THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



NEBRASKA IRRIGATION LAW. 



(Synopsis Furnished the Eanch News by Adna Dobson, 



State Engineer and Secretary Board of Irrigation, 



Lincoln, Nebraska.) 



The first legislation affecting irrigation in Nebras- 

 ka was passed in 1877, when a law was placed on the 

 statute books authorizing corporations organized for 

 the purpose of constructing canals for irrigation or 

 water power purposes to condemn rights of way and 

 declared irrigation canals to be works of internal im- 

 provement. 



The act of 1889 covers the subject more fully. 

 Section 1, Article I., reads as follows : "The right of 

 the use of water flowing in a river or stream or down a 

 canyon or ravine may be acquired bv appropriation by 

 any person or persons, company or corporation organized 

 under the laws of the state of Nebraska; provided, that 

 in a-11 streams not more than fifty feet wide, the rights 

 of the riparian proprietors are not affected by the pro- 

 visions of this act." 



This act was amended by subsequent Legislatures, 

 but no general irrigation law covering the subject fully 

 was pas'sed until 1895, when the present irrigation law 

 was adopted. 



This bill establishes a; state board of irrigation 

 composed of the governor, attorney general and land 

 commissioner, who shall elect a secretary who shall be 

 a hydraulic engineer of theoretical knowledge and prac- 

 tical skill and experience, and also one under secretary 

 for each water division. The duties of the State board 

 of irrigation and the secretaries are stated as follows : 

 "It shall be the duty of the State board at its first 

 meeting to make proper arrangements for beginning 

 the determination of the priorities of right to use the 

 public waters of the State, which determination shall 

 begin on streams most used for irrigation, and be 

 continued as rapidly as practicable until all the claims 

 for appropriation now on record shall have been ad- 

 judicated. The method of determining the -priority 

 and amount of appropriation shall be determined by 

 the said State board, which at its first meeting shall 

 designate the streams to be first adjudicated. 



DUTIES OF OFFICERS. 



The under secretary shall, under the direction of 

 the State board see that the laws relative to the distribu- 

 tion of water are executed in accordance with the rights 

 of priority of appropriation. 



The State board has authority to create water dis- 

 tricts within each water division and appoint an under 

 assistant for each water district. 



It is the duty of the under assistants under the 

 direction of the State board of irrigation to divide the 

 water in the natural streams of his district among 

 the several ditches taking water therefrom and to shut 

 and fasten the heaxlgate of ditches when in time of 

 scarcity of water, it is necessary to do so. Every per- 

 son who shall wilfully open, close, change or interfere 

 with any headgatc or water box without authority shall 

 be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction 

 thereof, shall be fined in, any sum not exceeding $200, 

 or imprisoned in the county jail for a period not exceed- 

 ing three months. 



Each appropriation shall be determined in its 

 priority and amount by the time at which it shall have 

 been made, and the amount of water which the works 

 are constructed to carry : provided, that such appropria- 

 tor shall at no time be entitled to the use of more than 



he can beneficially use for the purposes for which the 

 appropriation may have been made, and the amount of 

 any appropriation made by means of enlargement of the 

 distributing works heretofore shall be determined in 

 like manner; provided, that no allotment for irrigation 

 shall exceed one cubic foot per second for each seventy 

 acres of land for which said appropriation shall be 

 made. 



Any party or number of parties acting jointly, who 

 may feel themselves aggrieved by the determination of 

 the State board, may have an appeal to the District Court 

 of the county within which the appropriation or ap- 

 propriations of the party or parties so aggrieved may be 

 situated. 



HOW TO SECURE APPEOPBIATIONS. 



Every person or corporation intending to appro- 

 priate waters of Nebraska under the law of 1895 are 

 required to file with the State board of irrigation an 

 application for a permit which shall show all essential 

 facts in connection with the proposed works. On receipt 

 of this application, which shall be in a form prescribed 

 by the State board of irrigation, and upon blanks fur- 

 nished, the secretary will make an examinuation of the 

 application, and if there is unappropriated water in the 

 source of supply, and if such proposition is not other- 

 wise detrimental to the public welfare, the State board, 

 through its secretary, shall approve the same. If there 

 is no unappropriated water in the source of supply, 

 or if a prior appropriation has been made, to water the 

 same lancj to be watered by the applicant, the State 

 board, through its secretary, shall refuse such appropria- 

 tion. Any applicant feeling himself aggrieved by the 

 action of the State board may take an appeal to the 

 District Court of the county in which the point of 

 diversion is situated. 



A cubic foot of water per second of time is the 

 legal standard of measurement of water in this State 

 and fifty miner's inches under a four-inch pressure 

 shall be deemed equivalent to a cubic foot per second of 

 time. 



All appropriators are required to maintain suitable 

 headgates and measuring flumes. 



Any person, corporation or association hereafter 

 intending to construct any dam above ten feet in height 

 shall, before beginning such construction, submit the 

 plan of the same to the State board of irrigation for 

 their examination and approval, and no dam above ten 

 feet in height shall be constructed until the same shall 

 have been approved by such board. 



The right to divert unappropriated waters of every 

 natural stream for beneficial use shall never be denied. 

 Priority of appropriation shall give the better right; 

 those using the water for domestic purposes shall have 

 the preference over those claiming for any other pur- 

 pose, and those using the water for agricultural purposes 

 shall have the preference over those using the same 

 for manufacturing purposes. 



All ditches, canals, laterals or other works used 

 for irrigation purposes shall be exempt from all taxation, 

 whether state, county or municipal. 



Under the district law, whenever a majority of the 

 resident freeholders owning lands in any district sus- 

 ceptible to one mode or irrigation from a common source 

 and by the same system of works they mav form an 

 irrigation district and the district is authorized to issue 

 bonds to pay for the construction of works and to levy 

 an assessment to pay the said bonds and interest. 



