OCR Text |
Show of all of the allotments. The controversy is over the right to use for domestic and irrigating purposes the waters of Indian Creek, along which the defendants severally live upon lands owned by them and formerly embraced in the reservation. Indian Creek is a small stream approximately three miles in length. From its source to within about a half mile of its mouth it runs through a well-defined canyon, leading into which there are numerous small canyons or draws. During the season of high water, when the snow is melting, it carries a considerable volume of water, and is continuous from its source to the Portneuf River. After the freshet runoff, which ends some time in May, depending upon seasonal conditions, it is small, and, percolating into the bed of the channel, wholly ceases to flow at a point about a mile down from its source. Approximately a mile further down, near and in the channel, and within an area of 100 feet square, there are a number of springs, the aggregate discharge of which exceeds the volume of the stream before it sinks. Throughout its entire course the channel has a fall, comparatively uniform, of 150 feet to the mile. The first contention of the Government is that under the treaties and acts relating to the reservation, as a matter of law, its wards have a superior right to the stream, which does not depend upon possession, and which the defendants could not defeat or impair by first appropriating the water and actually applying it to their beneficial use. In support of the view it relies chiefly upon Winters v. United States, 207 U. S. 564; s. c. 143 Fed. 740, and 148 Fed. 684. The treaty and ratifying act involved in that case being silent upon the subject of water rights, or at least there being no express reservation thereof, it was reasoned that the |
Source |
Original book: [State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, City of Los Angeles, California, City of San Diego, California, and County of San Diego, California, defendants, United States of America, State of Nevada, State of New Mexico, State of Utah, interveners] : California exhibits. |