61 



the bcMiofit of tho same, and transfer the same to other hind." This 

 ])rovisi()n is not allo.i^ethor clear as to what constitutes abandonment 

 of "the use of such water in whole or in part-on the land which is 

 receiving the same." The engineer has placed the following inter- 

 pretation on this clause: 



If a user of water has acquired the right to a certain amount of the water of a stream 

 through a court decree or license issued from this oirice and l)y change of crops mo'-e eco- 

 nomical method of applying water or otherwise has reduced the amount of water needed for 

 t!ie proper cultivation of the lands to which the water was decreed or licensed, the laws are 

 not clear as to whether or not the State engineer would be authorized to transfer the excess 

 thus saved to other lands or uses. Until, however, this matter is deteimined by the courts, 

 upon the advice of the board of irrigation, it has been derided to grant certificates autlioriz- 

 ing such transfers, provided no one would i)e injiucd thereby. At the same time, until this 

 point of law is judicaliy determined it is not recommended that applications be made for 

 such transfers. 



In practice, if an application for transfer comes to the engineer 

 approved by the commissioner it is approved by the engineer. Trans- 

 fers are discouraged by the engineer as much as possible. Twelve 

 applications only had been received up to September 4, 1905. 



The engineer is chairman of the State board of examining sur- 

 veyors, which has charge of the examination of surveyors for license. 



RECORDS OF THE ENGINEER'S OFFICE. 



Applications are given numbers in the order of their receipt, and a 

 record is made in what is called the "Starting book" showing the 

 name and address of the applicant, the quantity of water applied for, 

 the purpose for which the water is to be used, if for irrigation a 

 description of the land to be irrigated, the location of the point of 

 diversion, the date of receipt, the date of return for correction, the 

 date of return to the office, the amount of fees paid, the amount of 

 the bonds filed, the date of approval, and the permit number. In 

 this book all applications are filed in the order of their receipt. There 

 is also a name index, in which the names of applicants are kept in 

 alphabetical order. This gives the number of the application, and 

 when a permit is issued the number of the permit. Up to the time 

 of the approval of the application, when it becomes a permit, all 

 correspondence regarding it is filed under the application number; 

 when it has been given a permit number it is all transferred to the 

 permit number. The permanent files, containing the maps and all 

 correspondence and other papers regarding rights, are kept under 

 the permit numbers. 



All re-ords of rights whether defined by the courts or acquired 

 under the new law are indexed by the source of the water supply and 

 by the legal subdivision of the land irrigated. There is a card index 

 for streams, one for springs, one for lakes, and a miscellaneous one 

 which contains rights which do not come in any of the other classes. 



