Imperial County CA Archives History - Books .....More Prelimary Troubles 1918 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 14, 2006, 3:26 am Book Title: History Of Imperial County California MORE PRELIMINARY TROUBLES Up to this time President Heber of the California Company had not seemed to take any active interest in its affairs. But now this new turn of affairs brought him to the front, and he took the position of manager to fill the vacancy. Thus in February, 1902, Mr. Heber and his associates purchased the stock of Mr. Chaffey, who thereupon retired from the company. Mr. Heber then became president and general manager of the California Company, and also of the Imperial Land Company, of which he made E. C. Paulin general manager. Here is, therefore, a pretty full sketch of the men, capital, and various corporations that formed this combination for the reclamation and colonization of this desert land. And it is believed to be the most extensive project of the kind ever made in arid America up to this time. It involved so many problems which could only be solved by the expenditure of a vast sum of money under the direction of the most eminent and competent engineers in the country. And today it is claimed that there is no other place in America where these works can be duplicated, covering such a vast area to be reclaimed and so large a population to be served. The national government is now spending more money on smaller enterprises for the reclamation of much smaller areas, and for the benefit, of a much smaller population. It is further claimed that no other place under the Stars and Stripes today has a single irrigation system that will irrigate so large an area and furnish homes for so many people. It is also believed that no other large area in the land can be reclaimed at such small cost per acre, or where the water can be perpetually furnished to settlers at so small a cost per acre-foot, as is now being done by this Imperial Canal system in this wonderful Imperial Valley over the portion of this worthless Colorado Desert which has been rescued by the hand of man from the vast sand-waste which the great Creator seems to have forgotten to finish. It is now very apparent, however, that He has called in the assistance of men in the reclamation and development of this vast territory, and that they have succeeded beyond all precedent, and under a smiling providence, this great valley is blossoming with an unparalleled degree of fertility and productiveness. Back of all this, of course, is the subject of irrigation, an indispensable prerequisite to the reclamation of arid lands. But for this, nearly half the area of this republic would be of small agricultural value today. In Imperial Valley the system of irrigation in use is the most complete possible under the existing law of California. For over 25 years the whole question received most careful study by enterprising men in Southern California. As a result the mutual company plan was finally adopted for the ownership and management of the Imperial Canal system as far as that plan could be utilized. The first obstacle that arose was the magnitude of the enterprise. Five hundred thousand acres of land for 100,000 people under one company did not seem entirely feasible. It was therefore decided to restrict the area to 100,000 acres for a single irrigation system. And even this has since been thought too large. With 100 voters to elect a board of directors of a water company, there is a much greater feeling of individual personal responsibility than would be possible if 1000 voters shared in the control. And if this tract was sub-divided into 40-acre holdings, there would be 2500 voters, which might not secure the best results. In this Imperial Valley there are 538,000 acres now under the Imperial Canal system, while still barren land will raise the total to nearly a million. It was therefore decided to divide the Valley into districts, no one to exceed 100,000 irrigable acres; such districts, as far as possible, to have natural boundary lines. Then it was thought best to have a separate company for each of these districts, all such companies to be organized on a similar basis, in order that the landowner in one company should have the same rights and responsibilities as the owner in each of the other companies. All these companies should have the same name and be designated only by number. Under this plan, Imperial Water Company No. 1 was formed with 100,000 shares of stock to furnish water for 100,000 acres of land in a territory bounded on the west by New River, on the east by the Alamo River, on the south by the Mexican boundary line, and on the north by an arbitrary line running between two rows of sections. While this tract exceeded the limit by some 50,000 acres, only 100,000 were regarded available for successful irrigation. And yet since then the actual irrigable area is found to be much larger, and the disposition of this extra land has since been a problem with the company. Since then other companies of this kind have been formed and now reach 15 in number. The next obstacle to present itself was the impossibility of all these going to the Colorado River, 60 miles away, to get their water supply. But this was finally overcome by the construction of a canal through foreign territory, which, of course, added greatly to the cost, and made it almost prohibitory for a small company. But here the California Development Company, which financed the plan for the construction of the canal system, and owned most of the canals through Lower California, agreed to such contracts as were necessary to deliver water to each of these several mutual companies. Under this agreement this parent company was to keep these main canals in repair and deliver the water in bulk, charging a uniform price of 50 cents an acre-foot. That is, 50 cents for enough water to cover an acre of land one foot in depth. This is practically two cents an inch for a 24 hours' flow. This parent company would thus construct a distributing system of canals for the mutual company and receive in payment the entire capital stock of such company. This stock would in turn be sold to settlers and the parent company would get its pay for the construction works and the mutual company would get its distributing system built and paid for in a way that would leave no indebtedness. The landowners would thus own and operate their own distributing system through each of these mutual companies. The water rates would be collected from the settlers in January and July, paying the development company for all the water received during the preceding six months. Such contracts were made for the permanent delivery of water at a fixed price, and all settlers are served alike. In this way each settler pays 50 cents per acre for his water whether he uses it or not. It will be seen that this provision precludes speculators from taking up land and buying water stock for the same and then wait for an advance in price to sell out at a handsome margin without improving the land at all. This wise provision has proven very popular. But for this requirement settlers might have found themselves surrounded with dry, desert lands with no neighbors. Such was the plan at the beginning of development of the Valley, and it ran on for a series of years, but, as stated in a separate article herein, the time came when the people threw aside the private corporation owning the irrigation system and acquired it for themselves through the organization of the Imperial Irrigation District, under the laws of the state. Additional Comments: Extracted from: THE HISTORY OF IMPERIAL COUNTY CALIFORNIA EDITED BY F. C. FARR IN ONE VOLUME ILLUSTRATED Published by ELMS AND FRANKS BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 1918 Printed by Taylor & Taylor, San Francisco File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/imperial/history/1918/historyo/moreprel201nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 8.3 Kb