The Fallon standard. (Fallon, Nev.) 1920-1958, 1924-08-06

Carson irrigation district board mem
bers to the attorneys, Cooke, French
& Stoddard. to take up the water
rights of the Carson river for adJudi
cation is bearing its effect.
The first steps have been taken b.
the attorneys and last week a com
mittse from this project visited the
head of the Carson river to look over
the situation
II was agreed that up to the pres
ent time that the empounding reser
voirs that have been constructed have
not seriously impaired the runoff.
but all of the members have agreed
that further reservoirs must be cur.
tailed and that the matter must BE-
settled either by stipulation or by
court action.
The survey. as recently and hur5
r!edly made by the committee, shows
that in Carson valley 500 acres o.
land have been brought under cult
vation since the appropriation of the
government for the Newlands proj
eet II is further shown that there
remains 10000 acres of irrigable
lands In Carson valley not now in
cultivation.
Undoubtedly efforts will be made
to increase the bearing acreage OF
Carson valley through further stor-
age, and II Is in order To determine
where this development should be
brought TO a halt without serious
detriment 10 this project
Governor Scrugham. in short
talk In this city Saturday evening.
gave an outline OF what he believes
possible without the serious expense
of lawing in the courts. Some agree
that the matter can be threshed out
under stipulation while others are
of the opinion that 1t will have to
have court adjudication before the
matter Is finally settled. This is a
matter that needs serious considera
tlon, but the fact remains that with
continued construction of empound-
ments at the head of the Carson river
that the flood waters, which are re
lied upon for storage at the Lahon-
tan reservoir, viii be cut to the very
minimum.
IL will be noted in the following
letter to the board by the attorney
that there remains some 200, 600 acre
feet of storage sites and should any
of these be secured by private owner
ship that the same proportion of wat
er is taken from the Lahontan reser
voir II is in order TO prevent such
enoroaehment that the stipulated
agreement must be made or the mat
ter adjusted in court.
AS this matter has been freely dis
cussed with Or. Mead and he has
advised that the government, or rec
lamation bureau. take this up at
once, IL seems more than possible
that It will resolve itself into a fed
eral action.
That the reclamation bureau has
gone To sleep on some of it's rights is
conceded. and 1t Is TO wake up this
branch of the government that the
local board has taken action. The
suggestions of Governor Serugham
in his short friendly talk to the peo
pie bear considerable weight and h
with members of the state engineers
office will give a great deal OF assist
ance in the adjudication Of the right
that are vital to the further eXpan
sion and life OF this project
The letter is as follows:
I'm response to your request for
an opinion as to the adyisahility ol
securing an adjudication OF the va
rious Carson river water rights and
prloritles. we have TO say that upon
examining the records of the reela
nation bureau at Fallon, and partic
ularly the John +. Richardson report
on conditions existing upon the Car
son river as of 1913, we find that on
May &c, 1903 the United States gov
ernment filed notice AT the present
Lahontan reservoir site appropriat
ing 5000 cubic feet per second for
the purpose of irrigation and other
beneficial uses on lands within the
basin of the Carson river IN Chur
chill county In the state of Nevada,
xxx II being the intention TO i'm
pound the said waters when the same
is not required for the above use, in
storage reservoir to be formed by
the construction of a dam at this
point.
Some eleven or twelve small res
ervoirs have been constructed for
storage purposes upon the head
waters Of the Carson river having an
estimated maximum storage capacity
OF about 5000 acre feet In the aggre-
gate. A number of other small reser-
voir sites. in Alpine county, Calf,