88 



All measurements of depth of water to whk;h the water diverted by 

 canals would cover the land irrioated by them, disregarding losses in 

 transit are brought together in the following table: 



Sionrnarn of the duty ofivalrr vieasurements in Montana. 



County. 



Canal. 



Depth. 



Gallatin 

 Do... 

 Do.. 

 Do.. 

 Do.. 



Do 



Do 



Yellowstone. 



Ravalli . 

 Do.. 



Do. 

 Do. 



Do. 

 Do. 

 Do. 



West Gallatin high line . 

 Kughen or Cameron . . . . 



do 



Weaver & Stone 



Middle Creek canal 



Middle Creek (all canals) . . . 

 West Gallatin Irrigation Co . 

 Big ditch 



Republican. 

 Skalkaho. .. 



Gird Creek and Skalkaho . 

 Ward 



Hedge . 



Harlan 



Bas.s Brothers 



Allen, Hughes, etal. 



1902 

 1902 

 1903 

 1902 

 1899 

 1900 

 1901 

 1902 

 1903 

 1902. 

 1902 

 1901 

 1902 

 1903 

 1901 

 1902 

 1903 

 1901 

 190-:> 

 1903 

 1903 

 1901 

 1902 

 1903 

 1901 

 1902 

 1903 

 1903 

 1903 

 1903 



Average . 



Feet. 

 5.32 

 4.68 

 5.78 

 6.56 

 2.10 

 1.90 

 2.33 

 1.15 

 1.48 

 2.60 

 5.32 

 2.56 

 3.68 

 4.12 

 3.35 

 4.51 

 2.95 

 4. 68 

 6.81 

 6.34 

 8.50 

 2.40 

 2.49 

 2.57 

 3.97 

 5.77 

 4.21 

 7.91 

 1.49 

 6.40 



4.10 



DUTY OF WATER IN COURT DECREES IN MONTANA. 



Since the rights to the use of water can l)e determined onl}" b}' the 

 courts as the result of litigation, and since water is the chief factor in 

 the agricultural development of the State, it may add to the value of 

 this report to review some of the decisions of these tribunals in which 

 parties have been granted rights to the use of fixed volumes of water 

 from the public streams. Only a small percentage of the total num- 

 ber of people who use water have had their rights thus defined, but in 

 every county where irrigation has l)een practiced for some time con- 

 troversies over water have ai'isen and the majority of these contro- 

 versies have culminated in court decisions which arc on file in the 

 recording offices of the respective counties. Some of these decisions 

 are so indefinite as to possess little, if ain^, value in a discussion of this 

 character. One party, for example, may ])e decreed a certain number 

 of miner's inches of water from a i)articulai' stream without reference 

 to the extent or location of the land which such wafer is intended to 

 irrigate. To another party may l)e decn^ed a certain fraction of all 

 the flow of a creek wifii or without reference to the area which such 

 fractional })art may irrigate. It is only where a definite num])er of 



