Rocky Ford enterprise., 1916-05-05
kANSAS.COLORADO
WATER SUIT
Should Be Compromised in
Opinion of Attorney
WILL QUIET TITLE TO
WATERS OF RIVER
Settlement Will Entail a Levy of so
Gents an Acre Upon Land Irri-
gated in Valley

Cents an Acre Upon Land Irri-
gated in Valley
Much interest is being taken by
the people of the Arkansas valley
in the proposed plan of compro-
mise and settlement of the social
ed Kansas Colorado water litiga-
ton. Readers of The Enterprise
who are property owners in the
valley will therefore be greatly
interested in the following report
from Fred Sabin, representing
Ditch Owners association:
In January. 1915. negotiations for
settlement were commenced and there
after a tentative plan for compromise was
worked out. This plan of compromise
was so designed that it could be put up
to the Colorado interests in the form of
an option which they might accept or re-
ject. 1t has been embodied in a contract
and that contract is now under considera-
ton by tho several Colorado ditch owners
who have until the middle of June. 1916,
4 to accept or reject it.
| Early in the negotiations it became ap-
parent that the Colorado interests would
not concede anything which injured pre-
sent decreed rights in Colorado nor rights
which, altho not decreed. had been in
augurated at the time this suit was be-
gun. to-wit, August 2Z. 1910. The COM
plainant was willing to concede this
because il believed il could develop pump.
/ ing plants in Kansas which would supple
ment the present river flow and make it
adequate for its need. This matter Of
pumping the underhow IN western Kansas
and particularly in Finney and kearney
counties where the complainant's bitches
are situated, has been developed largely
since the suit was begun. Again it has
been established beyond controversy that
the practice of irrigation in Colorado had
so increased the seepage returns to the
river that there is much more sustained
flow across the state line than in former
years.
Having these things in view. the COM
plainant, while strenuously insisting that
its rights were as it had claimed in the
suit from its inception. was willing to ac-
cept a money consideration for surrender
ing its claimed rights. This, however,
the Colorado interests would not agree to
unless certain other bitches in the vicinity
of the complainant's two bitches would
likewise agree to the compromise. The
complainant since the beginning of the
suit had purchased one of these bitches
to- wit, the Garden City Ditch. which has
a capacity Of about | 90 second feet and
which was constructed in 1879, and had
also purchased large interest in the
| Amazon ditch with a capacity OF about
500 second feet which was constructed in
1896. all Of which would be bound by the
compromise contract. There was still one
other canal to De dealt with known as the
Kansas Ditch. with a carrying capacity of
about 100 feet and claiming as its date
of sppro priation the year 1880.
The owners of the Kansas ditch would
not consent TO be compromise. claiming
that the SUIT had beer, brought by the
complainant in representative capacity
| and that 1t had right to see the case
prosecuted to final conclusion and 1t
filed a petition in Intervention IN the pend
ing suit which petition has never been
called up and still remains undetermined.
Every reasonable proposition which
the executive committee Of the Ditch As
socation had right to think the associa-
ton would accept was made to the Kan
sas Ditch in the hope of getting it to
consent to the compromise. but to no avail.
1t was therefore concluded to present to
the owners of the Colorado bitches the
proposed plan of compromise leaving out
the Kansas ditch. the purpose being to
deal with it in detail later on. out of the
court if possible. but in court il necessary.
The substance Of the proposed contract
is that in consideration Of an amount equal
to about so cents per acre on the land
irrigated in Colorado by the companies
who are defendants in the pending suit,
the aggregate amount being about ST 4o,-
| 900 the four Kansas bitches above named
agree henceforth to respect and recognize
each and every deoreed priority owned
by the defendants in Colorado; also to
respect all rights which had their ineep-
ton prior to August 2z. 1910. the date
the suit was begun. even tho not yet de-
creed.
Inasmuch as this date is later than any
date Of priority owned or claimed by any
of the defendants it cannot adversely
affect the defendants and it means that
The defendants rights are to be henc eforth
respected and that they shall be admins
tered in the future without any further
moestation or interference on the part OF
the Kansas bitches who are parties to the
contract.
a L.