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Show AGRICULTURE UNDER IRRIGATION IN BASIN OP VIRGIN RIVER. 249 ment. Two ditches water 105 acres, in holdings averaging 21 acres, which are planted to products used exclusively in local consumption. The irrigation season extends from February 1 to October 15. There is no organization in control of the water. Above Littlefield, on Beaverdam Creek, a small tributarj- of Virgin River from the north, 31 acres are farmed in three holdings; and on the river above Beaverdam Creek, 30 additional acres are watered. MESQUITE. Mesquite was first settled in 1882, abandoned after two or three years, and again settled in 1894. It is on the right bank of Virgin River, 10 miles below Littlefield. The water is controlled by the Mesquite Irrigation Company, which was organized October 28, 1898, but not incorporated. The officers of the company are a secretary and a water master. The water is not distributed according to any definite plan, because the supply in the river is usually ample. Each acre draws a stream three hours each watering. The Mesquite Ditch, in Arizona, leaves the Virgin River 3£ miles above town, where a brush dam is maintained. The ditch covers 1,100 acres, all of which has been purchased from the State and will eventual^ be irrigated. By some alteration it can be made to cover 600 acres additional. Above Mesquite, on Virgin River, three small ditches, aggregating 2i miles in length, water 225 acres. BUNKERVILLE. At Bunkerville, on the left bank of the Virgin River, 5 miles below Mesquite, 587 acres are irrigated in holdings averaging 18 acres. There is but one canal, which heads in the river 3 miles above town. It is 3i miles long, 6 feet wide, and 3 feet deep. When in average condition, according to a gauging made April 22, 1902, it carries 19.62 cubic feet per second, which, distributed over the 587 acres watered, gives a duty of 1 cubic foot per second to each 30 acres. The dam at the head of the canal was first built in 1878, but has washed out fully twenty times since then, each time incurring a loss of $100 to $200. It diverts the entire river in the dry season, but much of the water seeps back to the river before reaching the Bunkerville fields. Irrigation at Bunkerville is controlled by the Bunkerville Irrigation Company, which is not incorporated. According to the by-laws the capital stock consists of "$3 per acre,'' which may be increased in case additional ditches become necessary. The principal officers are a secretary and a water master. In distributing the water carried by the canal it is divided into six streams, and during the dry months of July and August each acre draws one of these streams for three hours each watering. The rest of the year no limit is placed on the amount used. Irrigation is commenced in March and continues until late fall. Until 1000 Bunkerville was the center of cotton raising on the Virgin River, but owing to the closing of the cotton mill at St. George the growth of this product has been discontinued. The principal producing years were from 1882 to 1884. At that time the cotton goods used in the Virgin River settlements had either to be manufactured in St. George or shipped from Salt Lake City, much of the distance by team. This made the price of cotton goods high, building up the industr}* on the |
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Original book: Utah exhibits [of the] State of Arizona, complainant, v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, City of Los Angeles, City of San Diego, and County of San Diego, defendants, United States of America and State of Nevada, interveners, State of New Mexico and State of Utah, parties |