currently owned and operated by MPC. Its rated capacity is 

 40,000 kilowatts. The Cabinet Gorge Dam, built in 1952, and 

 the Noxon Rapids Dam, built in 1959, are owned and operated 

 by the Washington Water Power Company (WWP) . Maximum net 

 generating capabilities are 554 megawatts and 230 megawatts, 

 respectively. The Thompson Falls and Cabinet Gorge reser- 

 voirs are run-of-the-river impoundments, while Noxon Rapids 

 has limited storage capacity. 



WATER RIGHTS 



Congress perceived that the West could be settled only 

 if its water resources were developed. Water management in 

 the 19th and early 20th centuries was guided by the goal of 

 reclaiming the West. Without irrigation, few crops could be 

 grown to provide the food necessary to support extensive 

 settlements. In addition to being a mode of transport, water 

 was also central to the mining activities that drew the first 

 large numbers of people to the region. 



Water diverted for placer mining activities in the early 

 1860s was initially governed by the regulations of individual 

 mining districts. The ditch companies in the Gold Creek area 

 were among the first to hold water rights. Water use in 

 Montana is generally guided by two legal principles. The 

 first principle is known as the prior appropriation doctrine, 

 "first in time is first in right." A user's right to a 

 specific quantity of water depends on when the use began. 

 The first person to use water from a source established the 

 first right, the next person is free to use what is left, 

 and so on. The second principle is that the water user is 

 entitled to divert only as much water as he can beneficially 

 use. 



The doctrine of prior appropriation was formalized into 

 Montana territorial law in 1865-66. In 1865, the use of 

 water for irrigation was authorized by the territorial 

 legislature, and by 1884, water for irrigation purposes had 

 been deemed a public use that could not be obstructed by 

 private landowners (Horstman 1984) . 



A water right had to be conveyed by deed, and a 

 defective conveyance of a water right was considered 

 abandonment of that right. However, in the early days of 

 settlement, land was transferred by simply giving possession 

 or with a bill of sale, and there was no law requiring a 

 record of water appropriated. The territorial courts were, 

 therefore, quite busy with water rights litigation between 

 1871 and 1889 (Horstman 1984) . 



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