire title to great water courses, will necessarily cut a large figure in the disposition of this important ques- tion. If the State owned and controlled the fee to all our water courses, so that no private enterprise or individual could acquire a legal right to any of the waters, any more than they could to a public highway, then terms could be imposed (the fee remaining in the State,) so that large inducements could be offered to private capital to invest in irrigating canals, while a reasonable and just protection against monopoly was assured to the people. There is still another view, which presents itself for con- sideration. The right to the use of a reasonable amount of water is incident to the ownership of the land adjacent to it, and neither the State, nor any individual or corpora- tion in the State, ought to be permitted to divert and take from its natural channel, or from the valley through which it runs, the water of any of the streams of the State, if it be needed there; bat the amount only that is needed should be retained for riparian owners. To say that the waters of the San Joaquin may be transferred from that h ian ve! y i 2 1 | B 10 great valley, and used for the purpose of irrigating lands located either all upon the one side of the river or remote from it, when it is required there, will be to admit that the people of one portion of the State may do an act which will deprive the people of another section of the means of subsistence. Yet the riparian ownership should be limited to the amount of water that is actually needed. The man who owns the right to an article like water, in a climate like ours, without taking any steps toward a use- ful appropriation of it, is as great a monopolist as he who owns the water and uses it as a means of oppression. In a country like this. where a large portion of the year is rainless, a monopoly of the water is as dangerous to the prosperity of the country as a monopoly of the air we breathe; and yet, when we reflect that it requires the ex- penditure of a sum of money greater far than any estimate has hitherto been made, to dig canals through our valleys large enough and permanent enough to answer the pur- poses of irrigation on a grand scale, we can realize how difficult it is to avoid a monopoly of this character; for every exclusive right necessarily amounts to a monopoly. What can be done, and ought to be done, is to regulate its use and its price by legislation; not to prohibit or limit its use. There is a labor side to this question that can be only protected by legislation. Labor is weak and divi- ded, and must be protected. Capital is strong and united, and can protect itself. The people, at this time, would undoubtedly object to the State, or the counties of the State, taking an interest in this enterprise. The subject is new to us; the profit not understood, or at least uncer- tain; the work vast and expensive; the interest local, as it could afford but a smail advantage to the mining counties; therefore, private capital must be chiefly looked to for this purpose. Already, some of the most wealthy, shrewd and enter- prizing business men of the Coast have given this subject a start in the right direction. They have, with the usual forethought and care of large moneyed interests, examined every side of it that I am 11 presenting for your consideration, and have thus early mapped off a system of irrigation for at least one of the great valleys of the State, (the San Joaquin) of the most comprehensive character. This has been contemplated simply as an investment. Money is rarely public spirited or patriotic. It moves in the channels of good investments and large interests. It is a mistake of its possessor if it gets out of these chan- nels. You may therefore rest assured that these capital- ists knew the value of this enterprise before they em- barked in it. As before stated, in Northern Italy, as in India, the Government possess the right of property in all running waters. In Lombardy, grants of the water in perpetuity have been made ; but, says Captain Baird Smith, who is a standard authority on irrigation, ‘The grant of such ‘“ material as water, the value of which must necessarily ‘“ go on augmenting with the progress cf agriculture, irri- ““ gation is an act of injustice toward the Government “ and people. ¥ % * * Hence I am distinctly of the ‘“ opinion that for the Government of India to follow the «« example of Lombardy in parting forever with its right ““ of property in the waters of the country on receipt of ‘« sums which cannot possibly represent the real value of ¢¢ the article, would be unwise, not only as regards its own ‘¢ interests, but also those of the irrigating community. «« For there is no point better established by experience ¢ in Northern Italy, and particularly in Lombardy, than “ that the selfishness of the grantees of water in perpet- ~ “nity has been one of the most serious.obstacles to the ‘“ development of irrigation.” «« Acting on the principle that they had a right to do ¢¢ what they liked with their own, they were in the habit ¢ of arbitrarily suspending the supplies of water to some, “¢ of increasing as they saw fit the prices to be paid by «¢ others, and in a word pushing to its utmost limits the «« right of absolute property purchased by them from the State.” ‘ Butan agriculture,” continues our authority, ‘founded <¢ under such an arbitrary system, cannot advance.” 