Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1901-05-14

always thereafter. No matter where
the earliest settler tapped the stream,
his is the claim which takes prece-
dence over all others. The enforce
ment of these rights of priority and
the distribution of water under them
is accomplished by water commission
ers or water masters. In some States,
as Colorado ana Wyoming, these COM
missioners are appointed by the Gov
eminent and are under the general di-
rection Of the State Engineer. In
others, as Idaho and Montana, they
are appointed by the judge of the
court rendering the decree, and are re-
sponsible for the. proper performance
of their duty to no other authority.
That this supervision Of the distribu-
ton of the water may be effective in
detail, it becomes necessary to police
and patrol the streams from which IL
is diverted. To this end it is the duty
of the water commissioners or water
masters 10 examine and regulate the
head gates of all bitches or other con-
duits by which water is diverted from
the stream or streams under his
charge, to determine that each claim
ant receives the volume of water to
which he is entitled under his decreed
priority of right
In the time of scarcity of water the
. water master has in the discharge of
his duties not only the right to close
the head gates Of those not entitled to
water at the tine, but the authority to
lock them down. When this authority
is exercised he usually posts a written
notice upon the gates so closed, which
gives notice that the same are under
the control of the water commissioner
and must not, under the penalty of the
law, be opened or interfered with ex-
cept by his authority.
Reservoirs,
Reservoirs for storing the surplus
during the early part of the season for
use in the later months are constructed,
lofty and expensive dams have been
built across the canyons of mountain
streams. The greater number of stor-
age sites which have been utilized, and
those which give the largest return for
a given expenditure of money, are the
lakes often found near the heads of
streams and the natural basins or de-
pressions frequently found in the val
Ieys which border them. In some
localities these basins are quite numer-
Gus and extend for a long distance from
the stream out into the plains which
border them. Others are broad open
ings or valleys in the mountains which
were doubtless formerly lakes, but
which have been filed by sedimenta-
ton. The basins found on the plains
are more desirable, both because they
are nearer the place where water is
to be used and are freer from foods,
and because it usually requires a small
er outlay to improve them. To do
this requires the construction of a canal
to fill them, and of outlet works for
drawing off the water and transporting
it to the land TO be irrigated.
In the plains reservoirs the water
usually is conducted directly to the
lands, but in those of the mountains it
has first to be turned back into the
river and carried with the natural flow
of the stream TO the headgates of the
bitches or canals through which it is
to be diverted and used. This is neces-
sary BECAUSE of their distance from and
their great elevation above the lands
on which it is TO be used.