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Show 596 OTHER WATERS AT THE SURFACE against the claim of an appro priator on the stream into which the spring flowed.154 On the other hand, the Montana Supreme Court held that an increase in the flow of a spring, one of the sources of a watercourse on which appropriative rights were established (the increase resulting from irrigation of higher lands) did not belong to the company supplying the irrigation water nor to the owner of the land on which the spring rose. Such increase was not developed water, said the court. When the waters escaped from the irrigated lands and reached the spring, they became tributary to the stream which it supplied.155 State Situations Alaska No reported Alaska court decisions or statutes relating expressly to spring waters have come to the attention of the author. The Alaska statutes provide, "Whenever occurring in a natural state, the waters are reserved to the people for common use and are subject to appropriation and beneficial use * * *."1S6 "A right to appropriate water can be acquired only as provided in this chapter."1S7 "Water" is defined as "all water of the state, surface and subsurface occurring in a natural state, except mineral and medicinal water * * * " 1S8 Arizona Prior to enactment of the Water Code, the Arizona Supreme Court pointed out that springs had not been included in the sources of water to which the appropriation statutes referred. It held that no right in the water of a seeping spring (which did not constitute the source of a watercourse) could be obtained by posting a notice of appropriation or doing any work pursuant thereto.159 The Water Code includes water of "springs on the surface" among waters declared to belong to the public and subject to appropriation and beneficial use as provided by the law.160 As first enacted in 1919, this statute referred to the water of "springs," the present designation having been made by amendment in 1921.161 The 1919 legislation constituted the first statutory authority for the appropriation of spring waters in Arizona. ^"Miller v. Wheeler, 54 Wash. 429, 103 Pac. 641 (1909). issRock Creek Ditch & Flume Co. v. Miller, 93 Mont. 248, 256-268, 17 Pac. (2d) 1074 (1933). '"Alaska Stat. § 46.15.030 (Supp. 1966). islId. § 46.15.040. l5SId. § 46.15.260(5). iS9McKenzie v. Moore, 20 Ariz. 1,4-6, 176 Pac. 568 (1918). 160 Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 45-101(A) (1956). 161 Ariz. Laws 1919, ch. 164, § 1, amended, Laws 1921, ch. 64. |
