Imperial Valley press., September 07, 1907, Image 1

About Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current

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Imperial Valley Press.
VOL. VII
IRRIGATION
CONGRESS
The Irrigationists of the
West Hold Interest
ing Sessions !
URGE ATTENDANCE
iSouthern California Well Represen
, ted by Prominent Men. A
Few Kickers Present
The fifteenth National Irriga
tion Congress opened Monday
under the most auspicious cir
cumstances, with but one of the
regular speakers absent from the
platform. The exercises moved
like clock work.
So well had the executive work
been done that there seemed to
be a place for everybody in the
vast throng and everybody for a
The feature of the session was
the speech of Vice-President
'. Fairbanks, in which he emphat
ically asserted that the effect of
irrigation in this western country
.can be appreciated only by those
who are familiar with it from
personal observation. The change
made in the conversion of an arid
waste into fruitful field seems al
most incredible. There is f no
more radical transformation to
be found anywhere than in the
parched valleys and plains which
have been irrigated and which
prior thereto produced nothing
but sagebrush. The most unpro
ductive land has become the most
fertile. From the worst it takes
rank as the best. The distin
guished speaker proceeded to dis
cuss the general policy of the
government in its relations to ir
rigation, the development of the
water places of the country and
the relation of irrigation to vari
ous industries, i
Gifford Pinchot read a brief
and complimentary message from
President Roosevelt and Secre
tary of the Interior Garfield sent
his regrets that he is unable to
attend. F. L. Newell, director
*of the reclamation service, is spe
cifically commissioned by the sec
retary to represent the depart
ment in the discussions that are
,to come up. Garfield indicates
that everything is not running
as smoothly as the government
desires, and says in his letter to
Governor Chamberlain:
"The most critical period in the recla
"mation work is at hand. It is the main
tenance and opei'ation of the completed
projects and payment by the water
usei"s. Already there are suggestions
and requests that the first year's in
stallments for cost an( J maintenance be
postpohed or lessened. The success of
this great work depends upon the strict
enforcement of the provisions of the
act regarding payments, and any post
ponement, any reduction, surely means
difficulty later on. The only way to in
sure the success of present projects and
the developjnent of other projects is to
pay promptly for the existing ones.
''Actual use of irrigated lands shows
that the small farm affords the best op
portunity for the greatest profit. The
man who works a few acres intelligent
8* r, intensively, persistently, will not
nd the investment overburdensome,
but the man with more land than he
>can work will inevitably make a failure. "
Official Roper of Imperial County
EL* CENTRO, CALIFORNIA, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1907.
Governor George B. Chamber
lain, of Oregon, opened up a
chance for discussing the stupen
dous looting of the public domain
by railroads, lumber corporations
and individuals. This governor
from Oregon did not hesitate to
use short and ugly words in des
ignating land grabbers. He call
ed them thieves. Then he went
direct to the heart of the situa
tion and suggested that the con
gress discuss and recommend that
the National congress and the
administration proceed to recover
stolen lands, to take them forc
ibly from tHe railroads and pre
datory corporations and restore
them to the people.
Southern California is well rep
resented at the Fifteenth Nation
al Irrigation Congress by the fol
lowing delegates: L. C. Gates,
J. B. Lippincott, William Niles,
W. C. Mendenhall and former
city attorney W. B. Mathews, of
Los Angeles; T. D. Allen; of Pas
adena; F. G. Havens, of El Cen
tro; Assemblyman M. Estudillo,
Frank Cuttle, Judge John G.
North and Dr. W. W. Roblee, of
Riverside; Senator Harry M.
Willis, Scipio Craig and Mary
Lynde Craig, of Redlands, and
Thomas Buckworth, of San Ber
nardino.
F. G. Havens, of El Centro, is
California's representative on
the committee on credentials.
L. M. Holt, of the Imperial
Land Co. , Los Angeles, and sup
porters from Yuma, Imperial and
Owens Valley, who allege griev
ances against the reclamation
service, were present to lay their
case before the irrigation con
gress. L. M. Holt, discussing
the matter said:
"All we are asking is that congress
shall investigate the reclamation service
in a legal manner. We desire the facts
placed before congress and want the ir
rigation congress to indorse the propo
sition of investigation. It may be de
veloped that we will not hold a prelim
inary convention, but we intend to car
ry the matter to congress even if the
irrigation congress does not support us. "
F. H. Newell, director of the
United States reclamation service
says there is no foundation to the
charges made. In speaking of
the matter he said: "The Water
Users' association incorporated
embraces all the land owners in
Yuma valley and has an agree
ment with the secretary of the
interior that if the government
reclaims the land, the" lands ben
efited will return the cost of the
benefit without profit or interest.
