35 



The sumo law provided tlnit those who h:id actiuircd rights previous 

 to its passage slioidd within six months tih' with the eouiity clerks 

 declarations in writing containing the same facts reciuired in the 

 notices previously referred to, " Pivrided. That a failure to comply 

 with the reipiirements of this section shall in no wise work a for- 

 feiture of such heretofore acquired rights, or prevent any such claim- 

 ant from establishing such rights in the courts," This section is 

 inoperative, because without the last clause it would l)e void and with 

 it the record will Ih> incomplete. The only value these records hav(> 

 is as ''prima facie evidence of the statements therein contained." 

 With a view to det(>rmining the completeness and the accuracy of this 

 record, especially that portion relating to the rights in the (Jallatin 

 Basin, a cai-eful and complete investigation was made of the entire 

 record on tile in the recorder's office of (iallatin County. The com- 

 plete record occupies parts of 15 large volumes and contains between 

 2,000 and 3,000 recorded notices of appropi'iation and claims to water. 

 Some of these records date back to the time when Gallatin County- 

 extended as far to the east as Billings and Miles City, and embraced 

 the territory which now comprises the counties of Park, Sweetgrass, 

 Carbon, Yellowstone. Rosebud, and Custer. Among the early records 

 were found claims to water from such streams as the Musselslndl and 

 the Yellowstone rivers. Some of these old claims dated back to the 

 "sixties" and represented some of the oldest rights on these streams. 



Until within the last few- years it was the custom to record all 

 claims and notices of appropriation in the miscellaneous record and 

 index it only as such. Within recent years, however, separate books 

 have been provided for the water record, and in these have been placed 

 all the notices and claims relative to the appropriation of water. This 

 record is (juite complete and easy of access. 



In the following table are given the abstracts of the (lallatin Basin 

 record, classed according to the stream on which the claims were 

 made. The claims have l)een grouped according to the main stream 

 and its tributaries, and are divided into '^ definite" and '' indefinite" 

 claims. The former contains all claims in which the amount of water 

 is expressed in miner's inches or cubic feet per second, while the latter 

 contains all claims in which the amount was expressed in indefinite 

 terms, such, for instance, as "all the stream," "all this ditch will 

 carry," "all this ditch takes," "sufficient for my land," and many 

 similar expressions. The claims given for the West Gallatin River, 

 Middle Creek, Bozeman Creek, East Bear or Flannery Creek, Rocky 

 Canyon Creek, Bridger Creek, and the East Gallatin River are 

 claims to water from the main streams themselves. The claims on 

 the tributaries of these main streams are indented under the main 

 streams. 



