Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1915-01-01

pieCe vi iahu under these bitches
you haven't a thing to show your
right to water 1t is just "a question
OF who can swear the hardest and
longest when you get into court.
1t has not been the thought of the
Water Code Commission TO foist
upon the people additional EXPENSE
and an expensive commission, or ANY,
thing of the kind; but what has been
III the minds of all OF us and What
we have tried to express in this pro-
posed water code, is some system
whereby you will know what your
water right is just the same as you
know what the title to your land is.
so that stranger won't be buucoed.
and when you say to man, | have
50 much land and SO much water for
1t out Of the Taylor ditch or the
Gleed ditch or some other ditch, YOU
can go to the records and show him
that it is so.
In the past we have not had any
OF these difficulties to amount to a
great deal, but they are coming ND
all the time and they are increasing
III number, and as these water rights
become more valuable naturally
there will be a disposition on the
part OF this one and that one to edge
little and where it only depends
upon the oral testimony Of the old
settlers and the neighbors and 9TH
ers your water rights are in jeop-
ardy. In fact, already some of the
mortgage companies are refusing
loans because the abstract companies
can not show them what water
rights belong to the land upon which
the loan is desired. They say, If we
have to foreClose this we want some
thing of record to show what the
water right is, like they have in
| Wyoming and Utah and other states.
The land is worthless without the
water, and We want to know what
water rights belong to the land. You
cant blame them. And that dispo-
sition is going to increase.
Another idea we had in mind is
that there are a lot of people who
settle down on stream and won't
use the water themselves nor let
anybody else use it. They claim the
riparian rights. They say, the old
common law that We brought from
England provides that the water
| flowing over our land is as much
part of our land as the stones on
the land. If that theory is correct,
of course they are correct. But in
this western country we have
claimed that the proper use of water
| is what a mans rights should be
based on. He should not be permit
lpretty To look at or to let ducks
swim in it, but some beneficial use
| should be made of it. Without that
use this country would be a desert.
! We have tried to make this code
provide that if riparian owner did
not put his water to a beneficial use
in time he must lose it. We have
| limited the time in which these peo-
| pie must declare their rights. In
way we have declared that bene-
fetal use is the basis of these rights.
| We put that in it, and we are going
! to be met in the legislature with con-
siderable opposition on this point.
| Old settlers seem to think that if
they settled on stream 20 or 30
Years ago and the stream runs across
a corner of their land they should
have perpetual right to use that
water whenever they get ready. In
other words, they can say, This
| country will develop when we get
good and ready" | have a letter
from a gentleman who is going to be
| in the next legislature who started to
me, Il am going to insist that an
amendment be made in this code to
the effect that anybody who has
lands on a stream can simply file a
statement that at some future time
he intends to use that water, and
upon filing that statement, he or his
heirs or successors may use it when
! they choose" That means they can
use it when they get good and ready,
and | want to say to you II that
amendment is put in there, you had
better kill this code, because | would
rather see this entire water code
killed than to have it passed with
that amendment. With that amend
ment the law of our state will be
worse than it is today. Any time
that an amendment is put into that
code to the effect that all man who
owns land along stream has to do
| is to file a statement that at some
future time he or his successors in