204 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



KANSAS-COLORADO IRRIGATION SUIT. 



Colorado Holds That Kansans Are Not Injured. 



The brief of the attorneys for the State of Colorado 

 over the suit over the diversion of the waters of the 

 Arkansas River for irrigation purposes has heen filed 

 with Attorney-General Coleman, of Kansas. The brief 

 is to be filed with the United States Supreme Court 

 for use in the final hearing of the case. Mr. Coleman 

 says that he expects a decision in the case some time this 

 fall. The final arguments will have been made before 

 the adjournment of the court for the summer vacation 

 and the decision probably will be rendered shortly after 

 the court convenes in October. 



The attorneys for the State of Kansas made the 

 claim in their brief that the diversion and use of the 



tially two rivers, one a perennial stream rising in the 

 mountains of Colorado and flowing down to the plains, 

 and this Colorado Arkansas, when the river was per- 

 mitted to run as it was accustomed to run, prior to 

 the period of irrigation, poured into the sands of west- 

 ern Kansas, and at times of low water the river, as 

 a stream entirely disappeared. Its waters were to some 

 extent evaporated, and, as to the residue, were absorbed 

 and swallowed up in the sand. So that from the vicin- 

 ity of the state line between Kansas and Colorado and 

 Kansas easterly, as far, at least, as Great Bend, if not 

 farther, at such times of low water there was no flowing 

 Arkansas River. Farther east, however, a new river 

 arose, even at such times of low water, and partly from 

 springs, partly from the drainage of the water table 

 of the country supplied by rainfall, and partly from 

 the surface drainage of an extensive territory, the river 

 gradually again became a perennial stream, so that 



waters of the Arkansas in Colorado is a great injury 

 to the people of Kansas. They asked that the court 

 enter a decree prohibiting any diversion of the waters 

 of the river within the State of Colorado except for 

 domestic use. 



In commenting on this section of the complaint, 

 the brief filed by the attorneys for Colorado says : "It 

 will be observed that if the prayer of the complainant 

 should be granted as asked, it would mean the destruc- 

 tion of millions of invested capital, the driving out 

 from their homes of a large population of industrious 

 people, and the return of a large, rich and productive 

 territory to a condition of arid desolation. The demand 

 on the part of the State of Kansas is based upon the 

 alleged fact that the diversion of the waters of the 

 Arkansas River for the purpose of irrigation in Colo- 

 rado has seriously injured the people living within the 

 valley of the Arkansas within the State of Kansas." 



The contention of the defendant, State of Colo- 

 rado, as to facts, may be concisely stated as follows: 

 "The Arkansas River, popularly so called, is substan- 



south of Wichita, and from there on to the mouth of 

 the river, the Kansas Arkansas, as a new and separate 

 stream, had a constant flow. Such, as the river was 

 accustomed to flow, was the Arkansas of the period 

 prior to irrigation. It was a 'broken river.' It is true 

 that at all times in early years the Arkansas River, 

 at times of flood, or of what might be called high water, 

 has a continuous flow from its source to its mouth, but 

 a flow, even in times of flood or high water, which 

 diminished through the sandy waste east of the Colo- 

 rado State line above described, so that oftentimes, 

 even in a flood in Colorado, would be completely lost 

 before it had passed over this arid stretch of sandy 

 channel, and high water would always be diminished 

 in flow through the same stretch of country. This 

 river is as if it wera a current of water passing over 

 a sieve; if the current be slow and the volume not 

 excessive, all of it sinks through the sieve and none 

 passes beyond ; when the current is rapid and the volume 

 is large, still a large amount sinks in the sieve, and 

 the residue passes on beyond." 



