COUNTY BOUNDARIES OF COLORADO 



211 



irrigation rights upon bases more equitable than had been known before/ 

 The resulting expansion in the Platte and Arkansas valleys started anew 

 the county growth on the east slope that had paused after the erection of 

 Custer in 1877. 



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loqar? 



Wajh/rK^tor? 



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fl Pa^O 



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denr 



Lois An/ mas 



Map XII.— 1887— Fifth and Sixth Assemblies. 



The county of Weld, one of the original seventeen of 1861, had 

 complete control of the waters of the lower Platte until 1887. An 

 attempt to create a county of Platte out of its eastern end had been made 

 in 1872, but had failed to secure the required approval at the polls.* 

 And thus Weld remained unbroken until the sixth assembly of 1887 



' The act of February 19, 1879, inaugurated the policy of control of irrigable streams by the state, by 

 erecting ten irrigation districts with a water commissioner for each. Two years later, March 5, 188 1, the 

 administration of the system was centralized by the establishment of the ofi&ce of state engineer to super- 

 vise the work of the local commissioners. Twelve Biennial Reports have been published by the state engineer, 

 the last being for 1904. Since the act of April 4, 1887, this ofiSdal has had the duty of adjudicating and sur- 

 veying disputed boundaries (Sess. Laws, 1879, p. 94; 1881, p. 119; 1887, p. 288). 



" The erection of Platte county was authorized, subject to popular vote, February 9, 1872 {Sess. Laws, 

 1872, p. 80). This statute was repealed February 9, 1874 (Sess. Laws, 1874, p. 82). The courts have decided 

 that such a popular vote is not a constitutional prerequisite to the formation of a new county, although it is 

 necessary in cases of transfer of land from one existing county to another (.Frost v. Pfeifjer, XXVI Colorado 

 338). There is a general statute of April 4, 1887, for alteration of county lines in certain cases by mutual 

 consent of adjacent counties (Sess. Laws, 1887, p. 71.) 



