79 



DEFINING RIGHTS. 



In Montana rights jirc' adjudicated by the courts, on testimony of 

 interested ])iirties, no in-ovision being made for hydrograpluc surveys 

 or for a special form of procedure. Any interested party desiring an 

 adjudication may apply to the court and make all parties taking water 

 from the same source parties to the action. Rights throughout the 

 State are not very generally adjudicated. 



ACQUIREMENT OF RIGHTS. 



Any person wishing to ap])ropriate water must post a notice stating 

 what is claimed and file a copy of the claim with the county clerk of 

 the county in which diversion is to be mad(^ stating the usual facts as 

 to place, quantity, use, etc., and nmst prosecute work with reasonable 

 diligence. There is no inspection or record to show whether recorded 

 ])lans have been carried out, but under a law passed in 1905 anyone 

 having completed the construction of irrigation works may, after pub- 

 lishing notice, have his ditch and the lands irrigated or proposed to be 

 irrigated surveyed by a competent surveyor, and fde a sworn co]\y of 

 the map made from this survey with the clerk and recorder of the 

 county. Such a map is made prima facie evidence of the facts shown. 

 F. H. Ray's report to the governor shows that in 1902 there were 

 26,646 recorded claims to water from Montana streams, with no rec- 

 ords to show what rights have been acquired under these filings. 

 Very manj' have been abandoned, but no one knows how many. Since 

 construction of works and use of water are necessary to the acquire- 

 ment, of a right, the records are of no value, except that where a claim- 

 ant can show a recorded claim his right may be made to date back to 

 the time of filing. They are thus a menace to other rights, because 

 this adds another element of uncertainty as to when a right will be 

 held to have been acquired when an adjudication takes place. Such 

 filings are being made by practically all appropriators at present. 



DISTRIBUTION OF "WATER. 



There is no provision in Montana for any State participation in the 

 distribution of water. Where rights have been adjudicated, on 

 request of the owners of at least one-fourth of the rights aifected by 

 the decree, the court appoints a water commissioner, whose duty it is 

 to distribute the water decreed. Parties not included in a decree can 

 not be interfered with by the commissioner. Each commissioner is to 

 keep a daily record of the water delivered to each user, and submit a 

 summarized statement of this to the court appointing him at the close 

 of the season, together with the bill for his services. The court then 

 assesses the expense against the various parties in proportion to the 

 quantities of water delivered to them by the commissioner. Under 



