76 



requires that these shall be recorded in the office of the engineer, and 

 that Olio copy shall bo sent to the claimant and one copy to the county 

 recorder. The law provides for the jjayniont of the filing fees by the 

 State. Most of the parties claiming water to the Carson had no 

 attorneys, and the entire expense for defining rights and securing 

 certificates was liuiited to the notary foes for their sworn statements. 



The decisions of the engineer may be appealed from to the courts 

 within two years, but no such appeals have been made from the 

 Carson decree, the only one yet made. The time for appeal has not 

 yet expired. 



The rights to Walker River are now being determined in the same 

 way. In this case it is proposed by the engineer to })rej)are findings, 

 but instead of issuing certificates on his own authority turn ov(>r his 

 findings to the court having jurisdiction of that stream and have his 

 decree issued as a decree of the court. There has boon considornble 

 doubt as to the constitutionality of the law ])roviding for the defining 

 of rights by the engineer, and the course ])ro])osed for Walker liivor is 

 to avoid any danger of having the certificates declared void after they 

 have been issued by the engineer. 



ACQUIREMENT OF BIGHTS. 



Up to 1905 parties wishing to acquire rights to water were required 

 to post and file notices stating what they claimed, and no further 

 action was ever taken on these claims. In 1905 a law was passed 

 requiring that parties wishing to appropriate water apply to the State 

 engineer for permission to do so. These applications are to give the 

 name and post-office address of the applicants, the source from which 

 the water is to be taken, the amount to be taken, the location of the 

 proposed works, the time required for their completion, including the 

 time required for the application of the water to a beneficial use, and 

 if the water is to be used for irrigation a description of the land to be 

 irrigated. These applications are to be made on forms furnished by 

 the engineer without cost to the applicant. He may return any 

 application for correction, but all applications if properly corrected 

 take priority in the order of their original receipt by the State engineer. 

 When properly filed with the State engineer, the engineer is to publish 

 in some newspaper having a general circulation within the boundaries 

 of the river system a notice of the application, showing by whom 

 made, the quantity of water sought to be appropriated, the stream 

 from which the appropriation is to be made, and at what point on the 

 stream, the use for which it is to be appropriated, and by what means. 

 This notice is to be published once a week for four weeks. At any 

 time within thirty days after the completion of the publication any 

 party interested may file with the State engineer a written protest 

 against the granting of the application, stating the reasons therefor. 



