WYOMING, LAW-GIVER OF ARID REGION 



organized into several subdivisions, with a water commis- 

 sioner over each. In Division No. 1 there are fourteen 

 subdivisions ; in Division No. %, six ; in Division No. 3, 

 two; in Division No. 4, three. The water commission- 

 ers are vested with police powers, and personally see that 

 the water is turned into the head-gate of each canal in 

 accordance with its legal claims. There is no oppor- 

 tunity for neighbors to go to law, or even to shoot each 

 other. The exact amount of water to which they are en- 

 titled, upon the basis of beneficial use under economical 

 methods, was determined at the beginning, and this 

 amount is meted out to them by officials having no in- 

 terest in local contentions. 



These laws and this administrative system have not 

 only given peace and prosperity to the irrigation industry 

 of Wyoming, but are regarded as models the world over. 

 Other States have copied them extensively, and there 

 can be no question that in the end they will become 

 common to the entire arid region. Colorado was also a 

 pioneer in this same field, but neither its laws nor its 

 administrative system are equal to those of Wyoming. 

 There constant litigation has caused loss and hindered 

 development, yet, with the exception of Wyoming, no 

 other State has done so much to illustrate the better pos- 

 sibilities of water control than Colorado. Idaho, Nebras- 

 ka, South Dakota, Kansas, and Washington have en- 

 acted portions of the Wyoming laws. In all the other 

 States, with the single exception of California, the ex- 

 ample of Wyoming has produced results, and there is 

 hope that even California will learn in time that irriga- 

 tion and litigation are not necessarily synonymous terms. 



When Wyoming, in common with the other arid 

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