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Show CHAPTER XI 193 It is the position of the Tribe and of Interior that the boundary question is now settled and that the irrigable acreage in the "enlarged area" should be accorded a present perfected right as that term is defined in the Decree in Arizona v. California. The Tribe alleges that the additional area comprises 4,439 acres, of which 2,710 acres are practicably irrigable and have a diversion duty of 6.67 acre-feet per acre or 18,076 acre-feet of water (see Motion of Tribe to Intervene dated April 10, 1978). H. Fort Mohave Indian Reservation H.I. Background Based on a survey in 1869 by Army Lieutenant Wheeler, the Hay and Wood Military Reserve at Camp Mohave was created by an Executive Order of March 30, 1870 (see Appendix 1109 for text of Order). It became the Fort Mohave Indian Reservation pursuant to an Executive Order of September 9, 1890, which specified that the Reserve would include 9,114 acres (see Appendix 1110 for text of Order). Lands were added thereto by an Executive Order of December 1, 1910 (see Appendix 1111 for text of Order). H.2. Question of Western Boundary The western boundary of the Reserve was questionable due to a conflict in the calls in the notes of survey accompanying the Executive Order. When laid out the call to the monuments would fix a line at or near the left or east bank of the river, whereas adherence to calls for courses and distances would require a boundary line in the foothills to the west of the Colorado River. In 1928, a General Land Office survey, known as the "Blout Survey," resolved the conflict in favor of the call to artificial monuments, thus establishing the boundary on the east side of the river. The effect thereof was to reverse the 1869 Wheeler survey by moving the west line of the Reservation to the river approximately 11A miles to the east. About 3,500 acres were thus removed from the Reservation. In 1896 the General Land Office (GLO) had awarded a portion of the Hay and Wood Reserve to California under the Swamp and Overflow Act, and the State issued patents to these lands to non-Indians. On April 27, 1959, the State filed an application with BLM to select approximately 1,500 acres of the 3,500 acres "severed" from the Reservation. H.3. Special Master's Report The Special Master in Arizona v. California, 373 U.S. 546, found that the Blout line, which substantially reduced the size of the Reservation, was the correct western boundary. He also found that in withdrawing lands for the Fort Mohave Indian Reservation the United States intended to reserve rights to the use of so much water from the Colorado River as would be necessary to irrigate all the practicably irrigable acreage thereon and to satisfy related uses. i The Special Master found that there are 14,916 acres of "practicably irrigable" land in Arizona which, together with related uses, have a maximum annual diversion requirement of 96,416 acre-feet; that there are 1,939 acres of such land in Nevada, with a maximum annual diversion requirement of 12,534 acre-feet; and 2,119 acres in California with a maximum annual diversion requirement of 13,698 acre-feet; the latter quantities subject to reduction by the quantity of 6.4 acre-feet per acre of irrigable accreted land owned by owners of patented lands and not included with the Reservation. These aggregate a maximum of 18,974 irrigable acres with a maximum annual diversion requirement of 122,648 acre-feet, subject to reduction as indicated as to lands accreted to patented lands (see pages 279 through 287, Special Master's Report, December 5, 1960). In 1963 the Supreme Court ruled that the Special Master's determination as to the boundary was not necessary and held it in abeyance. |
