89 



supreme court has followed the "Wyoming board of control in hold- 

 ing that water rights can not be transferred. The most innnediate 

 etfect of the ruling that, transfers can be made in Wyoming was to 

 destroy the value of the records of the State engineer's office as a 

 guide for the distribution of water by the State officials, since there 

 was no provision for recording transfers: but a law providing for 

 such records was at once enacted. 



A careful distinction should be drawn between transfers of rights 

 from one piece of land to another and transfers which permit the 

 holding of rights apart from any land and the sale of the Avater 

 obtained on such rights. Against transfers of the first class there 

 is no objection if they are safeguarded by such restrictions and 

 public supervision as will insure that there is no enlargement in the 

 demand upon the supply to the detriment of other rights, and if the 

 diversion of the water at the new point does not lessen the supply 

 for others. For example, the transfer of a right from the lower end 

 of a stream where it is supplied by return seepage to the upper end 

 of the stream where the water diverted would come from the natural 

 supply of the stream might mean the taking of water away from 

 others to their injury, while a transfer from the upper to the lower 

 end of a stream might result in a decreased demand on the stream ori 

 account of return seepage or an increased demand on account of losses 

 rather than gains in the channel of the stream. 



Against transfers which permit of the ownership of water rights 

 apart from land the fundamental objection is that it makes possible 

 a monopoly of the water supply, which may lead to extortion. To 

 guard against this throughout the arid region the use of water in 

 irrigation is declared to be a public use, making it subject to public 

 control, and giving to the public the right to regulate rates. The 

 constitution of Colorado provides that the rates Avhich may be 

 charged for water mav be fixed by the county commissioners of the 

 various counties. Wyoming had such a statute until 1903, and the 

 supreme court of Nebraska has held that in that State the law may 

 interpose to prevent the collection of unreasonable rates, although 

 there is at present no statutory provision for such regulation." There 

 is, however, very little water sold or rented by ditch companies in the 

 Platte valleys. In Colorado more than 85 per cent of the land 

 watered by the Platte rivers is served by ditches owned either by the 

 individual farmers using the water, by partnerships of such farmers, 

 or by stock companies, the stock of which is principally in the hands 

 of the farmers, notwithstanding the fact that irrigation has been 

 practiced there for almost fifty years, and the right of transfer has 

 always existed. In Colorado the present tendency is away from the 



a Frank c. Fanners' Irrigatiou District. 100 N. \\., 28G. 



