The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-10-23
HUMP H-R-E-Y-S

for depriving the respondents VINO settled
on that stream in pursuance OF the laws
Of the United States OF the natural rights
incident to their more advantageous 10
cation. The necessity Of one man, or Of
any number OF men cannot justify the
taking OF another's property without his
consent, and without compensation. If
it be true, as claimed by appellants, that
IL the judgment of the court below is af-
irmed. their lands will again become
barren waste. and cease 20 blossom as
the rose, it is equally true that if the wa
ters Of the river are diverted from its
channel, the premises Of the respondents
VIII become inproductiye and utterly
worthless. The decision Of the court be-
low was affirmed.
A closer parallel to the contention Of
the farmers Of the Arkansas Valley in
Kansas can hardly be found. Settlers
came to this valley thirty and more years
ago, before the existence of the state Of
Colorado, and, attracted by the fertile
character of the soil, and the magnificent
flow of water filling the banks of the
then noble river, established homes upon
these lands in pursuance of the laws Of
the United States. Crops were planted,
trees were set out, roads were surveyed,
school houses and churches dotted the
landscape the universal evidence of the
spread of American civilization and in'
miraculously short time land whose best
use had been 10 afford sustenance TO the
countless herds of buffalo was making
glad the hearts of thousands of industri-
Gus and energetic citizens with its prom
q,
stands for, and with its contribution TO
the building upof a great American com
monweaIth. Cities were founded, and on
tn solid foundation of the unsurpassed
fertility of this great valley, watered by
this mighty river. grew as cities never
grew before.
This prosperity and this growth have
been checked. The waters which in their
natural course have made the Arkansas
Valley in Kansas known everywhere for
constant and unsurpassed fertility and
beauty have ceased to flow, and with that
cessation a great portion of one former
prosperity mas ceased to be.
a REMEDY SUGGESTED.
rne prosperity Of the irrigated lands in
Colorado is the full complement of the
wrongful appropriation, without our con-
sent and without compensation, of our
property in the use of the waters of the
Arkansas River as they well wont to run.
II this appropriation should be allowed to
continue and increase, it will be but a
few years till the underfow will have
disappeared; for active preparation is max
ing for the storage of even the food wa
tiers of the river. And should that great
undertaking be completed, the filing up
of the bed of the river by blowing sand
by leaves and grass. by shrubbery and
trees VIII cease TO alarm the fearful
whose Imagination pictures the destruc-
ton which a flood may cause; for all
alike will be upland, and the Arkansas
Valley will cease to exist; differing from
what is now upland in one essential re-
spect only-that the present upland has
a hardpan which for a time holds the
moisture which falls on It; while the val
ley will permit the falling rain TO sink
without hindrance into the thirsty sands
below.
This report Is submitted by the COM
mittee to the people of the Arkansas Val
ley in the earnest hope that they will de-
fend their rights In the way clearly mark
ed out by the law. and thus not only pre-
vent any further injury, but compel
restoration of the waters OF the Arkansas
River TO their rightful channel and bring
a return Of the prosperity of which they
have been deprived by a wrong and I'M
lawful diversion of those waters.
Z. 3. JEWETT.
Chairman
" 7 BARR