62 



Taking the estimate for the rights initiated before 1891, when the 

 present hiw became operative, from the above table and the records 

 of the engineer's office for the rights initiated since that time gives 

 a total of 2,927 cnbic feet per second as the rights to water from the 

 North Platte in Wyoming. The rights to Avater from the tribntaries 

 aggregate 5,155.94 cubic feet per second. 



One of the tribntaries of the North Platte— the Laramie River — 

 is also an interstate stream and, so far as Colorado and Wyoming are 

 concerned, is entirely independent of the North Platte. The Laramie 

 Eiver in Colorado is in district 48. The rights to water in this 

 district were adjudicated in 189(5. The decree states the number of 



acres of land irrigated by each ditch, and awards to each "^ cubic 



feet of water per second of time, or so much thereof as may be neces- 

 sary to irrigate acres of land." The number of acres of land in 



each case is the number found to be irrigated by the ditch. The 

 right is thus restricted to the needs of a given area of land within the 

 maximum limit fixed by the decree. This form of decree is excep- 

 tional in Colorado and places rights substantially on the same basis 

 as in Wyoming; that is, the a impropriator has not a right to a fixed 

 quantity of water, but to sufficient water for his land which he has 

 irrigated at the time of the making of the decree. 



This form of decree prevents probably the worst abuse which has 

 arisen under the water laws of Colorado. In other districts the courts 

 decreed rights to volumes much larger than had ever been used by the 

 holders of rights. In later years the use was enlarged by the holders 

 of these excessive decrees, thus depriving those who have been using 

 water perhaps for years and long prior to the increased use by the 

 holders of early rights. Under the decree in district 48 this is impos- 

 sible, as the water-right holder has only a right to iri'igate a fixed 

 area. The maximum limits fixed in the decree seem to bear no rela- 

 tion to the areas irrigated by the ditches. In most cases they equal 

 the full capacities of the ditches, as stated by their owners. One 

 exception to the general wording of the decree was made in the case 

 of the Laramie River ditch, which carries water from the Laramie 

 into the Cache la Poudre. The decree gives to the owners of this 

 ditch the right to 400 cubic feet per second of water from the Laramie 

 and its tributaries for direct irrigation, and the right to store 

 500,000,000 cubic feet of water annually. The following table gives 

 the areas stated in this decree, together Avith the maximum quantities 

 of water which can be diverted for their irrigation : 



