67 



mum quantities of water on the basis of 1 cubic foot per second for 

 70 acres. 



Rights to Laramie River in Colorado and Wyoming. 



The table shows that prior to 1880, when the first appropriation 

 was made in Colorado, 2,798 acres had been irrigated in AVyoniing, 

 giving its owners the right to 40 cubic feet per second. There is lit- 

 tle irrigation in Colorado in the valley of the Laramie and its tribu- 

 taries, and diversions by ditches in this valley do not noticeably de- 

 plete the supply for Wyoming. There is, however, conflict over the 

 diversions by the Water Supply and Storage Company of Colorado, 

 which takes waters from the headwaters of the Laramie over the 

 divide into the Cache la Poudre for use in the valley of that stream 

 (PI. III). While many others are interested in this contest, the set- 

 tlers under the canals of the Wyoming Development Company are the 

 principal users of water from the Laramie in Wyoming, and will be 

 the chief sufferers from diversions in Colorado. The right of the 

 AYyoming Development Company to water something over 35,000 

 acres is dated 1883, while the right of the Water Supply and Storage 

 Company to 400 cubic feet per second was acquired in 1891, accord- 

 ing to the Colorado decree. There are, prior to the right of the AVater 

 Supply and Storage Company, rights to irrigate 71,309 acres in Wyo- 

 ming, giving a right to 1,019.50 cubic feet per second. 



The following table giving the average flow of the Laramie River at 

 AVoods Landing, near the State line, shows that these rights in Wyo- 

 ming would practically exhaust the supply of the stream. The meas- 

 urements are taken from reports of the State engineers of Wyoming. 



