, 1891-03-25
BOARD OF CONTROL
Great Work Undertaken by the En-
gineer and Commissioners.
Working for a Fixed Value to All
Water Rights.
How the Thing Is TO Be Success
fully Accomplished.

As the board of control is now fully or
Eanized and at work it may be of some
public interest to give an idea of what
they hope to perform in Wyoming. As
is well known the waters of the state now
belong to the state, under the constitution
which was approved by CONGRESS. As
Wyoming is outside of the rain belt and
must necessarily depend upon irrigation
for its crop results, the value of the water
will at once become apparent with the
necessity for Its prudent and economical
use. To accomplish tits object it will be
necessary at the beginning to upset the
old Anglo-Saxon theories with regard 10
water. and consider it as absolutely the
property of the state as are its public
buildings. The state owning the water
the purpose which should animate Its au-
tborities is to secure from it the great
est possible amount of public good.
1t is only very lately that the value Of
the water has come to be generally real
lied. The first irrigation law went on
Wyoming's statute book in 1884. Since
then SIX small streams have been adiudi.
Gated. There are over 600 requiring adj
Indication. All laws previous to the last
one have been loosely drawn. Any one
so disposed might at any time file a claim
on a stream. At the time of the filing
the waters might all be utilized by other
claimants but this made no difference.
The supply was not limited to the NUN
Der OF acres TO be put under irrigation,
1t was not necessary to specify the par
ticular point along a certain creek that the
ditch was to be taken out nor to file a plat
Of the land over which it was to be car
RED. The natural result was that as
time passed and the necessity for the use
of the water increased the ill-deined
rights Of the various claimants soon
brought about clashing interests. The
claims we're of very slow and very expen.
sive adjudication IN the courts. There
was really nothing to show who was en-
titled to priority rights in the uses of the
water. A man making his filing in 1889
III the county clerks office might claim
mat MS ditoh was taken u in 1874 and
there was nothing to show the contrary.
The natural result OF all these loose meth.
DDS of filing would eventually be to make
hardsnlps TO all concerned bring suffering
to perfectly innocent persons who had
bought out water rightsl good faith and
ultimately to cause endless litigation and
make a water right the most unstable
piece OF property a mao could possibly
own.
Inc object OF the present law Is to
make the ownership oil water right as
clearly Defined as the ownership OF a piece
oil real estate anu to give It a settled and
permanent value by limiting the appro-
priations 10 the aotual capacity OF the
streams Inc control and responsibility
Is now centralized. The hrst object OF the
ooard VIII De TO auJuolcate and settle
rights already In existence. The second
Will De TO grant no more appropriation
except In cases where 1t Is established
that the water supply warrants 1t. Tit
maximum supply which the board will
allow for lrrlgating purposes Is one cubic
foot per second for each seventy acres,
The labor which tho board has under
taken Is very great About 5000 dltchet
nave oeen taken out covering the past
niteen years. In every contested case the
/ mass oil Testimony Is SImnlV enOTmOn9 and