Gannon v. Emtman

Appellant, Ralph E. Emtman, Jr., acquired Unit 50, Irrigation Block 88, Columbia Basin Project, in the fall of 1961. In readying it for the 1962 farming season, he and his father, Ralph E. Emtman, Sr., who was financially assisting his son, decided to level and plane the northern half of the unit for rill or surface irrigation, and to install a sprinkling system to irrigate the southern half. Both father and son were experienced dry-land farmers, but were relatively inexperienced with irrigation farming. They obtained the services of Jake Holland, engineer for the Adams County Extension Service, who recommended the northern half be levelled and planed to a slope of two-tenths of a foot per 100 feet. Mr. Holland surveyed and helped stake the premises accordingly. In the course of Mr. Hollands calculations, it was estimated that leveling of the high spots would supply approximately 45,000 yards of soil which, in turn, would be sufficient to fill the low spots and provide the ditch pads.