The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-04-28
REPORT OF GREAT PRACTICAL
VALUE PUBLISHED BY GEO.
LOGICAL SURVEY
It Is the First Comprehensive Report
Prepared by Government Of
Local Interest.

A report of the great practical value
called Relation Of the Law to Under
ground Waters" by Douglas Wilson
Johnson, has just been published by
| the United States geographical sur
vey as Water Supply and Irrigation
Paper No. 1872. 1t is the first compre-
hensive paper prepared in this coun-
try ON the relation Of the law to I'M
derground waters, and was compiled
formation on this subject. 1t is es-
pecially pertinent at this time, when
active efforts are being made in sew
eral state to enact laws governing the
use of underground waters which shall
take account of recent advances in the
science of NEUROLOGY and the present
knowledge of the occurrence and
movements of such waters. 1t is also
especially interesting in view of the
development work now being done by
the Walla Walla water department.
The report is in no sense, however, a
legal treatise, but rather the result of
an endeavor to collect and arrange
such legal decisions as will serve to
show the relation of the law to prob
lens which are essentially geological
in character.
Mr. 7ixyi6
into two parts. In the first part he
assemblies the common law rules con-
corning underground waters; in the
second, he rehearses the legislative
acts affecting underground waters.
He divides underground waters into
two classes, those flowing in defined
and known channels, and those pass
ing through the ground below the sur
face, either without definite channels
or in courses which are unknown, and
he arranges all the laws relating to
underground waters under these two
heads.
This report brings into striking re-
lief the fact that there is a great lack
Of agreement among authorities on
questions pertaining to underground
waters. This is because there is so
much that is uncertain and indefinite
in the behavior of waters hidden be-
meath the surface. A second and a
very important reason for the unsat-
isfactory condition of the law relating
to underground waters is found in the
fact that the state of our knowledge
regarding such water is now, thanks
to the progress Of geological science, in
advance to the general rulings of the
courts on some of the questions involv-
ed. Where a decision is controlled by
opinions rendered in former cases, and
not made with due regard to the pres
ent knowledge respecting subterranean
conditions, it does not seem that just
settlement of the controversy can be
reached.
There probably always must be
cases in which the subterranean con-
ditions are indefinite or unknown, but
the number of such cases will decrease
with the advance of geological knowl-
edge. The lack Of agreement among
legal authorities on many of the ques-
tons at issue is rather more fortunate
than unfortunate in one respect at
least, since it bears witness to the un-
certain position of the law on the
points involved and opens the way
more readily for new knowledge con-
corning the problems, and a wiser in
depreciation of the law.
Mr.. Johnson's brochure is published
for free distribution and may be OBJ
tanned on application to the director of
the United States geographical survey,
Washington, D. G.