12 M. Giovanitti, a distinguished Italian lawyer and states- man, traces with a master-hand the history of property in water in Italy, and after showing that the State claimed no property as such in the bed of the river or islands, he says : ‘‘ Nor does the State claim the water as a patri- ‘““ mony for the community, but simply to place beyond ‘“ the reach of private appropriation all that was naturally ‘“ designed for the common good.” As respects California irrigation, this in time will be another of the problems of doubtful solution. Here un- der our laws the ownership of the water of the unnaviga- ble streams of the State can be acquired by the first ap- propriator. No legislation at this time could change this rule, or afford an ample remedy, for much of the water is already in private hands. The only power, then, left in the State, and oue which sooner or later it must exercise, is to regulate the use and the price of water for irrigation, not with the view of making the property in water less valuable, but to avoid oppression and discrimination, and thus make it, like all public enter- prises, of value to the whole people. It has recently been held, by the highest judicial tribu- nal in Italy, ‘that canals of irrigation are not to be re- garded as works designed solely for the benefit of their original constructors, * * * but that the general good of the community has to be considered, as well as the benefit of the individuals running them.” No sensible man will countenance the Jawless idea that what a man owns is not his to enjoy, be it much or little, but it is the part of wisdom to profit by the experience . of the past, and so far as possible protect by law those who cannot protect themselves, and thus guard with a jealous eye the best interests of the producers of the State. In this State and in this climate, if we should give to any one set of individuals the fee of the waters ot the State for irrigation, whether such persons live upon the banks of rivers or remote from them, and the State have no right to regulate their use, although it would be of small value and little importance now, in a few years it would 18 be of immense value and of the greatest importance to the farming community. It would give to the men who controlled the water or owned the canals the power, should they choose to exer- cise it, of controlling every farmer who depended on irri- gation for his crops, or upon a water ditch for his stock. It would soon have a relation to public affairs that no power but revolution could conquer or control. It would imperil the great future already marked out for us, and set us back on the scale of advancement a quarter of a century. THE PROFITS OF IRRIGATION. There are three classes of profits in irrigation that should be considered. 1st. The profit arising from the direct sale and use of water for irrication and transportation. 9d. The benefit arising from increased value of land. 3d. Increased production. Under the first proposition we can only be guided by the experience of such investments in other countries. In the Tonjore Delta, in India, after deducting the ex- pense of repairs to the canals, and five per cent. for use of capital, the investment pays twenty-two and one-half per cent. per annum. So, also, in the Godavery Delta, the profit is enormous, the annual profits to the government from all sources amounting to 50 per cent. This seems exaggerated, so much so that I feel constrained to say that my authority, the 33d Volume, Institutes of Civil Engineering, 1872, published in London, is unquestioned. It further appears that the profits of the cultivation of the soil on irrigated lands over dry cultivation is from 100 to 400 per cent., and that in India the second crop pays the farmer 46 per cent. profit. In all the country irrigated in India, therevenue derived by the Government from taxation is $615 per square mile, while in the unirrigated district, equally well located in other respects, it is $385 per square mile. The popula- tion is nearly one-half greater in irrigated than in unirri- cated districts. FE PC FRR rE tee RT i ———— + I Fol ii + id Mt ik on el. 14 The Eastern Jumna Canal has paid the Government, di- rectly and indirectly, :4 per cent. per annum on the in- vestment. In Italy the profits have not beén so large. In truth, many of the canals there have only paid small interest. This is attributable to many causes; chief among them are the roughness of the country, and hence the vast expense for leveling the land and