THE WESTERN FARMER 's WATER RIGHT. 9 
belongs to the overlying land, and the owner of the land may with- 
draw all he can get for use on his land. 
As stated before, in many instances it is difficult to tell in which 
class the water found under any tract of land falls, but under the 
law all underground water is presumed to be percolating water until 
it is proved otherwise. Artesian water is easily recognized, because 
it rises above the level at which it is found when a well is drilled. In 
narrow stream valleys there is a strong presumption that the under- 
ground water is a part of a stream and that pumping from a well 
may be considered an appropriation from the stream. But on the 
plains, and in the intermountain valleys which contain no streams, 
there is a strong presumption that water which does not rise above 
the stratum in which it is found is percolating water and belongs 
to the landowner. 
RIGHTS TO WATER FROM CANALS, ETC. 
As has been stated, most farmers get water rights from canal 
companies or other organizations controlling enterprises which sup- 
ply water to farmers. In the preceding pages the rights of these 
enterprises to water from streams or other sources have been dis- 
cussed. In the following paragraphs the nature of rights conveyed 
by such enterprises to the farmers to whom they supply water is 
discussed. 
Eights to water from canals differ from rights to water direct from 
streams in one very important particular — usually priority does not 
hold among users from the same canal. Their rights are all on the 
same basis, without reference to the dates when they were acquired. 
Each farmer is entitled to his share of the supply belonging to the 
canal. The companies are supposed not to dispose of water in excess 
of their capacity to supply it, but the relation of the total rights 
disposed of and the total water supply should be investigated with 
the same care as the water supply generally. The character of rights 
to water from canals and the conditions limiting them are fixed by 
the contracts, by-laws, and regulations of the organizations con- 
trolling the canals, and these are discussed below. 
The principal agencies supplying water to farmers are coopera- 
tive or mutual stock companies, irrigation districts, the United 
States Reclamation Service, Carey Act companies, and commercial 
companies. 
COOPERATIVE OR MUTUAL COMPANIES. 
Cooperative or mutual stock companies serve by far the larger 
part of the acreage irrigated by enterprises supplying water to 
farmers — 62 per cent of this area in 1910, according to the census 
