The Glenwood post., 1906-01-06
COUNTY SOLONS
HAVE BUSY TINE
Listen to Petition From Divide Greek
RanChmen Who Want Better
Distribution of Wdter---NO
Action Taken
CONTRACT FOR PRINTING LET

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this
week the county commissioners held
their first meeting of the new year.
A number of people came in from the
country and country towns and the
meeti ng was interesting throughout.
Decidedly the most important dis
cussion before the board was that of
the Divide creek ranchnen, who are
seeking to have the Porter ditch and
the Highline ditch placed under the
supervision of the water commission
el. These people claim that the men
at the lower end of these bitches are
deprived of the water to which they
are entitled and the claim is made
that the stock holders do not respect
the rulings and divisions of their own
ditch rider who, according to the by
laws of the Highline ditch company,
must be stockholder in the com
pany They think all would respect
the orders of The water commissioners
anu ny lhCih Rihh 5iO"e NSehA Va
trouble would be avoided.
They have filed petition in the
district court asking Judge Shumate
to make an order authorizing the
water commissioners to distrib butte the
water to the individual owners. This
petition is being resisted by County
Attorney Darrow on behalf of the
county commissioners who seem to feel
that to grant the petition would be
unwise and expensive and establish
precedent which might cause endless
trouble in the future.
Ed T. Taylor appeared for the
rauchmen and ably presented their
side Of the case, laying stress on what
has been accom- plished by the petit
tioners in the development of one of
the best sections of the county. Alex
Job, James Porter. j. G. Austin,
Dick Callen and others spoke for the
petitioners.
Mr.. Darrow then stated the posi-
tion of himself and the county COM
missioners, holding that the action
sought was wholly unwarranted and
said it would entail an expense which
the county could not afford to assume,
as he claimed the expenses for the dis
tribution of water were quite high
enough already. He said there was
no law for the method asked for by
the gentlemen and it did not obtain
elsewhere, and in support of this state
ment said Mr.. Dickson, the irrigation
division engineer, had, at his request
consulted the state engineer and all
the division engineers in regard to
this plan. and none OF them had ever
heard of it.
The Divide creek farmers claimed
there would, in reality. be no expense,
as they said with proper distribution
of the water they could cultivate more
land and therefore pay more taxes.
Water Commissioner Soule favored
the plan, claiming the expense of dis
tribution would be very light and
showing that such plan would prob
ably prevent serious troubles. The
commissioners did not see fit to &C
cede to the request of the ranchmen,
and the county attorney will resist
the petition in the courts.
Bids for the county printing were
opened Wednesday morning and the
stationery let to w P. Kennedy and
the book contract to the Out West
Printing company of Colorauo Springs
G g. Harris, of New Castle, made
application for appointment as water
commissioner of District No. 80, hui
the board took no action concerning
the matter.
The Divide creek ranchmen, at the
close Of their plea on the water ques
ton, presented Charles Penny and
William Hammer as candidates fol
road overseer of the two districts in
that section.
The usual grist of bills was pre-
ssnted and allowed. The bill of F.
w. Popple for $500 for road up Par
. achute creek, was not acted on, ant
= the commissioners decided to visi
the ground and see for themselves
what had been done. Concerning
the bill FLED by H. J. Hulmes. at tht
last session of the board for $IO3 81
for his expense in connection witt
the forest reserve meeting, w. q. Har
ris appeared before the board in behal
Of the stockgrowers and after SOM
discussion Of the matter the board al
lowed 475. The board refused to al