52 



testimony shows that areas other than those shown on the maps as 

 irrigated have been irrigated in previous years. It has also been 

 held that if the maps are incorrect as to any party's canal, he can 

 not be compelled to pay for the survey. 



In the Boise River case the court has requested the engineer to 

 make measurements of return seepage, the measurements to be used 

 in preparing the decree. During the season of 1905 the water supply 

 in the Boise River was very short, and the court issued a temporary 

 decree providing that the water be divided among the canals of the 

 valley on the basis of the acreage served by each, disregarding priori- 

 ties entirely. This was acquiesced in by all parties concerned, but 

 not without some complaint. By this means the orchards and 

 perennial crops have been kept alive throughout the valley, and the 

 water undoubtedly did much larger service than it would have done 

 if priorities had been recognized. It is claimed also that the forced 

 economy of the season of 1905 will do a great deal to promote more 

 economical use in the future. 



It is unfortunate that the provision for the foundation of any sys- 

 tem of public control of water — a list of existing rights — is not pro- 

 vided for in the Idaho law. The water commissioners can not 

 properly enforce undefined rights, and neither the engineer nor an 

 intending irrigator can tell how much unappropriated water there is 

 in an}^ source of supply until the rights to that supply are adjudicated. 

 If the principle announced by the supreme court that a State official 

 can not bring an action for adjudication is maintained it will be 

 impossible to provide for the complete list of rights, which is neces- 

 sary for the orderly public control of the waters of the State. Adju- 

 dications will naturally take place from time to time, and rights can 

 not now be acquired without being properly defined. There will 

 therefore be a gradual approach to a complete list, and perhaps after 

 many years all rights may be defined. 



There is, however, provision for compiling and publishing lists of 

 the decreed rights to the streams of the State. The clerks of the 

 district court were required to prepare at the expense of the counties 

 and send to the State engineer copies of all water-right decrees on 

 file. The engineer records these in books kept for that purpose and 

 classifies them, placing all rights to the water of one stream and its 

 tributaries together. These classified rights are kept in a card index. 



Certified copies of the allotments on each stream are furnished to 

 the water commissioner having jurisdiction over it. The water com- 

 missioner then prepares for each stream a list of the rights, numbered 

 in the order of their priorities, and has it printed in pamphlet form 

 and distributed to tho water users interested. These pamphlets 

 have been prepared for tli(^ streams where decrees have been rendered. 



