4 BULLETIN" 913, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



specifies what must be shown in the notice posted, and anyone pro- 

 posing to obtain a right direct from a stream or other surface source 

 should consult the law of the State in which the land to be irrigated 

 is located. In the States given above, application to the State 

 engineer, or the board named, will bring blanks and full instruc- 

 tions. The point to be kept in mind is' that title to water is fully as 

 important as title to land, and it should receive the same careful 

 attention. However, very few will have occasion to acquire pights 

 direct from streams, and the subject need not be discussed, at length. 

 Although few farmers will have occasion to acquire rights direct 

 from streams, many will acquire them by purchasing land served 

 by such rights, and rights to water from canals relate back to the 

 rights from the streams or other sources from which the water is 

 taken, and one can judge of the value of rights from canals only by 

 examining their rights to water from the original source. A right 

 to water from a canal can be no better than the right under which 

 the canal gets its supply. 



EVIDENCES OF TITLE TO RIGHTS TO WATER FROM STREAMS. 1 



Rights to water direct from streams are represented by the fol- 

 lowing evidences of title : Filings in the county records ; filings in 

 State engineers' offices; certificates from courts, State engineers or 

 boards; and permits from State engineers or boards. The force of 

 these evidences of title as guarantees of the value of the rights rep- 

 resented is discussed in the following paragraphs : 



The posting and filing of a notice regarding a proposed diversion 

 of water merely gives notice of intention to take the additional steps 

 necessary to the acquirement of a right, and its only effect is to 

 fix the date of the right at the date of filing, rather than at the elate 

 of beginning construction. The filing itself gives no right to water, 

 but it must be followed by the construction of works and the use of 

 water. Construction may or may not have followed the filing of a 

 notice, so that, taken by itself, such a filing is of little value as evi- 

 dence that the party making the filing has a right to the water 

 claimed. No one should purchase a right based on such filing with- 

 out additional evidence that the right is valid and that there is suf- 

 ficient water in the source from which water is claimed to supply 

 not only the right in question but all prior rights. 



In Colorado, a person wishing to divert water from a stream 

 must file a map and plans with the State engineer, and if the map 

 and plans are in proper form and set forth clearly what is claimed, 

 they must be approved by the engineer and a copy showing this 



1 The following discussion is taken principally from Irrigation in the United States, by 

 R. P. Teele. New York, 1915. 



