| OCR Text |
Show 666 INTERSTATE ADJUDICATIONS from the point of diversion. The topography and natural drainage are such that none of the water can return to the stream or ever reach Wyoming. By the bill Wyoming seeks to prevent this diversion on two grounds: One that, without her sanction, the waters of this interstate stream cannot rightfully be taken from its watershed and carried into another where she never can receive any benefit from them; and the other that through many appropriations made at great cost, which are prior in time and superior in right to the proposed Colorado diversion, Wyoming and her citizens have become and are entitled to use a large portion of the waters of the river in the irrigation of lands in that State and that the proposed Colorado diversion will not leave in the stream sufficient water to satisfy these prior and superior appro- priations, and so will work irreparable prejudice to Wyoming and her citizens. By the answers Colorado and her co-defendants seek to justify and sustain the proposed diversion on three distinct grounds: First, that it is the right of Colorado as a State to dispose, as she may choose, of any part or all of the waters flowing in the portion of the river within her borders, "regardless of the prejudice that it may work" to Wyoming and her citizens; secondly, that Colorado is entitled to an equitable division of the waters of the river and that the proposed diversion, together with all subsisting appropriations in Colorado, does not exceed her share; and thirdly, that after the proposed diver- sion there will be left in the river and its tributaries in Wyoming sufficient water to satisfy (all appropriations in that State whose origin was prior in time to the effective inception of the right under which the proposed Colorado diversion is about to be made. Before taking up the opposing contentions a survey of several mat- ters in the light of which they should be approached and considered is in order. Both Colorado and Wyoming are along the apex of the Continental Divide and include high mountain ranges where heavy snows fall in winter and melt in late spring and early summer-this being the chief source of water supply. Small streams in the mountains gather the water from the melting snow and conduct it to larger streams below which ultimately pass into surrounding States. The flow in all streams varies greatly in the course of the year, being highest in May, June, and July and relatively very low in other months. There is also a pronounced variation from year to year. To illustrate, the gaging of the Cache la Poudre, a typical stream, for 1912 shows that the total flow of May, June, and July was more than three times that for the nine other months, and the gaging for a period of 30 years shows that the yearly flow varied from 151,636 to 666,466 acre- ieet1 and was in excess of 400,000 acre-feet in each of four years and less than 175,000 acre-feet in each of five years. Both States have vast plains and many valleys of varying elevation where there is not sufficient natural precipitation to moisten the soil and make it pro- ductive, but where, when additional water is applied artificially, the soil becomes fruitful-the reward being generous in some areas and moderate in others, just as husbandry is variously rewarded in States 1 An acre-foot is the quantity of water required to cover an acre to a depth of one foot- 43,560 cubic feet |