constructing canals, the natu- ral moisture of the climate, imperfect and expensive trans- sportation of produce, and an old time unprogressive system of cultivation which is slow, laborious and expen- sive. Few or none of the labor-saving machines so com- mon in England and America are used by the Italians. Says a leading author on Italian irrigation, ‘The small ‘“ canals of Italy have never paid a handsome interest. It ‘“ is to the indirect returns, such as the improvement of the ‘“ soil, the replacing of inferior by superior kinds of culti- ‘“ vation, that the proprietors look in the first instance for ‘“ their reward,” and this, even in Italy, has been im- mense. The second generation, and not the constructors of these canals, has reaped the benefit. In few instances has an irrigating canal paid for the first few years after its construction. : The financial history of some of them has been a con- tinuous struggle, while a majority, and those the large canals, have, after a few years, been an unvar)ing success, much depending upon the character of their superintend- ence. ; FLUCTUATIONS OF ANNUAL PRODUCTIONS. There is very little difference in the annual production of irrigated districts, while on dry, unirrigated lands, as shown by years of experiment, it amounts to about 52 per cent., that is, in some years the production will be 52 per cent. less than in others, while in irrigated districts it only varies from 3 to 4 per cent. per annum. This has nothing to do with values; I refer only to the amount of produc: tion. The statistics to prepare this estimate were obtained through a term of years especially for the British Govern- ment, and the result may be taken as correct. They show 16 that, with irrigation, there can never be a failure of ‘crops; while in dry culture the chances are that every other crop will not pay a profit. | This does not apply to fruit-raising, but especially to the production of the cereals. Of itself it is a sufficient argument to sustain irrigation in a climate like California, if argument be needed. THE NUMBER OF CROPS PLANTED ANNUALLY. In very few of the irrigated districts do the farmers plant less than two crops a year, and in many places in Northern Italy three, four and five. Indeed, seven crops of Marcite grass are cut for hay in what is known as the winter meadow lands of Italy, and, what to us seems most marvellous, 25 tons of this Marcite grass hay are cut from a single acre of land in one year. And near Milan, ac- cording to Capt. Baird Smith, 45 to 50' tons are sometimes taken from an acre in a single year, and from thirty-five acres of land 50 dairy cows are kept the year round. This statement is also endorsed by M. Breaschi, who is a recognized authority on Italian irrigation. Of course this land is highly manured and well cultivated. Such lands are usually watered one day in seven. The surface is made of a uniform slope or a perfect level. In India two crops are planted inthe year. Cotton, sugar-cane and indigo in sumuwer, and wheat, barley and vegetables in winter. On the Nile in Egypt two and three crops a year are raised. In Utah, at Great Salt Lake, where all grain is ir- rigated, but one crop is produced. This is due to the rigor of their winter climate. In this State two crops can be raised in any of the valleys, if the land is well cul- tivated, one of wheat or barley, and one of corn, potatoes vegetables, hay or cotton. COST OF LEVELING LANDS FOR IRRIGATION. In many parts of Italy it cos:s as high as $200 to $300 an acre to prepare the land for irrigation, although gener- ally not so much: In one instance, in Piedmont, it cost pa— R— ae — sa nya 4 Bb i Ne a TS v i 3 16 in our money, to prepare 640 acres of land for irrigation, $200,000. It will be found, when irrigation becomes one of the leading pursuits of our State, that lands we had sup- posed required but little leveling will demand a vast deal of labor to bring them to a perfect plane, and this must be taken into account of cost of irrigation. As a rule, however, California is better situated in this respect than any other country. Our valleys are not rolling land, but vast plains with regular and graduated slopes, that tip toward the prinei- pal water courses so gently that they seem a perfect level. They appear as if they had been made plastic, then rolled off for these uses. Indeed, the greater portion of the San J oaquin Valley and part of the Sacramento Valley will require little or no leveling. THE MAGNITUDE OF SOME OF THE IRRIGATING CANALS. The eastern Jumna Canal, in India, for thirty or forty miles, runs between embaukments of the most massive proportions, and is elevated above the surrounding coun- try from six to twelve feet. This canal, as far back as 1850, had over 500 miles of side channel, and irrigated 160,000 acres of land. Since then, its capacity has been largely increased. The great Ganges Canal, as before stated, is 170 feet wide, and ten feet deep. In 1869 it irrigated 1,078,000 acres, while two years before the same canal only irri- gated 544,000 acres; showing the most satisfactory in- crease. At this time it will irrigate one and a half mil- lions acres of land. The Soane Canal of India, recently constructed, is 180 feot wide at the base, and has an average depth of 9 feet of water, with a fall of six inches to the mile, and is capa- ble of irrigating 1,200,000 acres. This canal alone will carry more water than runs in the lower San Joaquin River in most of the season. It irrigates what in Europe would be an empire. It will secure atleast two good crops a year, on all that vast extent of territory.