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Show 171 incur indebtedness for which all the lands therein would be liable.109 Holding the Wright Act constitutional in Fallbrook Irrigation District v. Bradley, the United States Supreme Court concluded that in a State like California the need for irrigation of vast acreages is a matter of public interest and a public purpose not confined to landowners, or even to any one section of the State."0 The Wright Act served as a model for statutes of many other states.111 Each of the 17 Western States has enacted an irrigation-district statute."2 Each such State has provided that irrigation districts may function in cooperation with the United States and enter into repayment contracts under Rec- lamation Law.113 The enabling provision is sometimes in- cluded in the irrigation district statute itself.114 A statute especially designed for such cooperating districts was enacted in New Mexico.116 Still another means is the inclusion of such a cooperation provision in a statute applying to various types of districts.116 It may also be noted that various names have been given under different statutes to districts having func- tions and powers of the conventional Wright-Act type.117 By the 1916 Smith Act, Congress authorized the inclusion of public lands in irrigation districts, subject to specified con- ditions.118 The customary irrigation-district act contemplates inclusion of only those lands which will receive irrigation benefits from 109 Oal. Stats. 1887, §§1,17, as amended. ™ 164 U. S. 112,161 (1896). in Irrigation Districts, Theie Organization, Opebiation, and Financing, Department of Agriculture Technical Bulletin 254, p. 72 (1931). m Summary of Irrigation-District Statutes of Western States, De- partment of Agriculture Miscellaneous Publication No. 103, p. 2 (1931). ^Id. p. 4 See also Gen. Stats, of Kan., 1935, 1947 Supp., § 42-701 (a). m See, e. g., Utah Code Ann. 1943, § 100-9-11. w See, e. g., N. Mex. Stat. Ann. 1941, §§ 77-2201-77-2245. "• See, e. g., Deering's Calif. Codes, Water, § 23175 et seq. m See, e. g., the provision for "water improvement districts" in Vernon's Awn. Bev. Civ. Stat. of Tex., Art. 7622 et seq. m Act of August 16, 1916, 39 Stat. 506, as amended, 43 U. S. C. 621 et seq. |