The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 70, July 1966 - April, 1967 Page: 57
728 p. : maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Responses to the Challenges of Water Resources
Construction of irrigation works was left solely to private cor-
porations until after the turn of the century. Many of the early
irrigation works were created as land promotional schemes, and
often were undertaken without the slightest data on the available
water supply.0
In 1905, Texas followed the lead of other western states and
authorized the creation of public irrigation districts. Those dis-
tricts, like drainage and levee districts, could be created by the
county board upon petition of a majority of landowners."1 After
the adoption of the Conservation Amendment in 1917, the leg-
islature specified procedures whereby the districts could avail
themselves of broader financial powers.52 In 1925, another type
of special district, the water control and improvement district,
was authorized which could undertake a number of activities
including irrigation.58
At the time the new legal doctrine of prior appropriation was
being grafted onto the Texas law and public irrigation districts
were emerging, most irrigation was by gravity flow through a
system of ditches. The pumps that were available were as crude
and inefficient as the motors that drove them.54
Technological advances since that time have been amazing.
Efficient portable pumping units powered by electricity or high-
speed gas or diesel engines have been developed which are within
the price range of every farmer. A few of them are actually capa-
ble of diverting the anticipated normal flow of any stream in
Texas. That development has increased the competition for water,
and has led to a large amount of litigation over rights to the
scarce resource.55
Development of improved well drilling equipment, pumps,
50Johnson, Heaven's Tableland, 58-77; William K. Matthews, A History of Irri-
gation in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (Master's thesis, University of Texas, 1938),
31-33.
61General Laws of the State of Texas, 29th Leg., Reg. Sess., 1905, Ch. 122; Units
of Local Government in Texas, 56.
6"General Laws of the State of Texas, 36th Leg., 4th Called Sess., 1918, pp. 40-483.
S8Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes of the State of Texas (Kansas City, Missouri,
1958), Arts. 78o8-788oa.
"Thomas U. Taylor, Irrigation Systems of Texas (Washington, 1902), 11.
"Joe D. Carter, "The Position of the Board of Water Engineers on the Scope
of Riparian Rights," Proceedings, Water Law Conferences, 1952, z954, pp. 202-203.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 70, July 1966 - April, 1967, periodical, 1967; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101199/m1/75/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.