IRRIGATION 
A water right might be apparently suf- 
ficient in law, yet wholly useless because 
of some matter of fact, and conversely, 
a water right may be evidenced by no 
papers of any kind upon which an at- 
torney could pass judgment as to its 
sufficiency, and yet be perfect. As an 
example of the former: <A certain com- 
pany, operated for the sale of lands, has 
purchased thousands of acres of sage- 
brush land in a section which is so high 
above the nearest available water that it 
is apparently beyond the possibility of 
chance that they can deliver that water 
to the land in question, yet they have an 
appropriation from the river which is 
good and sufficient for the irrigation of 
all the land owned, provided the one 
little obstacle of the law of gravitation 
can be overcome. Another pumping proj- 
ect has plenty of water but no pump, 
and inasmuch as the lift from the water 
to the land is a great one, and the com- 
pany which promoted the project was 
given to optimism, the land has been 
sold at $200 an acre to people who, with- 
out any question, have a good legal water 
right, but who, nevertheless, will prob- 
ably never get water from that company 
for the reason that it is insolvent. 
Again, many ranchers have no water 
right at all so far as the possession of 
any contract or stock in a water com- 
pany is concerned, yet they have plenty 
of water for all purposes, and doubtless 
will always have plenty. They own arte- 
sian wells, and irrigate their lands by 
means of them. These wells, constructed 
at a cost varying from $3,000 to $6,000, 
have been bored on the land to be wa- 
tered, and are sufficient for all needs. In 
that section there has been no failure to 
find artesian water, I am informed, at 
any point where the farmer has been 
sufficiently provided with funds and has 
prosecuted the work with competent 
drillers. It must be apparent that such 
a water right as this is excellent, though 
evidenced by no writing of any kind, be- 
cause, as a matter of fact, the water is 
the private and personal property of the 
owner of the land, as it comes from the 
ground, while water running in a nat- 
1191 
ural stream, whether navigable or un- 
navigable, is not the private and per- 
sonal property of any person or persons. 
It is not property in any sense until it 
has been put to some use. The decisions 
of the courts on this point are in accord 
with the idea that running water in a 
natural stream may be possessed only 
usufructuarily; that is to say, there may 
be a right to a use of it in certain per- 
sons, but until it has been put to that 
use it is the property of no man. 
From this comes the principle, well 
known to the law, that a right to water 
and a right to land are two separate 
rights. That is to say, the right to run- 
ning water in a natural stream is not a 
right like the right of way over a road 
across or through a neighbor’s farm. It 
is clear that a water right is not a part 
of the realty in the same sense that a 
house built upon it is, although the courts 
generally have held that the right of a 
riparian owner in streams flowing on or 
by his land is such a right. By a riparian 
owner is meant one through whose land, 
or past whose land, a natural stream 
runs. Yet, despite these decisions, it is 
clear that the right is not so “inseparably 
annexed to the soil” and “part and parcel 
of it” that the right to water vests in 
the whole piece of land in such a manner 
that such land, when cut up and sold to 
other owners, will carry with it a part 
of the original riparian right to every 
parcel, whether bordering on the stream 
or not. The right to the use of the water 
exists only so long as it is used by a 
riparian owner, and it cannot be taken 
by a riparian owner and conducted to a 
distance for use on land which does not 
touch or border upon the stream. 
Therefore, in purchasing irrigated land, 
it should be understood by the buyer that 
in securing the title to the land itself he 
does not necessarily secure a water right. 
He may do so, depending on the facts 
in the particular case, and, of course, he 
does so when he buys land upon which 
is situated a well that provides the water 
for the land, or through which flows the 
natural stream that irrigates the land; 
or if the statute of the state has made 
