65 
Stab nn nt of pri 
f reservoirs in ivater district Xo. 
court. 
front tin <i< en • ■-■ of tl" district 
Nam.- of resen oir. 
Stream from which water i- 
taken. 
: appn 
prlation. 
Amount <»f 
appropria- 
Order of 
priority 
in dis- 
trict. 
Risl 
Mariano . . 
Bennetts. . 
Big Thomp 
Farwell... 
Big Thompson Sept. 15,1874 
do Oct 1,1875 
st. \' rain and Little Thompson Feb. 25,1880 
n Big Thompson May 18,1881 
<!<> Vug. 31,1881 
Feb. 24,1883 
Luii«l<»n do 
Cubic feet 
fH ;' St mini. 
5,211 
180, » 
1,267,800 
14,001 
H0.00ii.ikmi 
10, 
Examination will show there was apparently no rule adopted by the 
judge or referee for estimating the amount of water the ditches car- 
ried or the amount of water necessary to irrigate an acre of land. 
The judge has in some cases followed the referee's recommendation and 
in other- ignored it. The referee, in turn, generally accepted as cor- 
rect the statements of the claimants, but in others he did not. though 
there appears to be no reason for the distinctions. In some cases he 
allowed an amount sufficient to irrigate all the land under the ditch; 
in others he confined the amount to the land actually irrigated. In 
some he allowed water for land which by an extension and enlarge- 
ment of the ditch might be irrigated. h\ one case at least he allowed 
water to only the land actually irrigated, ignoring the fact that the 
ditch for nearly its entire length could carry a yolume sufficient for 
all the land under it. that work was rapidly prosecuted, and that this 
land was irrigated at the earliest practicable date. In this case he did 
not take into consideration the extent and difficulty of construction, 
but diyided the decree into several parts, each of date when water was 
actually applied without reference to the time of beginning construc- 
tion. In another case, contrary to the statements made in the applica- 
tion and request for two decrees of different dates, he granted one 
decree aggregating in amount the total of the two and of date of the 
older. 
FIRST SERIES OF CONTESTS. 
The Handy Ditch, intended and located to cover nearly all the land 
on the south side, is by the decree granted a flow of 31.2 cubic feet 
per second to irrigate 15,000 acres of land. The priority of the bal- 
ance, 141.23 cubic feet per second, was dated three year- later, as the 
company had not been able to begin and complete a ditch capable of 
carrying the total amount through its entire proposed length the first 
year after work was begun. This action allowed 260 cubic feet per 
second for various ditches and enlargements to intervene between the 
two priorities. 
The officers of the Handy Ditch, ignorant that the referee had taken 
it upon himself to divide their decree without notice to them, and, 
2817— No. 118—02 5 
