68 



Mean discharge of Laramie River at Woods; Landing, Wyo.. 1SS9-1S91 and 



1896-1900. 



Cubic feet 

 per second. 



April 230.60 



May 1,102.15 



June 1, 377. 20 



July 379. 94 



August 03(5.27 



September 78. 41 



This diversion by the Water Supply and Storage Company stands 

 on a different basis from the other rights as related to natural condi- 

 tions as well as in its nature, as defined by the court. Much of the 

 water diverted and used in the valleys of the headwaters of the Lara- 

 mie returns to the streams as seepage and helps to supply rights in 

 Wyoming. That diverted by the Water Supply and Storage Com- 

 pany, however, is carried into the drainage area of another stream 

 and hence there is no return seepage. 



Two series of measurements of return seepage have been made 

 along the Laramie Kiver. The first series, made by B. P. Fleming, 

 of the Wyoming Experiment Station, shows that between Woods 

 Landing, near the State line, and the tunnel of The Wyoming Devel- 

 opment Company, below which there are few diversions, there is a, 

 gain in the flow of the stream of 13.08 cubic feet per second, or 0.16 

 cubic foot per second per mile. This gain is not sufficient to make an;^ 

 appreciable change in the flow of the river, but the measurements 

 indicate that if water should be turned down from the upper ditches 

 it would reach the ditches in AVyoming. The second series of meas- 

 urements was made by C. E. Tait, of this Office. Mr. Tait's measure- 

 ments show a slightly larger gain — 21.04 cubic feet per second, or 

 0.22 cubic foot per second per m\\e. These measurements, like the 

 others, indicate that water, if turned down the stream, would not 

 be lost to the lower ditches. 



Sand Creek, a tributary of the Laramie, is also an interstate stream. 

 There are few diversions for use in the valley of Sand Creek in Colo- 

 rado, but its water, like that of the Laramie, is diverted into the 

 headwaters of the Cache la Poudre. This diversion was made in 1002 

 and is, therefore, later than all the rights in Wyoming. As in the 

 case of the Laramie, none of this water diverted will return as seepage 

 to Sand Creek. Wyoming appropriators brought suit against the 

 Colorado parties making these diversions, and an injunction has been 

 granted restraining the Colorado parties from diverting the waters of 

 Sand Creek on the ground that " the right to divert running waters 

 for irrigating lands in an arid country is not controlled or affected by 

 political divisions.'"" 



o Hoge V. Eaton, 1.3.5 Fed., 411. 



