OBSTACLES TO DEVELOPMENT. 37 



come to accept the private and even the speculative ownership of water as 

 one of the natural, if not inevitable, incidents of its use in irrigation. It is 

 only human nature for individuals or companies, after they have paid the 

 recording fee for such notice and it has stood unchallenged on the public 

 records for years, to believe they own the water claimed in the notice. The 

 notices given below ^ are taken from the official records of appropriations 

 from the San Joaquin River and tributaries as copied by Professor Soul^. 

 The water records of California contain thousands of such statements. 



No matter what courts may declare or reformers urge, so long as the 

 sort of procedure which the San Joaquin record illustrates is continued men 

 who file claims will regard speculative ownership of water as authorized by 

 the law of appropriation in California. In talking of this an intelligent, fair- 

 minded ditch owner last year voiced the prevailing opinion in the following 

 words: " I filed on this water, and it is mine to do with as I please. I can run 

 it into a gopher hole if I want to. I can sell it, or rent it to my neighbors, or 

 I can waste it in the sand, and neither the Government nor State has any 

 right to object." The question before the. people of California is, "Is or is 

 not this the doctrine of water ownership which ought to prevail? If not, 

 what is to take its place?" No matter what policy is adopted, it ought to be 

 definite and all rights made to conform to its conditions. Of the policy 

 of doing nothing, deciding nothing, thei'e has been enough. Something 

 more is now required. This is a comprehensive code of laws which will be 

 as just and eff'ective as those of Italy, or Canada, or Wyoming, which will 

 represent the knowledge of the twentieth century i-ather than a blind 

 adherence to the conditions of fifty years ago. It is a significant fact that 

 the best irrigation laws do not permit of the unrestricted filing of claims. 

 In fact they do not permit water to be appropriated. Italy issues licenses 

 to take water; other countries treat rights to use streams as franchises. In 



' Know all men whom it may concern that I, , have this 8th day of October, 1877, 



appropriated all the water of the west and east forks of Willow Creek, together with the entire amount 

 of water flowing down Willow Creek, and emptying into the north fork of the San Joaquin River, in 

 Crane Valley * * * to be done by ditch and flume of 3 feet wide by 2 feet deep. 



Notice is hereby given that claim by priority of location, use, and appropriation the 



first right to the use of water running in the San Joaquin River for the purpose of irrigation, navigation, 

 and supplying towns and villages with said water, and also for motive and mining purposes. Said use 

 and appropriation to be exercised as circumstances may require, either by using said water as it natur- 

 ally flows in said river, or diverting the same, or increasing its volume in such mode as may be deemed 

 requisite. 



Notice. — I, , do this day locate, appropriate, and claim the water now flowing and 



hereafter to flow in Big Greek from a jwint at and above where this notice is posted on said stream, to 

 the extent of 100,000 inches, measured under a 4-inch pressure. * * * I intend to divert said water 

 by ditches of the capacity of said 100,000 inches and by flumes of the same capacity. 



