402 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



State is divided, hut only on petition of one or more water users. 

 The ])oard makes its determination of tlie existin<j; ri<2;hts on the 

 basis of surveys made l)y one of the superintendents and testimony 

 collected by liim, and files a copy in each county concerned, and within 

 tliirty days after this filinu; the order of the hoard and all the evidence 

 on which it is based is filed with the clerk of the circuit couit of the 

 district. Any party interested may file exception to the order 

 within thirty days after it is filed with the court. If no such excep- 

 tions are filed within this time the court is to enter a decree affirming 

 the order of the board. If exceptions are filed the court Ls to hold 

 hearinfz;s and may change the order of the board. Appeal may be 

 taken to the su])reme court of the State. Any person claiming a 

 right to water from a stream under adjudication, who tloes not set 

 up his claim, is barred from ever doing so. 



Summarizing what has been said: Eight States and Territories — 

 Wyoming, Nebraska, Utah, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, New 

 Mexico, and South Dakota — have provisions for forcing adjudica- 

 tions. In three of these States — Wyoming, Nebraska, and Nevada — 

 the adjudications are made by boards or officials, while in the 

 others they are made by the courts in actions initiated by public 

 officials. Three States — Idaho, South Dakota, and Oregon — pro- 

 vide for surveys and the collection of data by public officials for use 

 in adjudications when these are initiated by parties claiming water 

 rights. In Idaho and South Dakota these adjudications are made 

 by the courts, and in Oregon by an administrative board. In the 

 other seven arid and semiarid States adjudications are made by 

 the courts on the testimony presented by the contending parties. 



The Oregon law, referred to above, contains a provision relating to 

 adjudications which is new. The superintendent, at the time of tak- 

 ing testimony, is to collect fees from claimants for recording certificates 

 which vary with the quantity of water claimed. These fees are $1 and 

 15 cents additional per acre up to 100 acres; 5 cents per acre above 

 100 acres and up to 1,000; and 1 cent per acre above 1,000 acres; 

 for power rights, 25 cents for each theoretical horsepower up to 100; 

 15 cents above 100 and up to 1,000; 5 cents above 1,000 and up to 

 2,000, and 2 cents for each horsepower in excess of 2,000. 



ACQUIREMENT OF RIGHTS. 



The original method of acquiring a right to divert water from 

 streams in the arid region was to post a notice at the point of intended 

 diversion, stating the quantity claimed, and some other things, file a 

 copy of this notice in the county records, build the necessary works, 

 and put the water to a beneficial use. This was intended not as a 

 limitation on the acquirement of rights, but as notice to subsequent 

 appropriators of the existence of rights prior to their ow^n. This 



