The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-11-28
sSNNflND
Daily Eagle
NJ. NJ. MURDOCH. Editor.
THE ARKANSAS RIVER.

vert ana SeQueSt6T llS WATTS VI tE'
Great Arkansas River is again up ant
is attracting some attention, both II
Colorado and in Kansas. During TN
years when congress was making an
nual appropriations for the Arkansas
River as a naYigable stream, and wnlie
a corps of engineers were at wors
within the corporate limits of this clty
the writer called the attention OF the
secretary Of war, through Senator
Plumb, to the fact that the way the
river was being depleted by eastern
Colorado and western Kansas for irri-
CATION purposes it was not only the
height of nonsense TO talk about render
ing the stream nayigable but that in
few years the people in the lower valley
would be complaining Of an insufficient
cy Of water. The war department
looked the matter up but practically de-
cided that while the Great Arkansas
River properly came under the super
vision of the secretary of war, he yet
doubted his authority for taking any
action in the absence of special con-
gressional act. Subsequently Colorado
was admitted as a state with provls-
ion in both the act of admission nd in
her constitution, that the people OF
that commonwealth should have entire
and exclusive control Of the water sup
plies and ways Of the streams Of that
state.
To our mind Kansas has vested rights
in the river and its waters, which can
not be diverted, had them when most
of Colorado was a part of Kansas and
held them before Colorado was even
erected into a territory. But these are
rights which, if existing, can be reached
and settled by the federal courts. As it
is a question which is bound to come
I'D at some time, now may be as favor
able as any other New Mexico, ike
Kansas, has suffered from the diversion
of the waters of the Rio Grande for the
irrigation of the San Luis valley, TO
that extent that lands of the Rio Grande
valley in New Mexico which had been
cultivated under irrigation for CEN
tury or more have been practically
abandoned.
OF course, into the question will come
that of state rights. Kansas and Colo
RADIO have no authority one over the
other, but congress and the federal
courts have, and over the inhabitants OF
both. Colorado may, and no doubt will,
claim sovereignty over the streams of
that state. But Kansas in making the
same claim, as is the case with New
Mexico, holds an older and prior claim.
From the head Of the stream, at Ten
nessee Pass, above Leadville, down to
Canon City, the waters Of the Arkan-
sas are used more or less for mining
and irrigation purposes. But the body
of the stream thereby is diminished but
little. From Canon City to the-east line
of Colorado the waters of the Arkansas
are almost wholly depended upon for
farming purposes, as is the case in
three or four counties in Kansas on the
upper valley. From Dodge City to the
mouth of the Little Arkansas River, at
Wichita, little water is left between the
banks of the stream during much of the
year, and the bed is rapidly filling up,
so that in the event of a great freshet
or unusual rise much damage might !
ensue.
The national constitution gives con-
greSs control over navigable streams. |
The Arkansas is not included in the |
township lines Of government surveys |
within this state, but was meandered |
by the surveyors, which leaves it in the |
list Of nayigable streams. On that plea |
or count the federal courts would un-
doubtedly have the power to forbid the
diversion Of its waters. But this is both |
a question of law and of fact, the fact |
being that the river is not navigable
stream, if it ever was. Little family
boats were formerly fioated from the
mountains down 70 Wichita and ON to
the mouth of the river, and a steamer
below once reached in whistling dis
tance of the town. But these have been
impOsSibiiides ever since the first irri-
eating bitches were dug in eastern Col
orado and western Kansas.
Outside of stock-water and for irrigat-
Ing purposes, the Great Arkansas is of
little account, except it might be that
for sewerage purposes it is valuable TO
some of the towns of the upper valley.
Its great value to the valley farmers OF
Kansas is its inexhaustible underfow,
which cannot be stolen or otherwise di-
yerted.