WATFR APPROPRIATION FROM KINGS RIVER. 273 



always been and will always prove a great obstacle to the diversion of water for such 

 purposes as use in mining, irrigation, industrial purposes, and for domestic use. 



It does not appear from decisions rendered that the rights conferred and actually 

 vested have yet been clearly defined. The use to which water may be put and the 

 extent of the tract to which the vested right appertains seems to be still indefinite 

 and peculiar to each particular case. No distinction seems to have yet been drawn 

 between lands extending back from the margin of a stream 5 rods and others that 

 extend back 5 miles. The question, too, as to the extent to which any riparian owner 

 may diminish the flow of water in putting it to some use seems to remain unanswered. 

 The intent under the riparian doctrine seems to be that there shall be no material 

 reduction. 



The results of the decisions recognizing that under this doctrine certain rights 

 have been vested has been to compel appropriators who had use of water for town 

 supplj', for mining, for irrigation, or for other purposes involving an actual diminu- 

 tion of flow in the stream from which water is taken, to negotiate with riparian own- 

 ers and to pa}', often excessively, for a waiver of their vested rights. So long as 

 these rights remain indeterminate, varjing with size and shape and topographical 

 features of the riparian ti"act, such adjustments are made extremely difficult and bur- 

 densome to new enterprises. 



As the common-law doctrine was not found compatible with the early and soon 

 firmly established customs of the miners who have use for water at points far removed 

 from the natural water courses, these customs quickly established a right to the use 

 of any water not already appropriated, and this custom quickly crystallized into 

 statutory law as follows: 



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. 



The appropriation must be for some useful or beneficial purpose, and when the appropriator or his 

 successor in interest ceases to use it for such purpose, the right ceases. 



The person entitled to the use may change the place of diversion, if others are not injured by such 

 change, and may extend the ditch, flume, pipe, or aqueduct by which the diversion is made to places 

 beyond that where the first use was made. 



The water appropriated may be turned into the channel of another stream and mingled with its 

 water, and then reclaimed; but in reclaiming it the water already appropriated by another must not 

 be diminished. 



As between appropriators, the one first in time is the first in right. 



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, pipe, or aque- 

 duct 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. 



Within sixty days after the notice is posted the claimant must commence the excavation or con- 

 struction of the works in which he intends to divert the water, and must prosecute the work diligently 

 and uninterruptedly to completion, unless temporarily interrupted by snows or rain; provided, that if 

 the erection of a dam has been recommended by the California Debris Commission at or near the place 

 where it is intended to divert the water, the claimant shall have sixty days after the completion of such 



23856— No. 100—01 18 



