43 



The aggregate quantit}- of wtiler dce-i'ccd is 18t; cuhic foot per sec- 

 ond. ^\ssiiniiiig the present commercial vahie of a cubic foot per 

 second, or 4(» ^lontana statutory inches, in Mid(Ue Cr(>ek to be $8(H), 

 the total value of the water adjudicated would be $40,800; that is to 

 sav, it has cost nearly one-thii-<l what the water is worth to obtain a 

 judgment, and this judgment is of little practical l)enetit to the irri- 

 gators, because there is not a single measuring device on any of the 

 ditches by means of which an appropi'iation can be measured, and in 

 consequence the distribution is only guesswork, just as it was before 

 a decree was rendered. 



WATER RIGHTS ON WEST OALLATIX RIVER. 



In the years lSt;4 and 18H5, simultaneously with the early settle- 

 ment on Middle Creek, the waters of the West Gallatin River were 

 first used in the irrigation of the l)()ttom lands along the lower reaches 

 of the river. The greater munber of these earlier ditches were indi- 

 vidual or small cooixMative enterprises. Between 1865 and 1880 the 

 irrigated area increased steadily and to such an extent that greater 

 effort was recjuired than could be put forth by the small cooperative 

 organizations; and at this time and during the succeeding eight or ten 

 years the larger cooperative and canal organizations and incorporated 

 companies came into existence and l)egan the rapid extension of canals 

 to the higher lands. Since 1890 a few new ditches have been con- 

 structed, but development has been chiefly along the line of extension 

 of the older ditches. 



The development of irrigation on this stream has been punctuated 

 with many minor quarrels over water rights, but these for the most 

 part have been on a small scale. The only case which has reached the 

 courts and which has involved any considerable number of interests 

 was a suit instituted in the district court in the spring of 1892. The 

 suit was brought by T. J. Lynde, owner of considerable land near 

 Salesville and also of a sawmill, which derived its power from the river 

 at that point, against a great number of the older appropriators on 

 the river. The suit was brought by stipulation for the purpose of 

 legally defining the rights of the litigants and making the procedure a 

 matter of record. In his complaint the plaintiff set forth as his chief 

 cause for action that his was an old right to Avater, having been 

 acquired b}^ appropriation in 1868, and that in course of a few years 

 the witnesses by whom he could establish his right to water would in 

 all human probability die and he. would then be unable to prove or 

 establish this just right. In closing his complaint he took advantage 

 of that section of the irrigation law providing that he might make all 

 the appropriators from the same source defendants. 



Such testimony as was taken in the trial of the case was of a super- 

 ficial nature and little or no effort was made to verify the amounts of 



