The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-02-09
OUR HELENA LETTER.
The Water Question Duly Con-
sidored,
And After Long Debate Settled.

And After Long Debate Settled
Special Correspondence Of the Miner
HELENA, Feb. 8, 1884.
The subject that has most sorely
perplexed the wits of our COnstitu
ton -makers-neXt to taxation an(
the free pass business has been tn,
water question. OF course, it Is 9
fertile subject of jest, and the 10,
Millerisln Is resurrected of the B0s
t0nlan who visited Colorado. an(
being askrd by his friends on his re.
turn home what kind of water they
had out there, declared he never
once thought to taste it. The US,
and appropriation Of water "a firsl
wres' led with by the Com nittee or
Mining, Water aud Water Rights
composed of representatives of thu
mining and stock interests, with
lawyer Judge Proctor) to counsel
them; and these gentlemen. by mu'
tual concessions, agreed upon a re
port which was duly reported to the
Convention. When printed and
brought up for conside rati0n, 1t was
unsparingly assailed, and stricken
out and added to without mercy.
1t then went into the hands of the
| Engrossing Committee, and yester>
day was again brought forward In ita
rev Used shape.
Two sections added during the
consideration of the article by the
committee Of the whole read rs fol-
lows:
Section 10. The waters of every
natural stream, not heretofore ap-
proprlated, within the State of Moo.
tana. are hereby declared to be the
property Of the people, and the same
Is dedicated to the 8 Of the people
of the State, subject to appropriation
as hereinafter provided.
Section IL. The right to appropri-
ate the waters of any natural stream
to beneficial uses shall never be
denied. Priority Of appropriation
shall give the first right, but when
the waters of any natural stream are
not sufficient for the service Of all
those desiring the use of the same,
those using the waters for domestic
purposes shall have the preference
over those claiming 1t for other pur-
poses, to the extent Of the necessary
use fl r such domestic purposes.
This morning MI. Dixon movedt to
amend by striking out these sections
He objected to them on the ground of
Indebtedness. "What Is domestic
use?" he inquired. ITO use it for
drinking, merely? Or to run . grlst
mill built on some mans farm? 70
use it for washing the family linen3
Or to water 3,0O hea of stock? The.
language was not specific enough to
settle anything, hut it was general
enough to give rise to endless litiga-
ton. Again, q man may but d q mill
near Helena. and there Is abundance
of water to run it; but population ID
creases, and the supply becomes in-
sufficient. Those using il for domes-
tic purposes are to have
the preference, and his mill
is left usless on his hands. Such q
provision he declared would d..
courage the Investment of. capital,
because it leaves the future uncer-
tain.
Mr.. Powers, Chairman of the
Water Rights Committee), said it
was Understood ia the committee that
their report would be unsatisfactory,
but it was the most liberal arrange
ment the mining gentleman would
assent to. s Ill the question has to
be dealt with, because If no provision
Ia made for the use of Incorporated
waters, there will be no emigration |
to Montana. and, as a consequence, |
no use for the Constitution. The
seemed determined to
strike out everything relating to
water. aud this disposition be re-
as unfortunate.
Mr. Galloway said long established
custom and the decisions of the
had determined the question |
IF water rights, and it should not b.
lnterfered with by Cons itutiOnal
limitations He wa tied the spirit IF !
his common law in used int the
Constitution. He thou hit there
Gould be no question about the mean.
ing of domestic use.n The uiost
captious would give u wives and
childr-n q chance to drink what
they want to drink aud to wash their
HI would have the princi-
pie established by the courts aud
whic has gone out as common u.s.
sge. embodied in the Constitution.
Mr.. Waterbury c0"te"ded there
Vas no need to put anything about
he water rights In the Constitution;
here was not q miner or ranchman
,ut understood the subject as we'll rs
nv lawyer. This matter, which
composed half of his 9TH Speaker's)
lame, had engros-e1 q rye share Of
he attention Of the delegates. The
'oung folks who couldn't spell plain,
allied him MI. W~aterbelly. His
to the Convention was to
ranspnse the two halves of his name,
nd, taking verb active out of an In
complete noun, bury the whore
question.
Mr.. T.sole proposed to substitute
following for sections 10 and II
The light to divert he unappropri.
ted water of any natural stream to
beneficial uses shall never be denied,
md the right thereto as between the
there"f, shall be deter
mined by priority Of appropri-
Mr.. ToOle insisted that something
ught t, go into the Constitution in
egard to water rights. The princi.
lie ought to be declared that recog-
lied and indefeasable rights shall
ways govern.
MI. Dixon feared that the amend
aent OF the gentleman from Lewis
nd Clarke (Mr. Toole) would still
cave some confusion In determining
that are domestic uses and what are
ublic uses. He was still OF the
that the matter had better
left out.
MI. Hedges also maintained that
his would still leave the question
NON tn disnufe. Rinarian RIGHTS