There has been formed another
organization, not incorporated,
which has taken the name of the
legitimate association, adding the
word 'Consolidated,' which does
not include land owners, j but
merely owners of a ditch there,
which these owners are trying to
sell to the government for $500,
000. We had appraisements made
of the ditch and offered them
$25,000, with a conditional in
crease to $45,000 if they can show
good title to certain rights -of
way. The government not being
willing to pay $500,000, they sim
ply started in to blackguard the
representatives of the govern
ment. In doing so they brought
in innumerable charges which
are either false or based on ma
licious distortions or half truths.
The object of the whole affair is
to bring about such annoyance it
will result in securing a better
price for the ditch,"
W. A. Bondesson, president of
the Yuma Water Users' associa
tion, is in Sacramento and en
dorses many statements of Mr.
Newell. ;U
NEW TIME CARD
Under the New Schedule Both Val
ley Trains Connect with Main
Line Trains
A new schedule went into ef
fect on the Southern Pacific Sun
day, and now both of the trains^
in and out of the valley make
good connections with the west
bound main line trains. The new
time card will prove more popu
lar than the former one, as it en
ables passengers to and from Los
Angeles and coast points to con
nect at Imperial Junction twice a
The following is the time card,
with the time of arriving at the
Junction and the connections
made:
Passenger train No. 503 leaves
El Centro at 12:48 in the after
noon and arrives at Imperial Junc
tion at 2:30 and connects with No.
7 westbound for Los Angeles,
leaving at 3:12 p. m.
/Mixed train No. 505 leaves El
Centro at 11:25 p. m., arrives at
the junction at 3:20 a. m. and
connects with No. 9, westbound,
leaving at 4:31 a. m.
Coming from Los Angeles con
nections are made at Imperia]
Junction, the valley trains leav
ing there as follows:
Mixed train No. 502 leaves the
junction at 6:30 a. m. and pass
enger train No. 504 leaves there
at 8 o'clock in the evening. With
this arrangement passengers
from the coast have the privilege
of arriving home either in the
morning or evening.
The Holton Inter-Urban rail
way not only changed their time
card to conform with that of the
Southern Pacific, but added an
other train a day excepting Sun
days for the convenience of Holt
ville and Eastside people. Holt
ville trains leave El Centro at
10:00 a. m., 1:00 p. m. and 5:00
p. m. From Holtville to El Cen
tro the trains leave at 8:45 a. m.,
12:00 p. m. and at 4:00 p. m.
Freight days on this road are
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Satur
days. .
JUSTICE'S COURT
Justice of the Peace W. L. Payne
Holds Court
A few things were doing in the
justice's court this week.
In the first place Justice of the
Peace W. L. Payne received the
first bond of Bob Davis, acting
upon advice of Justice Hoffman,
of Calexico. »
Wednesday a complaint was
sworn to by Ellen C. Wittenberg
against Joe Hucklebridge, who,
the complaint alleges, stole some
turkeys from the plaintiff. The
alleged offender was brought be
fore the court by Jake Meadows.
In the absence of the district at
torney W. E. Cox appeared for
the plaintiff and T. P. Banta for
the defense. Trial was postponed
until next Tuesday, September
10, at 3 o'clock, when the dis
trict attorney will be present.
Joe Hucklebridge was released
by the judge on his own recog
nizance.
A civil suit was also filed in
the justice court Wednesday,
Messrs. Crawford & Davis bring
ing suit to recover a cow alleged
to have been unlawfully solpt.
Will Saunders bought the cow
and claims to hold the bill of sale.
G. H. P. Shaw is attorney for
plaintiff and W. E. Cox for de
fendant. Case was set for trial
next Tuesday, September 10th.
