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Show SPECIAL STATUTORY ADJUDICATION PROCEDURES 487 Wyoming Supreme Court held that under the Wyoming water rights statutes, the term "adjudication" is generally considered the equivalent of "determina- tion" and is used interchangeably with it.258 The Wyoming Constitution created a Board of Control, composed of the State Engineer (as president) and the superintendents of the four water divisions. The Board was given, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law, supervision of the waters of the State and their appropriation, distribution, and diversion, its decision being subject to review in the State courts.259 The first State legislature vested the Board of Control with authority to adjudicate rights to use stream waters within the State.260 In initiating the adjudication of a stream, the Board of Control fixes a time for the beginning of taking of testimony and such examinations as will enable it to determine the rights of the various claimants.261 The Board prepares a notice, for newspaper publication, setting the date when the State Engineer will begin a measurement of the stream and ditches diverting therefrom, and a date and place for the taking of testimony by the Division Superintendent as to the rights of the parties claiming water therefrom.262 The Division Superintendent similarly notifies, by registered mail, each party having a recorded claim to the waters of the stream and its tributaries, instructing each party to submit a verified statement of the details of his claim.263 The examination of the stream, ditches, and irrigated lands is then made by or under the direction of the State Engineer264 and testimony is taken by the Division Superintendent.265 Upon the completion of the taking of testimony, all of the evidence is open shall, as provided by law, proceed to adjudicate and determine the rights of the various claimants to the use of water upon any stream or other body of water * * * ." ^Campbell v. Wyoming Dev. Co., 55 Wyo. 347, 378, 100 Pac. (2d) 124, 102 Pac. (2d) 745 (1940); Laramie In. & Power Co. v. Grant, 44 Wyo. 392, 414, 13 Pac. (2d) 235 (1932). 259 Wyo. Const, art. VIII, §§ 2,4, and 5. 260 Wyo. Laws 1890-1891, ch. 8. Under provisions which are still extant, the Board was given the duty at its first meeting to make proper arrangements for beginning the determination of priorities of water rights to decide the streams to be first adjudicated, to begin on streams most used for irrigation, and to continue making determinations as rapidly as practicable until all claims for appropriation on record shall have been adjudicated. Id. § 20, Stat. Ann. § § 41-159 and-165 (1957). Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 41-152 (1957) also provides that "After issuance of the permit under legislative authority and completion of the work according to the terms of the permit, the board of control may adjudicate said water rights upon proof of beneficial use * * *." 2(1 Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 41-165 (1957). 262Id. § 41-166. 263Id. §§ 41-167 to-170. 2"AId. § 41-180. 265Id. § 41-172. |