® It makes what 17 were barren, parched plains, more forbidding than the most desolate spot in the San Joaquin Valley, gardens clothed, in perpetual verdure, a land where seed time and harvest follow without intermission, where the summer produces sugar cane, cotton, rice and indigo, and the winter wheat, barley, and Indian corn. Rancroft Librare The great canal of the Ticino irrigates the magnificent plains of Lombardy. It was constructed in the twelfth cen- tury, and for 650 years has borne down its great course over 1800 cubic feet of water per second. ‘“ This great mass of water has been spread over the sur- face of the country through a thousand channels, stimulat- ing the productiveness of the soil to such an extent as to make the country through which it passes one of the rich- est and most densely populated in the world. When the amount of social and national benefit through long periods of varied fortune is recalled to mind, one feels a sympathy in the pride with which it is regarded by the descendants of its original constructors.” Its massive stone aqueducts, solid masonry locks, granite embankments, waste ways made entirely of stone, its bed in places paved with rock, make it a marvel of so- lidity. For six and a half centuries this has been the great artery to the agricultural life of Lombardy, and to-day is one of the chief sources of the prosperity of her people. AMOUNT OF WATER NECESSARY TO BE USED FOR IRRIGATION. For ordinary crops the amount of water necessary for irrigation is from four to six inches for one crop, although twice and three times that quantity is sometimes used. This means that amount distributed through the season over the surface of the land, much depending on the character of the soil, kind of crop and cultivation. In most parts of Italy the quantity of water is double that, though with some crops and in some seasons not half of it is required. In this State, for crops of wheat and barley sown, sayin October or November, or even in December, one or two irrigations in the spring would be ample, and would secure an enormous yield. RR —— — 18 For the second crop, whether of corn, potatoes, vegetables, cotton or pasture, more water in this climate would he re- quired. PRICE OF WATER. Tn India the price of water for rice culture is about $3.00 per acre; both there and in Italy the price varying in differ- ent districts and for different grains. For some grains the price is as low as 50 eents per acre, while in other districts and for other crops it is as high as $7.00 per aere per an- num. This is for the year, and always includes two crops. From $1 to $3 per annum seems to be the average price paid in these countries. IRRIGATION IN CALIFORNIA. It is an admitted fact, proven by the experience of 24 years, that the average annual rain fall in California will not, more than one year in two, mature a crop on one half of the arable land of the State. During the ten years fron 1862 to 1872, the annual rainfall in San Joaquin Valley and in Los Angeles averaged less than ten inches. In some years in these localities only from three to five inches fell, and in no event can the rainfall be depended upon except for the months of December, January, Feb-- ruary and March. The remaining eight months of the year, though not all rainless, cannot be safely relied upon. Indeed it is estimated that there are at least LO, 000,000 of acres of valley land in this State that cannot be success- fully cultivated without irrigation. Most of these lands: are now assessed at from 1 to 5 dollars per acre, while with irrigation the lowest probable assessed value would be $50 per acre. In such a country, and with such a climate as California. water in canals for the purpose of irrigation and cheap transportation would seem a manifest necessity, but the pertinent inquiry presents itself— HAVE WE THE WATER SUPPLY ? If we are destitute or short of this needed supply, all our hopes. fall to the ground. 