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measuremont of water. With a few exceptions the boards of county 

 commissioners failed to appoint water commissioners, and this part of 

 the law was inoperative. The making of surveys and maps of streams 

 and irriii^ated lands was also added to his tluties. 



In 1903 a complete S3'stem of public control was adopted. The 

 water of the State was declared to be the property of the public, sub- 

 ject to existing riglits, and the State engineer was given "general 

 supervision of the waters of the State and of their measurement, 

 apportionment, and appropriation." The law provides in detail for 

 the defining of existing rights, the acquirement of new rights, and the 

 distribution of water by public oflicials. 



DEFINING RIGHTS. 



The law is a composite of the Colorado and Wyoming sj'stems, pro- 

 viding for adjudication on the initiative of the State and with the aid 

 of the State, as in Wyoming, but leaving it in the courts, as in Colo- 

 rado. The State engineer is to make complete hydrographic surveys 

 of the stream to be adjudicated, and collect such other facts as wall, in 

 his judgment, aid in ascertaining existing rights. When this work is 

 completed, it is submitted to the proper court, which, after hearings, 

 renders a decree defining the rights to water from the stream. The 

 law provides that such survej's shall be made on each stream in the 

 State, beginning with those most used for irrigation. Only one such 

 survey has been begun, but is not yet completed, and the procedure 

 for determining rights has not, therefore, been tried. It is in outline 

 as follows: 



Before beginning the survey of a stream the engineer advertises the 

 time and place of beginning by publication in a newspaper for fifteen 

 days. On the completion of the survey the engineer is to file a written 

 statement with the clerk of the district court of the county in which 

 the stream is situated, and if it is in more than one county, in the court 

 of any one of these counties, and that court has exclusive jurisdiction 

 of the case. This statement is to contain the names and post-office 

 addresses of all parties using water from the stream, so far as they are 

 known to the engineer, and such other facts as he deems necessary. 

 Within thirty days after the filing of this statement the clerk of the 

 court gives notice by publication, to all parties claiming rights to water 

 from the stream, and in writing, to all parties whose names are included 

 in the statement filed by the engineer, that within six months from the 

 date of first publication of this notice they must file written statements 

 setting forth their respective claims to the use of water. The clerk is 

 to send with the notices blank forms for the statements of claims. 

 When returned these are to contain sworn statements, showing: 



The name and post-office address of the person, corporation, or association making the 

 claim; the nature of the use on which the claim of appropriation is based, the flow per sec- 



