64 



claim, otherwise from the date of first use of the water. Many of 

 the ditches begun prior to the passage of the law of 1895 had not 

 been completed at the time of the hearing, and those built on permits 

 from the State board were also unfinished. In the case of the rights 

 initiated before 1895 the board determined the plans of the appli- 

 cants and based their rights on these plans, fixing the time within 

 •which the water should finally be applied to the land. The permits 

 issued by the board in a similar way stated the time AA'ithin which 

 the water should be put to use. The adjudication, therefore, was not 

 final as regards rights acquired either before or after 1895. In the 

 case of the Farmers' Irrigation District i\ Frank" the supreme court 

 of the State has held that the board had no power to grant i-ights to 

 parties constructing ditches prior to 1895, and that its function was 

 merely to determine existing rights. Applying this ruling to the 

 adjudications made by the board on the North Platte, the court held 

 that the Farmers' Irrigating Company has a right to the full amount 

 which the board determined that it would acquire by the completion 

 of its works and applying water to the land by September 1, 1904. 

 This company built only a small section of its ditch and reclaimed a 

 very small area of land. Since the decision of the board no more 

 work has been done and very little more land has been reclaimed, 

 vet under this ruling of the court the ditch has a right to the full 

 quantity of water and can lose this right only by ten years nonuse." 

 Many other rights along the North Platte are in the same condition. 

 The following table gives the rights as determined by the board. In 

 the table rights initiated prior to 1895 and the applications approved 

 since that date are given separately. 



Rights to ivater from North Platte River in Nebraska. 



Date of priority. 



Eights conditionally granted: 



1884 -- - 



1887 --- -- 



1888 -- - 



1889. 



1890 - 



1891... 



1892 



1893.... 



1894 



1895. 



Total 



Applications approved : 



1895 



1896 - 



1897 



1899 



Total 



1,182.03 



82,741 



a 100 N. W., p. 28G. 



& Since this was written work has been resumed, 

 extended according to the original plan. 



and the canal is being 



