30 



was referred to tlie attornej-f^eneral of llio State, and in 1S93 he gave 

 it as his opinion that the board of control can not issne a certificate of 

 appropriation to such a party except after the issuance of a permit. 

 The party can, however, make ap])hcation, receive permit, make ])r()of 

 of appropriation, and receive certificate, even if tlie works were com- 

 pleted before the apphcation was made. (Second Rpi. St. Eng., p. 

 195.) In 1896 the engineer issued instructions to the superintendents 

 in accordance with this ruhng, stating that they should refuse to take 

 proofs of appropriation for ditches ])uilt after the enactment of the law 

 without compliance with its ])rovisions. (Third Rpt. St. Eng., p. 69.) 

 The builders of these ditches were required to make application in the 

 regular way. The circular of instructions sent out with blanks to 

 applicants (see p. 25) is not in accord with this ruling, where it says, 

 "No application which states that work has begun or has })een com- 

 pleted will be approved," and is not lived up to. 



Since the organization of the engineer's office there have been 

 approved 6,292 applications for the'construction of new ditches and 

 1,269 applications for permits. 



The procedure for making proof of appropriation is not laid down 

 by the law, which provides for the issuance of the certificate "upon 

 its being made to appear to the satisfaction of the board of control 

 that any appropriation has been perfected in accordance with such 

 application and the indorsement thereon by the State engineer." 

 It has always been the intention to have each ditch l)uilt under permit 

 inspected by the superintendent of the division in which it is situated 

 before certificate is issued, but this has not always been possible, and 

 where ditches are in remote districts certificates have sometimes been 

 issued on the reports of water commissioners. (Third Rpt. St. Eng., 

 p. 47.) In 1901 a law was passed authorizing this practice where 

 permits have been issued since the streams in question were adjudi- 

 cated. 



The present procedure under the rules of the board of control is as 

 follows : 



The rules of the board * * * require before the issuance of a certificate of appro- 

 priation under a permit that tiie respective superintendents make j)er?onal examination of 

 all such ditches at the time of submission of proof by the appropriator and subsequently, 

 after publication of notice in a newspaper circulating in the vicinit}', fixing a time and place, 

 they appear and open all such proofs to public inspection, when any interested appropriator 

 has an opoortunity to maiic any objections he might have to any such proofs. (R])t. St. 

 Eng., 1901-2, p. 6G.) 



The superintendents have never been a])le to keep up with this work, 

 and there are a great man}" ditches which have been completed and 

 whose owners have notified the State engineer of their readiness to 

 su})mit proof of this fact, for which proof has not been taken. In the 

 spring of 1 903 there were 1 ,029 such ditches on record in the engineer's 

 office, and steps were at once taken to systematize this work in order 