19 The Tulare Lake, in the southern portion of the San Joaquin Valley, covers an area of nearly 700 sq. miles, or about 450,000 acres, and is 100 sq miles larger than the bays of San Francisco and San Pablo. It has an ele- vation of 200 feet above sea level; is 200 miles from tide water, with not a hill or rough piece of ground on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, from it to the Suisun Bay. The irrigatable land of that val.ey, on the west side of the river, which water from this source will reach, is about 400,000 acres, not an acre of which can be depended upon for a crop. Kings river, the San Joaquin, Kern river, the Sacra- mento, Clear Lake, Silver Lake, the Blue Lakes, and Lake Tahoe, make the supply of water for irrigation pur- poses more than ample for all future time. With canals of the dimensions needed, the produce of the two great California valleys can be floated down to tide water at an expense of not exceeding $2.00 per ton; and if water is sold at $1.50 to $1.75 per acre per annum, the profit will be handsome to the companies, while to the farmer it will be a perpetual guarantee of good crops. Nothing within the range of human ingenuity will go so far toward relieving this State of the great land monopo- lies. Cotton fields will be seen everywhere in the great stretch of country reaching the whole length of the Sacra- mento and San Joaquin valleys. Indeed, every variety of production, which our soil and climate are capable of, will be raised there. Under irrigation 160 acres of land will be an independ- ence to any man. Happy the home of the farmer, when the measureless pasture lands of California are cut up into small farms, and by irrigation rendered capable for man’s use. EXTENT OF COUNTRY IRRIGATED IN CALIFORNIA. There is already a large extent of country irrigated here. Indeed, there is hardly a vegetable garden, or an orna- mental yard in either city or country, that is not irrigated. All the strawberry vines, raspberries, blackberries, and many of the currants are irrigated. TS TO, SAYA RR Se BE 20 Some of the largest vineyards. like the Cocomungo and Natoma, are also irrigated. All the orange and lemon or- chards, and, in fact, all semi-tropical fruits, require irriga- gation in this climate. Grain is irrigated in some portions of the State, but to a very limited extent. Irrigation here, is accomplished in three ways: 1st. By ordinary wells; the water being raised by wind mills, horse or steam power. 2d. By artesian wells, where the water flows out of the top of the pipe. 3d. By ditches, flumes and pipes, which connect with water courses. No person, who has not given this subject thoughtful in- quiry, is aware of the value and extent of irrigation, even now. What it will be, a quarter of a century from now, can hardly be approximated. Our large irrigating canals areas yet incomplete and few in number. They are merely the beginning; but this beginning must mark a new era in the productive capacity of the State. The San Joaquin Canal and Irrigating Company has built forty miles of canal, having a mean width of 50 feet, and a depth of 5} feet of water, which is capable of irrigat- ing about 100.000 acres of land. Nine-tenths of the land through which this canal now passes is owned by one firm, who pay $1.25 per acre per annum for irrigation. This is a lower rate than is paid either in Italy, Spain, or India, for the use of a like amount of water. The Kings river irrigating canal is six miles long, thirty feet wide, and four feet deep, and has a fall of a foot to the mile. This, when extended, will irrigate from 60,000 to 75,000 acres of land, if there is water to run the canal full with that fall. The Fresno Canal is now ten miles long, forty feet wide, three. feet deep, with a grade of eight-tenths of a foot to the mile. The canal owned by Chapman, Lux & Miller, is thirty miles long, from thirty to thirty-five feet wide, and two and a half to three feet deep, with a grade of one foot to 21 the mile, and will irrigate from forty thousand to fifty thousand acres. In computing the extent of country a certain canal will irrigate, many questions are presented, which render all estimates uncertain; as, 1st. Whether the canal is run full of water. 2d. Its grade. 3d. The character of the irrigation required, some grains requiring twice the irrigation that others do, and some soils more water to thoreughly saturate them than others. 4th. Whether two crops are to be raised upon the same land in the same year. 5th. The amount of absorption and evaporation. My estimates of the capacities of the canals just referred to are below that of the proprietors; but I am persuaded [ am near the true figure, for my estimates are founded upon a long line of statistics furnished by other countries, where irrigation has commanded and received careful con- sideration from the most distinguished engineers. It may also be remarked, that thorough irrigation will require more water here than in any of the large irrigating countries, except Egypt, for the rain fall is much greater there than with us. In the irrigated portions of Italy the average annual rain fall is about 38 incles, in India over 30, and in some localities above 40; while our average annual rain fall is less than 23 inches, and in the San Joaquin Valley it will not exceed 10. SIZE OF FARMS. No fact is more clearly demonstrated