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Show 154 codes and irrigation-district laws, and the addition of thou- sands of decisions by "courts of last resort of these Western States, deciding or attempting to decide many propositions as they were presented and new phases of rights to waters." " Statutes and decisions have of course continued to accumulate since then. We shall not attempt here to treat this mass of law with its multiple variations from state to state. It should be noted, however, that Appendix B of this volume contains inde- pendently prepared summaries of portions of such state laws. Our direct concern is with federal responsibility for and par- ticipation in irrigation undertakings. To provide a necessary part of the background, however, we shall first discuss gen- erally the divergent doctrines of water law in their relation to irrigation, including the use of underground water and return flow. Similarly, we shall summarize the significant develop- ments leading to assumption of federal irrigation responsibili- ties. Then comes an examination in more detail of the nature and scope of federal irrigation activities. Principal attention will thus be devoted to Reclamation Law, a term which we shall use to refer to the Reclamation Act of 1902, as supple- mented and amended over a period of nearly 50 years by more than 175 general, basic, and special acts of Congress.18 In addi- tion, we shall consider other federal statutes significantly re- lating directly or indirectly to federal irrigation undertakings. Water Rights A water right is a right only to use of water-a right usu- fructuary in character, not a right to the corpus of the water itself.19 Wiel has described the right as "real property," saying 1T1 Kinney, Irrigation and Water Rights, Preface (2d ed. 1912). "Act of June 17, 1902, 32 Stat. 388, as amended and supplemented, 43 U. S. O. 391 et seq. These and other statutes applying to specific projects have been printed in a single volume entitled Federal Reclamation Laws, Annotated, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (2d ed. 1943). An annotated cumulative supplement thereto carries a collection through 1946. 19 See, e. g., Lux v. Haggin, 69 Oal. 255,390,10 Pac. 674, 753 (1886); Mettler v. Ames Realty Co., 61 Mont. 152,161-162, 201 Pac. 702, 704 (1921). |