WATER RIGHTS ON LOS ANGELES RIVEB. 347 



PRESENT WATER LAW DERIVED FROM MINING JjAW. 



The law governing mining claims is undoubtedly the parent of the statutory 

 procedure for the establishment of a water right. The former requires the posting 

 of a notice at the point of discovery and the recording of a copy in the office of the 

 recorder of the mining district; the latter requires the posting of a notice at the 

 point of intended diversion and the recording of a copy in the office of the county 

 recorder. Both require that actual work upon the development of the claim shall 

 be commenced within a specified time, but here the similarity ends, and the subse- 

 quent working of the mining law is far more effective than that of the water law. 

 The former requires a definite description of the locality affected by the claim; the 

 latter does not. There may be manj^ mining districts in a county thus keeping the 

 records near the locality interested, but there is only one county recorder's office 

 however large the county may be. The mining claimant is compelled to make proof 

 annually of the amount of development work perfomied, or to secure title by patent, 

 but the water claimant leaves no record as to how much — if anything at all — he has 

 done toward the consummation of the appi'opriation set forth in his original notice. 



IMPROVED SYSTEM OF MAKING APPROPRIATIONS NEEDED. 



The act of posting a notice in some thicket or under a bowlder in some obscure 

 mountain canyon is a very crude way of beginning so important a work as an appro- 

 priation of water, nor is it much improved b}^ sending a copy to the county recorder's 

 office to go on record among many thousands of similar claims. Under a rational 

 irrigation law several items of information are indispensable before initiating a new 

 appropriation of water. This knowledge should be supplied to the intending appro- 

 priator by the only competent authority — the State. The principal points required 

 are: 



(1) What prior rights exist upon the available sources of water; their nature 

 and extent. 



(2) What quantity of water remains subject to appropriation. 



(3) What quantity the claimant will be permitted to take for the intended use. 



After formal notice has been given of an intention to take a portion of the pub- 

 lic water supply for private use, the public should have the right to supervise the 

 claimant's actions in the matter and to hold him to a faithful performance of the 

 duties and obligations assumed by him. 



All agree that the California water laws now in force are seriously deficient, and 

 that they must be reformed. The only question is as to what old and new features 

 are desii-able to be embraced in the new law. 



In the opinion of the writer no plan yet suggested promises results at all com- 

 parable with those which would be derived from the creation of a scheme of State 

 administration following the general lines of the Wyoming board of control. That 

 State is divided into four water divisions bounded by natural hydrographic lines. 

 Each division has a superintendent, and the four superintendents, together with the 

 State engineer, compose the board of control. This board is vested with authoritv to 

 adjudicate existing water rights. Foi" this purpose meetings are held in various por- 

 tions of the State at places where the rights under examination are located. The State 



