The Charles Mix new era. (Wagner, Charles Mix County, S.D.) 1???-1911, 1910-10-28
DR WATERLAWS|
FROM STATE ENGI-
NEER LEAFS ADDRESS AT
PUEBLO MEETING
ICHTS UPSTREAM
;ommends State Water Code That
Would Facilitate Prompt Ad-
Indication of Rights by
the Authorities

oux Falls-The following extracts
m the address of State Engineer
before the National Irrigation
ngress, will be of interest in show
the scope and operation of the
esent water laws of South Dakota:
Since irrigation became an estab-
lhed institution in this great western
lntry, the necessity of regulat ng
e distribution of the water supply
statute and the administration of
E water laws by some central au-
ority in each state has been realized,
} this necessity has been me- by
e creation of the position of state
hgineer.
While the office of state engineer is
BIT peculiar to the arid and semi
i'd states, it is true that these states
Ave, for the most part, pIovid@A
bSHnselves with state engineers whose
hltfes have to do chiefly with irri-
alton.
Since the state engineer is charged
18th the distribution of water to those
Untitled to it's use, an essential
equisite to such distribution is the
establishment or determination Of
yell defined rights. 1t is a well known
act that a majority of water rights
q the United States were acquired
With public supervision, the procedure
conforming in most cases to local GUS
toms and usages prevailing at the
time.
In order to furnish information con-
eerning present methods employed to
define old water rights, a description
Of the procedure followed in my own
state, South Dakota, will be given.
Prior to the year 1905 there was no
state supervision of flowing streams
I'm South Dakota, and local customs
were followed in the matter OF ao-
propriating water for benefic' al pur-
poses. In the western part OF the
state considerable placer mining was
done in the gulches and along the
#streams in the Black Hills. Such oper-
n atoms required the use of flowing wa
\ ter in most instances, and In such
cases the appropriation would be made
by posting a notice on a post or tree
1 at or near the point of diversion. In
n some instances a copy of the notice
h was fhd at the court house of the
\ county in which the appropriation
J was made, and the appropriation thus
became a matter of record. Most OF
these placer workings have been
4 abandoned, and the water rights in
1 such cases have lapsed from none use
In this way the records show a large
number of appropriations of watel
which are no longer valid, but which
will require careful investigation tt
separate from those remaining in full
force and effect.
The former state laws authorizes
appropriations of water in the manner
described, and the general custom o
the country permitted appropriat"r
to place on record such claims to TIT
water supply as they deemed adv.s
able. The natural tendency was t
make the claim large enough to cove
all possible requirements, and In mos
ceases greater than there was n ey
recitation of using. This resulted II
MANY cases in absurd and speculative
1 claims. and the records show numef
Gus instances where each of a mum
Der of claims to water of a stream, II
ed in accordance with the forme
statues. involved a larger quantity o
water than had ever flowed in it, eTe,
during flood periods. One provislo
of the former statutes Permitted Tn
requirement of a water right or usage
and appropriation under such curcum
stances was entitled to the ENJOY
ment of such a quantity of water as n
actually applied to beneficial use. Sue
water rights, acquired under the oil
water laws, as haze been kept alive, ar
recognized as valid and of full TO CT
The keeping alive of a water right cor
sisted in making beneficial use
the water claimed during a portion
at least, of each year, and ia lure
use the water for a period OF tw
wears. constituted abandonment. .
! In 1908 South Dakota adopted
code of water laws proiding for tn
adjudication of existing rights and tn
complete public control OF the wate
In the future. The office OF state Ell
eineer was created, and to the Ell
gineer was given general supervise
OF the waters of the state and OF tn
measurement and appropriation tner'
of. This law was amended and re-el
acted in 1907 so as to make 1t apple
able to all beneficial uses OF wat'
without limiting it's application to i
rigation alone
The state engineer is authorized
make photographic surveys OF Il
various stream systems of the stat
beginning with those most used 4
irrigation. These surveys comprise
measurement of the stream cham
and also if important tributaries. A
irrigation bitches along the strea
are surveyed, their capacity deterr
ined. and the number of acres OF lal
irrigated under them ascertained.
n no practicable to make strea
e~uagings in connection with the
photographic surveys on accouht
the short time available Tor thls pu
pose. In many cases, however, I
streams have been gagged by englnee
Highmore-Preparations rap dly a