The Springfield herald., 1903-02-20
COLORADO GENERAL ASSEMBLY
AND DOINGS AT THE CAPITAL


| the establishment Of Arickaree county.
| Recently there have been presented a
| number of petitions from residents OF
| the eastern part of Adams county, ask
| ing that the county be divided. The
| petitioners averred that they must
| travel 200 miles to Brighton. the
| county seat of Arapahoe. According to
| the provisions of the bill. Adams coun-
| ty will practically be divided in half,
| and the eastern part, or Arickaree
| county, will have ldalia for its county
seat. The bill is practically in con-
! fict with one introduced by Senator
| Hill providing for an annexation of the
eastern half of Adams county to Yu-
ma county.
A meeting of ditch owners from the
Clear Creek valley was held in Denver
| February 18th. Articles were drawn
for a 81 600 600 incorporation and thir-
| teen out of fifteen directors were chos-
| en- The plan of the incorporators pro-
| vides a remedy for drouths in the val
| ley Beyond the mountains west OF
Clear creek a canal twelve miles long
will be built and connected with the
eastern slope by a tunnel three miles
| long cut directly through the noun
| tain. Experts have testified to the prac-
| ticability of the scheme. and that it
VIII ellGcllNtlS ttllstlNt thS "et'h '''f
| ply. Water rights have already been
| filed on the land where the twelve-mile
ditch is expected to run. The Clear
| Creek farmers believe they Will have
no difficulty in getting their supply.
| They may buy up the claims Tor
nominal sum. The incorporation is on
| a basis of 81 900 900, but it is expected
from S3 ,OOO, ,OOO to S5.o00,O00 will be re
quired before the work is finished. In
| view of the far-reaching nature OF the
scheme. it is probable the state VIII De
| asked to contribute. Several bills have
| already been prepared for the Leglsla-
| ture one for constitutional amend
ment providing for a more economical
distribution of water in the Clear
Creek valley" and another for an ap-
preparation for the construction OF
| reservoirs. From twelve to thirteen
reservoirs are planQed for the region.
Among the directors of the new incor-
poration are F. f. Struby. Adolph
Zang and Joseph Stanley. The entire
organization will be made public in
few days. w. T. Wolff of the Rocky
Mountain Water Company and George
E. Richardson have been prominent in
promoting the plan.
The absence from the office of the
State Land Board of material records
has been discovered by the special leg
islative investigating committee. and
1t found that no data whatever is
available there to show how much
money was received from sales and
leases on school lands from 1876 to
1S99-a term of twentythree years.
The lands came to the state under the
enabling act by which the territory
was admitted into the Union. During
the succeeding years no ledger was
kept with banks where the funds were
presumably deposited, and the only In
dications in the office that moneys
were received for lands from time TO
time appear in notes, inscribed with
pencils on some of the ancient books
which read as follows: Received on
this date (amounts named). dollars for
(here the tracts are named) from Chere
the tracts are named) from (here the
purchasers or lessees are named).
There are no cancelled bank checks, or
stubs of receipt books in the office for
this entire period, neither can be found
any Cancelled checks nor stubs of re-
ceipt books of any of the succeeding
years under any of the administra-
tions. Until ]. n. Chipley came into
the Office as register in 1899 full sets of
books such as are usually kept by bus
iness firms to hold financial transac-
tions under knowledge, were unknown
! to the department. In that year he
opened the first regular ledger ac-
counts in the office. In 1901, when E.
C. Redman became deputy register. he
started the first bank ledger in which
We're recorded the transactions with
banking institutions. With these rec
ords as a start the committees pro-
posed law will likely command their
continuation in connection with others,
and the outlook is that henceforth the
people of the state will be informed
correctly what the state revenues are
from its land resources.
Supporters of the constitutionality of
the home rule amendment to the state
constitution have replied in the Su-
preme Court to the brief recently sub
mitted to the court by Attorney Platt
Rogers. The reply brief is by Senator
John A. Rush and says in part: He
does not disclose what interest or in
terests he represents, except that under
the nom de plume of 'Amicus Curiae,'
unlimited, he directs his entire argu-
ment in covert attack against one side
of the case in most partisan spirit. But
even this would not require attention
did not the brief of Judge Rogers delib-
erately msstate our position in ma
terial matters submitted to the decision
of this court He at least, entirely mis-
apprehends our position when he says
that we have asserted that whether
the provisions of our constitution re-
lating to amendments were or were not
observed. the Rush bill amendment
having received a majority of those
voting thereon must, therefore. be
deemed a part of the constitution 1t
is upon this false premise that the en-
tire argument of Judge Rogers is
based. We have never asserted, in any
manner, anything of the kind. On the
rnntrar.v We cnnfend that Tho rrnNi-