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Show 21 purpose of raising money for the construction of desired development This fault led to a chronic shortage of capital facilities in some districts. Only the personal financial and physical resources of district members could be utilized. Outside sources of funding could not be employed using bonding measures. The combination of these problems and the fact that many individuals continued to depend on the pioneer mode of water development or were in groups which functioned under the county courts limited the use made of irrigation districts. Thomas states that there may have been as many as 100 irrigation districts in the years immediately after the law was passed. However, by the end of the 1860s or early 1870s almost all the districts founded under the 1865 law had disbanded because of the above- mentioned problems and legal rulings that made their continued cooperation difficult. 19 Administration and Allocation Between 1852 and 1865 new layers of administration and organization were superimposed upon the existing systems. To the pioneer mode of water utilization were added the official functions of the county courts, the municipal rights of some cities, and the irrigation districts. These new institutions were the result of a better understanding by the people of the realities of the arid environment, growing pressure on the fixed water resources, and the more intensive methods of utilizing water resources. Social and legal relationships were more carefully defined and allowed water users to group together, either formally or informally. New or modified institutions or methods of water utilization which had grown out of the practices and experiences of the people during the earliest years of settlement were legally established. Water masters, water turns, and irrigation districts are examples of institutions which developed out of the peoples' experiences and practices that were promoted by the legislature and the county courts. The use of the above institutions allowed for water resources to be used more exhaustively and efficiently. Yet water resources were still controlled at many different levels. Local leaders were either county officers acting in official capacity, church leaders called to establish a city in a given area, or local leaders elected by water users in the area. George Thomas, Institutions Under Irrigation, pp 121- 126. |
