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<br />"" <br />( <br />C.-,! <br />- <br />C <br /> <br />c. <br /> <br />Existing Irrigation Development <br /> <br />16. Irrigatioi' water is served to the area by the Joseph City Irlr'i- <br />gation Company.~ Water is delivered to owners of shares in the company <br />in accordance with the number of shares held. There is no distinct <br />boundary limiting the lands to be served, and, in effect, the water may <br />be applied to any land within reach of the company canals at the option of <br />the shareholders. Although water shares may have been distributed in <br />relation to acreage of irrigated land when the company was founded, they <br />are often sold separately from the land with a result that present owner- <br />ship of shares does not bear a direct relationship to acreage irrigated. <br />In fact, a number of shareholders irrigate no land and some irrigators <br />own too few shares to obtain a sufficient amount of water for their irri- <br />gated land. During the irrigation season, water is delivered on a turn <br />basis for a specific length of time per share. During the nonirrigation <br />season water may be used by any shareholder when it is available in the <br />canal. ' <br /> <br />17. The irrigation works of the Joseph City Irrigation Company <br />include several small facilities. A diversion dam attached to an outcrop <br />of Coconino sandstone in the Little Colorado River is located at Penzance, <br />It diverts most of the irrigation water supply into the upper canaL This <br />canal is approximately 11 miles in length and has a capacity at the <br />diversion dam of about 15 cubic feet per second. It serves most of the <br />irrigated lands directly and water from it can be diverted into a lower <br />canal to serve the remaining irrigated lands of the area. About two <br />miles below the Penzance Dam is a smaller dam which can be used to <br />divert Little Colorado River water into the lower canal. This canal is <br />about 8.5 miles in length and can serve only the irrigated lands at the <br />lower levels. Lakeside Reservoir, a shallow offstream reservoir of <br />about 500 acre-foot capacity located between the canals, was formed by <br />the construction of several hundred feet of earthen dike on the lower side <br />of a natural meadow. Formerly it was used to some extent for storage <br />and at times to desilt heavily silt-laden river water. Water diverted <br />into this reservoir, however, can only be rediverted into the lower <br />canal and therefore cannot be used on the lands lying at higher elevations. <br />Furthermore, the water dissolves previously deposited salts from the <br />bed of the reservoir and salt concentration is further increased by <br />evaporation. As the plant growth in the reservoir also pollutes the <br />water, it is not well suited for irrigation. For these reasons, the use <br />of this reservoir has been largely discontinued. About two and one-half <br />miles above Penzance Dam on the south or opposite side of the river the <br />company has 10 artesian wells several of which are flowing at a com- <br />bined rate of approximately 2.3 cubic feet per second. This water is <br />conducted from the wells to the river above the Penzance diversion by <br />a canal about one-half mile in length. <br /> <br />~/ <br /> <br />Originally the company was incorporated as the St. Joseph <br />Irrigation Company. <br /> <br />6 <br />