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Show 170 The irrigation-district system has been described as an ex- press recognition of the doctrine of public ownership of irri- gation works.104 Its nature and purpose have been thus charac- terized by the Supreme Court of Oregon:106 The basal principle is the division of the arid area of the state, upon invitation of the settlers thereon, into communities or districts, which are determined by their irrigability from a common source amd through the same system of works, and to invest such communities with power to raise revenue by taxation and the issuing of bonds for the purpose of acquiring water rights and constructing the necessary canals, reservoirs, and works for the distribution of the water over the lands within the district. The legislature of the Territory of Utah enacted the first irrigation-district law in 1865.106 Some of the principles of this early act were incorporated in California's Wright Act.107 Enactment of this later statute was suggested in a period of growing irrigation consciousness in California, and in part to overcome opposition by the larger ranchers to previously used irrigation enterprises.108 An important feature of the statute is its permission to a part of the residents of a given area to is being recognized as practically the sole means for the construction of new irrigation projects. And, due to the large sums of money and length of time required for development, public corporations will in the main need the cooperation of the National or State Government or both. "The irrigation district is the result of the legislative application of the public municipal idea to the needs of irrigation." King and Burr, Handbook of the Irrigation District Laws of the Seventeen Western States of the United States, p. 8 (1920). 104II Wiel, Water Rights in the Western States, § 1356, p. 1249 (3d ed. 1911). 1(* Little Walla Walla Irr. District v. Preston, 46 Ore. 5, 7, 78 Pac. 982, 983 (1904). 108 See 3 Kinney, Irrigation and Water Rights, § 1401, p. 2524 (2d ed. 1912). 10T 3 Kinney, Irrigation and WIater Rights, § 1401, p. 2525, and see id. § 1390, pp. 2518-2520. 106 Chandler, Elements of Western Water Law, p. 132 (1913). |