The earlier stages of irrigation development are better illustrated in
Montana than in any other State in the Union.
There irrigation practice and laws are exceedingly crude and remain so
chiefly because of the abundance of water, and the ease and facility
with which it can be diverted to the land; as a consequence of this
latter fact the laws were framed in the most liberal spirit, declaring
right of eminent domain, acknowledging the right of priority in
appropriating the waters, and further stating, that any person having a
ditch leading to irrigable lands may use the waters of the territory
for irrigation.
The latest law, framed in 1885, is a very slight improvement; it
requires persons appropriating water, to post the usual notice in a
conspicuous place; to file with the county recorder a notice of
appropriation, with names and proper description of place, stream,
etc., and that work must be commenced within forty days of the posting
of the notice and be prosecuted with due diligence until completed.
Persons who have heretofore acquired title to the use of water, may
within six months from the passage of this law file a statement of the
above facts in the office of the recorder, but failure to do this shall
not forfeit his rights.
Provision is made for the measurement of water, using that very
uncertain and elastic unit, the miner's inch, and defining the same.
The difficulties arising under these laws will be appreciated, when I
state that it is impossible to construct a rating flume that will
measure the number of inches of water flowing in a large stream, by the
method provided in the law.
Then, because previous appropriators are not compelled to record the
amount of water appropriated, and those acquiring titles under the
first law now invariably claim much more water than they need, in fact
often appropriate and even record more water than there is flowing in
the stream. This is owing to the fact that they were not at first
compelled to construct their works, "with due diligence until
completed," nor to make ditches of capacities capable of carrying the
volumes claimed, and above all because there is no officer having the
power to measure the quantities of water diverted or to see that the
works are prosecuted with due diligence. Endless and unsatisfactory
litigation results, hastened by the occupation of lands lower down on
some stream which in a very dry season may not flow sufficient water
for all the appropriators who have acquired titles, whereupon the later
settlers who have recorded their appropriations claim the water, while
those who diverted water before the passage of the last law claim the
right to it, though unrecorded, and as a consequence the case is
carried to the courts, often with unjust and always with expensive
results.
During the past exceptionally dry season these conditions led to much
bitter litigation, often to bloodshed, and equally often to financial
ruin owing to the supply of water being insufficient to mature the
crops planted.
Water being very abundant in the smaller mountain valleys has led to
great wastefulness in its use, the irrigator after applying what water
his crops needed, instead of turning it back into the stream for the
use of settlers lower down, generally turns his ditch loose on the open
prairie and allows the water to run to waste. Then wasteful methods of
applying the water to the crops are employed, and owing to the cheap
and hasty construction of a vast number of small ditches the loss by
seepage is very great; it has been estimated that there is on an
average a ditch for every 200 acres of land cultivated, making a total
of about 2500 irrigating ditches in the State.
In the last two years there has been a marked increase in the interest
taken in irrigation enterprises, and though this has resulted in the
formation of several large companies, which intend to take water by
long and expensive canals to sections now uncultivated, yet in these
cases are universally seen the same crude methods employed in first
beginnings, without the aid and advice of experienced engineers. Large
canals are being constructed at great cost, capable of carrying many
times the amount of water flowing in the stream appropriated, whereas a
much smaller and less expensive one would have carried the entire water
supply. Again small canals have been constructed to carry small volumes
of water very long distances, often 50 to 80 miles, while in reality
owing to the great percentage of loss by seepage and evaporation,
little or none of the water entering at the headgates will ever reach
the irrigable lands.
Such illy advised projects are to be even more deplored than the
smaller operations before spoken of, since the certain ultimate failure
of this class of enterprise will result in discouraging capitalists
from investing in even well-planned irrigation projects, and will
retard the construction of valuable and necessary works.