Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-05-19
LIMIT OF PRIORITY
RIGHTS OF INDIAN
DlTCHES INVOLVED

RIGHTS OF INDIAN
DITCHES INVOLVED
Denver Times: A suit brought in
the District court at Durango is cal
culated to make valuable for agricul-
tural purposes a vast acreage of lands
open for settlement within the bor-
ders of the original Ute reservation.
1t also involves the future desirability
Of the lands held in allotment by
members of the tribes of the South
ern Utes. who took advantage of the
opportunity to hold lands in allotment
in perpetuity under the paternai policy
OF the federal government The ques-
tiOns involved are the right to carry
irrigation canals across the Indian
lands and adjudication of the water
supply of the Pine river and other
streams to determine the maximum
amounts to which the Utes shall be
entitled in their established bitches
that water their lands held in allot-
ment at present.
The government first passed the
bill permitting the Southern Utes to
take lands in allotment as long ago
as 1880. but it was not until 1895 that
the members of the tribe decided upon
accepting the provisions of the law.
Then majority of the tribe. prob
ably more than a thousand of the
tribesmen, We're not in sympathy with
the desire of Uncle Sam to make them
producers and self-supporting. These
r,r8 10 A.
ernment and removed to the western
end of the reservation which was
originally strip of land 120 miles
east and west and 10 miles north and
south in the extreme southwest corn
er Of the state. The clan choosing to
remain in their tribal relations resides
to the present on a territory about
thirty miles east and west and the
full width of the original reservation.
The others selected their lands in
allotment along Pine river and other
streams watering the section. and in
the course OF time irrigation bitches
We're carried out to the farms. But
there was a great deal of the abOrigi-
nal Incidence in the last generation
and though bitches were carried out
with capacity sufficient to afford an
abundant supply of water for all of
the allotted lands, the farming propen-
stiles of the red man were not such as
to lead to its utilization. White pur-
chasers of Indian lands have been un-
able to bring their acreage under
ditch because to do so would necessi-
tate carrying bitches across the al
lotted lands. A bill is now pending
| before congress to do this. So in or.
der to have water rights defined clear
| Iy by the state courts the adjudication
suit has been brought to establish the
limit of priority rights of the Indian
bitches Under the Colorado statute
they will only be entitled to the
amount that has been taken out and
used for irrigating purposes without
reference to their capacity or the
acreage of land under the bitches
which it was intended should be irri-
gated from them. Indian questions
have figured in state courts in Colo.
rado very little. The Utes are alarm.
ed lest their vested rights from the
government as set forth in treaties
are to be tampered with.
Ernest Knabel, assistant United
States district attorney, has just re
turned from Durango. where he went
10 make an investigation of the facts
involved in the case and to enable the
district attorneys office to decide
upon what will be just and adequate
in the case for the Indians. What
action will be taken by the govern
ment in behalf of its wards has not
yet been decided.
large part of the land open tC
settlers by purchase from the govern
ment may be rendered valuable If i
is decided the remainder of the flow
OF the stream not already used may
be carried across the Indian lands t
be used in developing new agricultur
al districts. On the other hand th'
Indian lands may be rendered less val
liable If it is decided that the amour
OF water heretofore used cannot b,
exceeded in future. The case has far
reaching effects on southern Colorado
in its outcome.