than that small farms and good tillage are better for a country than large farms and inferior tillage; nor is any truth better estab- lished than that any cultivation is an improvement over pasturage. To succeed in irrigation, much personal attention is necessary. This personal attention will be given by pro- prietors of the soil only. Where land is cheap and money plenty, as in California, all may be proprietors. No man who has intelligence enough to farm well, will ee etc. S———— 22 ‘rent land when he can work his own; therefore, little fear need be entertained that the ownership of the irrigating canals will carry with it the ownership of the land. This may occur in isolated instances, but it ean never in Cal- ifornia rise to the importance of a danger. He who is a large land owner this year, will be poor next year. For- tunes come and go with the seasons. One generation ac- quires wealth by toil and frugality. The next generation of the same family scatters it. The large grants of land in California have retarded our prosperity, chiefly because these grants have been used for grazing purposes, and have not been taxed up to the proportionate value of small farms. Once irrigate the country, and the lands in large tracts under one ownership will, as a rule, be confined to remote or mountainous districts; while gardens and orchards will be found on every 100 acres of land in all the valleys of the State, population will increase, wealth will be more evenly distributed, villages will appear every few miles, a thousand pleasant homes will dot the State, where now there are but scores. Clumps of trees, orchards and vineyards will give variety and beauty to every landscape, and peace, comfort and security to the millions of tillers and occupants of the soil. We have just started on the second quarter of a century of our history, at the end of which I might in fancy measure our progress; our population quadrupled, our valleys the gardens as they are now the granaries of the world, our commerce teeming with wealth, and noisy with labor. I might mark out through the great plains of the State Jong lines of canals whose banks are clothed in verdure and lined with trees, with broad roadways upon either side, and a thousand channels or arms, reaching out into the land like arteries through the human system. I might fancy our low hills and rolling lands covered with vines, which would then alone furnish an annual income of $40,000,000. I might wander through our orange and lemon groves that would everywhere adorn our valleys and perfume the air with the rich aroma of their flowers. .: I might visit our 23 institutions of learning, and find colossal structures erected for educational purposes, richly supplied with libraries and apparatus, and crowded with students. I might follow along the track of railways reaching on the north from tide water at San Francisco to Washington Territory; on the south to Texas and the lower Missis- sippi. I might fancy ocean steamers built upon plans now unknown, and making time now unthought of, running semi-weekly to China, Japan, Australia, the South Ameri- can anl Mexican ports. This much and more I might fancy. I do not say this will happen within the next quarter of a century, for no one can fathom the depth of the future; but it will argue but little for California enter- prise, if we allow such slow, plodding people as the Italians, the Egyptians and the English to outstrip us on ‘the great march of human progress. Believe me, much of this will be accomplished within the lifetime of many who are now present. Here shall be the seat of Empire. By the ordinance of God and the har- mony of nature man can go westward no further. Every- thing that enterprise can inspire or genius invent, will centre here. Art and science, and poetry and eloquence, sisters of thought and offspring of genius, will cluster to- gether in this favored land. Men distinguished in every country, and whose names belong to mankind, will come here to be schooled in the marvels of the new west, as they once went to Athens and to Rome. Here will be the seat of learning. The grandeur of the scenery will attract to these shores the finest painters of all countries. The old masters, so long the study of stu- dents in the east, will lose their chief attractions in the presence of such sublime models as the Yosemite, the Sierra Nevada, and the mountain - walled valleys of the Coast Range. While these varied attractions lend enchantment to all other pursuits, must agriculture, in the presence of such a climate, beneath such a sky, with such a soil, follow or lead in the grand march to the empire of success? 24 Si Ceres shall be the Queen of California ; clothed in gar- ments of labor, hardy with toil, she shall wear the crown. This shall be her empire; here her throne, with no di- vided sovereignty nor rebellious subjects. She shall be the chief among her sisters, for her throne is peace—her victory plenty. | 1 i | lial i a