IRRIGATION PROBLEMS OF HONEY LAKE BASIN. 81 



the decisions based upon them, and observe how great a contrast they present to 

 laws which in other States and countries have furnished a secure foundation for 

 water rights. But in this division of the report it is designed only to show what 

 the laws are and to trace their influence through the history of one important valle}' 

 to which the}" have been applied. 



The statutes say that ''the right to the use of running water flowing in a river 

 or stream or down a canyon or ravine may be acquired by appropriation." This 

 appropriation must be for some beneficial or useful purpose. The right ceases when 

 the appropriator, or his successors in interest, ceases to apply the waters in this way. 

 But the person entitled to the use may change the place of diversion, if others are 

 not injured by such change, and may also change the place of use. Priority in time 

 gives priority in right. Appropriations must be followed within sixty days by 

 actual work; otherwise they lapse and the water which had been claimed may be 

 appropriated by others. The rights of riparian pi'oprietors are expressly exempted 

 from the operations of this law of appropriation. 



As the foundation of any system of administrative laws which may be adopted 

 in the future is the method of establishing rights to the stream, it is well worth 

 while to reproduce in full the brief regulations governing the actual process of 

 appropriation. They are as follows: 



Sec. 1415. A person desiring to appropriate water must post a notice, in writing, in a conspicuous 

 place at the point of intended diversion, stating therein: 



( 1) That he claims the water there flowing to the extent of (giving the number) inches, measured 

 under a 4-inch pressure. 



(2) The purpose for which he claims it and the place of intended use. 



(3) The means by which he intends to divert it, and the size of the flume, ditch, pip£, or aqueduct 

 in which he intends to divert it. 



A copy of the notice must, within ten days after it is posted, be recorded in the office of the 

 recorder of the county in which it is posted. 



Sec. 1421. The recorder of each county must keep a book, in which he must record the notices 

 provided for in this title. 



This is the entire law governing the method of appropriation and of recording 

 the claims upon which property worth tens of millions of dollars, considering the 

 State as a whole, is based. It will be observed that there is no provision for the 

 exercise of public authority over these appropriations. It is also true that there is 

 no public authority to which the intending appropriator may apply to ascertain 

 whether there is anj^ unused water in the stream to which he may properh' lay 

 claim. The case presents a .striking contrast to the provision under which citizens 

 may acquire or "appropriate" land from the public domain. All such lands have 

 been properly surveyed and mapped. The public authoritj^ has made it easy to learn 

 their location, extent, and general charactei-. There is a central oflice at Washington, 

 with numerous branches throughout the region in which the public domain is located, 

 which keeps all these records, and no citizen need involve the risk of expenditure for 

 improvements before knowing whether there is any land open to entry, or whether 

 it has all been claimed and occupied. 



Such legal protection for citizens is far more necessary in the case of public 

 water than in the case of public land. This is so because a man may often see with 



23856— No. 100—01—6 



