THE COMMON LAW OF IRRIGATION. 301 



ered, and the waste of any ditch, flume, pipe line, or 

 other conduit, should be the loss of the claimant. 



"Natural streams" are not easily defined in term.- 

 which will admit of universal application. It is said 

 that to constitute a water course there must be a defined 

 channel with bed and banks. 



Humes rs. Sabron, 10 Nev. 217 



sininioiids rs. Winters (Oregon), 27 Tac. Rep. 7 



liarkley r*. Wilcox, 86 N. Y. 143 



Cibbs rs. Williams, 25 Kansas. 220 



Jeffers vs. JeiTers, 107 N. Y. 651 



But whatever definition may be adopted it is ap- 

 parent that the term "natural stream," as used in the 

 Colorado Constitution, refers more particularly to the 

 character and source of supply than to the form of the 

 stream. The principal source and origin is the melting 

 of snows on the mountain ranges. These waters assume 

 different forms, sometimes as springs, rivulets, ponds 

 and lakes, depending upon the character of the ground 

 through or over which they pass. Sometimes these wa- 

 ters percolate through the ground and pass unseen for 

 miles and then appear as springs. These are as a rule 

 feeders of the natural streams and irt contemplation of 

 law are a part of them, and to divert the waters from a 

 spring or lake which is the source of supply of a natural 

 stream could scarcely be distinguished from the appro- 

 priation of water from the stream itself. How far the 

 owner of lands upon which springs arise may be per- 

 mitted to use the water, allowing it to flow on after use, 

 would no doubt depend upon the character and amount 

 of the land, and the nature of the spring or springs. 

 We are now referring to what may be termed natural as 

 distinguished from artificial springs, produced by waste 

 or seepage water, escaping from reservoirs, ditches or 

 canals, or the surplus produced by irrigation. The right 

 to these waters is defined by statute. By an act of the Col- 

 orado Legislature of 1889, Act LXXXIX, p. 215, a prior 



