Mutual Water Companies and Domestic Water

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first Mormon pioneers came over the Wasatch Range more than 90 years ago, settling in Utah's dry desert valleys. Before 12 years had passed the settlers had formed 90 co-operatives to share the costs and work of bringing mountain water to the desert. Those were the first mutual water companies. Today, principally in the states west of the Great Plains, over 2,500 mutual water companies, operating on a non-profit basis, bring water from streams, rivers, lakes, and wells to the dry soil. Over 175,000 water users hold mutual membership, averaging 80 members to a company.'7* Development of these mutual irrigation companies into domestic companies during the past 50 years is an interesting study. The high concentration of population near Los Angeles has not brought true urbanization to the vast acreage served by mutual water companies. It is safe to say that the bulk of service falls in what is termed by some sociologists the rurban, i.e., neither rural nor urban, area. There appears to be a distinct culture developing in Southern California, which, outside of the industrialized area, is closely tied to the major agricultural sections. In each settlement there are a few retired folk, largely farmers from either local or eastern areas, the necessary stores and implement houses, transportation and storage facilities, dwellings for those directly and indirectly connected with the local agricultural crop, and, generally along the highways, adequate facilities to supply the needs of tourists. It has been compared by some to the community culture of Connecticut, with Spanish instead of New England architecture, without some of the problems of the mill tovAi, but with equally difficult problems of a migrant population.