GETTING POINTERS
County Assessor Fred Fuller in
Riverside on County Business
Assessor Fuller of Imperial
county is in the city to-day get
ting pointers from Assessor Mon
tague on the method of conduct
ing his office. So well satisfied
was he with the system inaugur
ated by Mr. Montague that he
will likely adopt it in Imperial,
using books nearly identical with
those prepared by Mr. Montague.
Mr. Fuller is a good representa
tive of the progressive new coun
ty and is enthusiastic over its fu
ture. —Riverside Press.
NOS. 8 AND 6 FLUME
Work is Progressing Nicely — About
Sixty-Five Men Employed
The report comes that work is
going right along on the flume
which is to convey water across
new river for ' Water companies
No's 8 and 6. This flume is be
ing put in on Mexican territory
being put in on Mexican terri
tory about one mile from Pack
ard.
The pile driver is kept stead
ily at work driving the long piles
deep into the ground, carpenters
following up the work of the pile
driver, making things move
right along. The flume will be
about forty-five feet above the
water in the river. The work
of driving the extra long piling
will commence soon, and it is
hoped that it will not be long be
fore water is flowing across this
troublesome river.
Engineer Wm Best is in charge
of the work and expresses him
self as well pleased with the
work.
San Diego Celebrates Today
Indelibly stamped upon the
memory of people of San Diego,
Saturday September 7, will be re
membered always as the date
upon which the first spadeful of
dirt was turned for the construc
tion of the road . which is to di
rectly connect the "city of the
jeweled gate" with the com
merce of the east.
At a general committee meet
ing held early Tuesday afternoon
this Saturday was definitely fix
ed as the date for the celebration.
The speakers \ will be William
Clayton, Rev. W. B. Hinson,
M. L. Ward and G. W. Marston.
Dr. Gochenauer will preside.
President J. D. Spreckels of the
railroad will be asked to remove
the first' chunk of earth. Exer
cises will begin at 2:30 p. m.
There will be a big porade
through the city. Everybody
possessing a conveyance has been
invited to participate.
The parade will consist of
mounted police, fire department,
two bands, automobiles, banners
and carriages of all kinds.
BOB DAVIS
ARRESTED
Alleged to Have Sold
Liquor to a Minor
at Calexico
BARTENDER TAKEN
Both Were Taken Before Justice of
the Peace Hoffman Monday
and Were Brought Here
Bob Davis and his bartendee,
"Pete" were arrested at Calexi
co, Monday forenoon by Constable
W. O. Hamilton and Deputy Con
stable C. Bradford, of El Centro,
on warrants sworn to by E. S.
McCollum, of Calexico, alleging
that they had sold liquor to his
son, a minor of 16 years. It is
alleged in the complaints that
this boy had gone into Bob Davis'
place of business and was sold
liquor on two separate occasions
without the slightest hesitation
on the part of the bartender.
Justice of the Peace Hoffman,
of Calexico, called court and the
two were immediately brought
into court and the judge read the
complaints. Davis took the two
days allowed him by law to plead
and refused to give bail.
Bob and his bartender were
brought to El Centro on the noon
train Monday and were in the
custody of the officers until Tues
day forenoon, when bail was fur
nished, Bob in the sum of $1000
by Tom McKeehan, of Brawley,
and Nathan Landsberg, of Calex
ico. "Pete" failed to get bonds
and was kept under survelliance
at El Centro.
Immediately after giving the
bond Davis hired a rig and drove
to Imperial. At about the same
time another warrant for a simi
lar offense was placed in the
hands of the constable, who fol
lowed him to Imperial on the
train, and placed Davis under ar
rest the second time. He was
taken to, Calexico and remanded
by the justice court to the custo
dy of the officer until Wednesday
at which time he was to appear
on the first charge. Wednesday
before Davis had secured bond
men for the second time, a third
warrant was served, so the
amount of the second bonds were
doubled and he was then allowed
The cases of both Bob and Pete
were set for trial on the 16th of
September. These are state
cases and will require the pres
ence of the district attorney.
Pete's bonds were reduced
Wednesday from $1000 to $500,
which was furnished, he thereby
gaining his liberty.
Imperial Has New Attorney
At a meeting of the board of
trustees of Imperial held Wed
nesday evening, G. H. P. Shaw
was appointed city attorney of
Imperial to fill the vacancy
caused by the resignation of F.
C. Farr.
NO. 22