39 



As shown by the tables given, there is a stream discharge of 2,705 

 cubic feet per second, and established rights to this supply amount- 

 ing to 30,597.47 cubic feet per second, or more than ten times the 

 total supply as measured above the heads of the ditches. 



QUESTIONS BETWEEN THE STATES. 



Comparing the rights in Colorado and Nebraska on the supposition 

 that the State line has no effect upon the rights to water, but that all 

 rights on the stream are subject to prior rights, we find the following 

 conditions : 



The earliest rights on the South Platte in Nebraska are the riparian 

 rights attached to the lands in the vicinity of the junction of the 

 North and South Platte rivers, acquired from the Government in 

 1871. Under the decisions of the Colorado courts, rights to 7,320.33 

 cubic feet per second were acquired prior to 1871. Alternate sections 

 of the land in this vicinity were granted to the Union Pacific Rail- 

 road Company. These were selected in 1874, prior to which date 

 there had been acquired in Colorado rights to 12,088.53 cubic feet per 

 second. Settlement as early as 1871 extended only a short distance 

 west of North Platte. Beyond this, as far as the Colorado line, ripa- 

 rian lands acquired from the Government by private parties were 

 entered from 1883 up to the present time. Prior to 1883 rights to 

 24,010.35 cubic feet per second had been acquired in Colorado. The 

 railroad lands from the vicinity of the town of Hershey to the town of 

 Korty were selected in 1890 and have no riparian rights. From the 

 town of Korty west almost to the State line railroad lands were 

 selected in 1886. Prior to their selection rights to 25,700.99 cubic feet 

 per second had been acquired in Colorado. The earliest right to 

 water from the South Platte in Nebraska acquired by approi)riation 

 is 1894. Prior to this, rights to 27,828.74 cubic feet per second from 

 the South Platte and tributaries had been acquired in Colorado. 



From the above statement it is seen that before any rights were 

 acquired in Nebraska, either by appropriation or by the purchase of 

 riparian lands from the Government, rights to more than 7,300 cubic 

 feet per second of water from the South Platte River and its tribu- 

 taries had been acquired in Colorado. This is more water than the 

 stream supplies, except in flood season, when there is i)lenty of water 

 in the river, both in Colorado and Nebraska, for all existing rights. 

 However, it is a well-known fact that a large part of the rights 

 decreed to ditches built earlier than 1870 in Colorado are in excess of 

 their carrying capacities, and this does not fairly represent the volume 

 which can be used by canals on their priorities earlier than 1870. 



