IRRIGATION IN NORTHERN COLORADO. 81 
gether and talk over differences before resorting to the law. There is 
no doubt that the practice of exchanging water had its effect in 
getting the canal men of the valley in the habit of measuring water. 
While conditions of which the system is an outgrowth will probably 
never be duplicated, the principles and methods involved might be 
advantageously applied for a solution of problems elsewhere. 
The majority of direct flow rights of canals were established by 
decree of the district court in 1882 and these rights remain prac- 
tically unchanged. Storage rights were fixed by decree in 1909. 
There can be no question that the early fixing of rights had a strong 
influence on the later development of irrigation. The canal owners 
whose decreed rights were good went ahead with their development 
and expansion secure in the feeling that they would be protected in 
their rights. The two late appropriators of large amounts were 
clearly shown the inadequacy of their rights and lost no time in 
devising means of supplementing their supplies. This led at once 
to the construction of reservoirs and later to the development of 
supplies of foreign water. 
In the aggregate, capacities of the canals exceed by 10 per cent 
their appropriations. The extension of land irrigated has been such 
that the originally excessive decrees of the larger canals are now 
utilized. Excessive rights are still held by several small ditches 
along the river bottoms. These ditches divert a comparatively small 
amount, of which a great part returns directly to the river and is 
diverted below by canals with early rights. 
Many transfers of appropriations from one canal to another have 
been made, but the amounts transferred, especially of the earliest 
rights, were small. These transfers have in general resulted in lit- 
tle damage to other appropriators and in much benefit to the canal 
to which the transfer was made. 
Almost without exception distribution from the river is made in 
accordance with decreed priorities. The exceptions to the rule are 
recognized as legitimate by the canal men of the valley. Besides 
fearlessness and tact, the distribution of water from a stream requires 
an intimate knowledge of the handling of water in general and of 
the peculiarities of the particular stream itself. The water commis- 
sioner's handling of the Cache la Poudre for more than a score of 
years is most convincing evidence that the administrator of a stream 
should not be subject to the fortunes of a political party and that 
when a good man is secured he should be kept in office. It is folly 
to expect an inexperienced man to handle satisfactorily the problems 
of distribution which constantly arise, especially as complicated by 
return water and private water carried in natural channels. The 
obvious remedy is a study of the streams of the State by experienced 
74464°— 22 6 
