Page:The National geographic magazine, volume 1.djvu/349

 King's river by the expenditure of a few months' work, by a small force of the farmers themselves. On King's river, individual and simple coöperative effort is sufficient to bring water enough upon the plains to irrigate thousands of acres, while in the case of the Tuolumne river it is absolutely necessary to have associated capital in large amount—an entirely different principle of organization from that which was originally applied on King's river and the Kern and other rivers in the southern part of the great central valley. In discussions on the subject of irrigation some people have advanced the idea that the works should be undertaken by the farmers, and that capital should have nothing to do with them. That may do very well where the physical conditions will admit of such a course, and where nothing but the farmers' own service depends upon it; but the great majority of the streams of California are of such a character that the work of the farmers can avail nothing. There must be strong associations and large capital. For this purpose special laws are required. On the Santa Aña, in San Bernardino county, water has been easily diverted, and such is the case with every stream in the interior valley of San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties.

Capital for the first works was not required. The water was procured by primitive methods and the works were simple. But in San Diego, an entirely different condition of affairs prevailed. There the waters are back in the mountains, twenty or twenty-five miles from the coast, and the irrigable lands are close along the coast, or within ten or twelve miles of it. To bring the water out of these mountains requires the construction of ditches following the mountain sides for 20 to 35 miles. But simple ditches do not answer, because of the great quantity of water lost from them. So the companies have resorted to fluming, and even to lining the ditches with cement. Thus in San Diego, individual effort is out of the question. Farther north again, in the great interior valley, King's river is a stream where coöperative and individual effort have been efficient, although it requires a greater amount of capital there than in the southern interior valley. In the southern interior valley, perhaps, $10,000 would often build a ditch and divert all the water that the supply would furnish. On King's river the works have cost from $15,000 to $80,000 each; on Kern river the works have cost from $15,000 to $250,000 each; and on the Tuolumne they will cost from $1,000,000 to $1,200,000 apiece. On Merced river, the cost has