Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1908-07-01
Attorney General
Renders lmpor-
tant Opinion
REVIEWS CASE At LENGTH
Reservoirs May Be Built in
Colorado for Irrigation Of
Land in New Mexico.

individuals or corporations may
build reservoirs in Colorado for the
purpose Of irrigating land In Nav
Mexico where the river being used
for water supply enters the territory
from Colorado. Such is the salient tea
tnre in an opinion just handed down
by Attorney General James NJ. Her
vey to Territorial Engineer Vernon l..
Sullivan in a contest case between
proposed irrigation companies of San
Juan county.
However the opinion of the attor
ney general does not settle the con.
tests arising over the proposed recla.
nation of vast area of rich agricul.
tural land in the northwestern part of
the territory. Over a million acres OF
rich land is involved in the contrc,.
ersy. Two promoters backed by unlm
tied capital are fighting for the right
to reclaim this land and the contes-
has waxed warm.
On September 80, 1907, Jay Turley,
who is backed by H. l.. HollIster,
nulti-millionaire, filed an application
for water rights in San Juan count I,
With this application and others he
proposes to irrigate about a million
acres of land at cost for dam. resei.
voir and bitches of $S.OO0,00O. Two
separate contests have been filed witt
the Territorial Engineer, one by L. B.
Furman, of Pennington, and the other
by community concern now main
tanning a ditch.
Later Mr.. Furman filed an appl1ca
tion for water right He proposes
to irrigate $4,000 acres Of land a,
cost of over several million dollars.
Denver capitalists are behind him.
Nj. Tnrley's proposition is to con
struct dam and reservoir In Colora
do and irrigate land in San Juan coun
ty, New Mexico. The other proposition
is to construct the dam and reservoir
in San Juan county and irrigate land
in that county.
A hearing was held at Aztec, SaG
Juan county, by Territorial Engineer
Vernon L. Sullivan and attorneys for
Mr.. Furman raised the legal point Of
whether the territorial engineer could
approve a proposition where part OF
the irrigation improvements would be
located in foreign community. On
this legal question the territorial en-
gineer asked for an opinion.
The community ditch is represented
by G. N. Norton and the protest Is for
the reason that the ditch Of Mr. Tur-
ley would pass directly through ths
reservoir this company owns.
Territorial Engineer Sullivan has
not approved either of the applications
and the ruling Of the attorney gen /"
al does not decide the case, merely
off-setting the stand taken by Mr.. Fur
mans attorneys that company could
not irrigate land in New Mexico by
building dam and reservoir in Colo
RADIO.
The opinion of Attorney General
Hervey Is a lengthy one and very i'm.
portant as it deals with new ques-
ton in reclaiming arid land in New
Mexico. The opinion in full follows:
Opinion Of Attorney General.
"Hon. Vernon L. Sullivan,
Territorial Engineer,
Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Dear Sir:
81 am in receipt of your letter OF
June 10th, 1908, in which you state
that Mr.. Turley, and others, filed In
your office, September 30, 1907, an
application for a permit to appropri.
ate public water; that some months
thereafter Mr.. Furman filed a protest
against the allowance OF permit to
Turley and asked a permit for him
self. You have transmitted to me the
papers in the case and asked for an
opinion as to whether or not you are
authorized, under the provisions OF
Chapter 40 Of the Laws Of 1907, to
grant permit to parties who intend
to divert waters in the state OF Color
ado and apply them on lands In the
territory of New Mexico, or upon
lands in both Colorado and New Mex
leo.
"You state that Colorado could not
use more than one-tenth OF the wa
ter from the Animas river, owing to
Typographical conditions, and that
there is more water available than
there is land that can be irrigated
therefrom by making the diversion IN
New Mexico.
Il take it from these observations
that more lands can be irrigated BY
placing the diverting dam In Colorado