| OCR Text |
Show 470 INDIAN SCHOOL SITES. ing to furnish :b description of snirl four sections, nu notion has bee11 taken on iris reeommo~~dation. Water.-While landmatters have been readily adjostecl, water rights for tho Gra~~<l Jllnction school are still in an unsettled eonditiou. Wit11 the original deed of the land from 3lr. Crawfurd vns transferred, as then under~taod,n perpetual water privilege, being 22i sharoli of stork, oertiticate So. 4, issued by the Mesa Ditch Company in fwor of T. B. Crawford and msigned to the United States. For this the citizens of Grand .J~uletionc laimed to have paid $1,600 in a<ldition to $'f,4.50 for the land. March 20, 1886, the snpt?rintandent of the sohool, 0. B. Frazier, was iustrnoted to exchange said stack fbr a deed itam the Grand River Ditoh Company a hi oh bought out the Mesa County Uitoh Company) conveying to the sohool n perpetual water privilege. June 2, 146, he sobmitted soeh water-right deed, bciug the form given to all other shareholders in enohnogo for stook. Ultt this deed, vith oontmct, was ret,rlrned to hlu, Angnst 23, 1886, heranse it did not convey s perpetoal v;bter right,, as oontomp1;lted by the act of Congress estnblislliug t l ~ aso hool. Meantime a claim far $95.36 had been presentad by the trewurer of the Mesa County Ditch Company? 1,1886, for repairs to ditch from >lay 1,1885, to 31ay 1, 1886, n-ith :l statement that many of the membersof tho oo~np:u>hya d agreed with the (:rand River Ditch Company to transfer the stook of said compirny elear of the books, and take in lien therefor a paill-np right to the nse of 100 statute inohes of ".at.% for 227 shares, paying smnunlly $20 rental and no more. It also appeared that the ditch c o ~ ~ ~p~rop~oasetd ~onyly to filrniall waterfor irrigoting purpose8 dur-ing the irrigntinx senaon, March 1 to Xovemb8r 1. and that this was alkali water, whioh eoul<l not. be user1 for cooking and drinking purposaa. The statos of the whole matter is as follows: Ori iunlly tile I'ioneer Ditoh Con-y y , a private enterprise of ranchmen, was merge$ into tho Mesa County Ditch ompang, whioh iasusd $50,000 stovk in 5,000 shares at $10 each. The >l\leja County Company iaeued 22i shares to the C.rovern#eonta, nd tho Govrrnme~ltv ns subject to the s;me sxpeuae in keeping up tho ditch ns priv:bte individuals. Finally the Illesa Connty Diteh Company sold ont to the Grsnd River Ditch Co~npsnyt,h e agreement being that eaell holder of 227 shnrov shonld receive therefor a w.hter deed for 100 statntn iuches of nater, for wllieh the hnltler of the deed nns to pay $10 for each 80 acres. It Tvas fur sneh n water <leecl that the Government exohauged its 227 ahares of atoak. Lnoiltrj Coat, aaperinteodent of the Grkrncl River Ditch Company, filed on the 20th of Ananst. 1886, the writton opinion of Walter S. Snllivan, att,oruey for the oompsn)-, that the deed was in the forru osu;td iu Colorado, which had always been oonstr~te<als oonr.c.yiog perpetual and absolute water rights; that i t mas s "commsoity" rlitah and not s ditch ''fi,r profit;" that 22 ranohmen bnilt it and divided the \\-%tor arnong them, first orpaniring as a company or corporation; that the 227 sllsrev at' stock represettted n. psrpetnal, absol~t ev ater right ~u£tioientt o irrigate 160 acres af lsncl, but it \\an not nouassessahlr; t h i~te very lloldor of a, water right iin n. eomlnruity ditch was bolund to by his share of the expanse neoes-snry to keep tllr ditch np, whether rapreselrted by stock or deed (see gwleral stnttttrs of Colornclo, 1883, see. 510); and finolly, to snm up, that (1) the (deed does convey s perpetnal anel aha,lute right to watar sufficient to irrigate the limtl, so far as it is customary to <lo thia ill Colorado; (2) that the right is nonassesssble except for repsirs i~nd~ X ~ ) C I I SoPf management; and (3) that a t the time of the donation, and ~nbseq~tentliyt, \ ~--nsn ot poasible to make i t otherwise. August 21, 1886, the snperintentluut of the school reported that he ,"as satisfied the company (whiolt was oper;~tecl by the Hartford, Connectiout, Travelers' Insur-awe Comlulny) eol~ldn ot 1eg;tlly do more, mfi. September 6,1886, he submitted the opinion of the se.cratar)- of tho oornpi~uyx n to the legel aiffie~~ltiestihne vrsy of giv-ing sllrll a cleell :as ,,-as desired by the Iluliau OEce. The nest day he stthmitted a proposit,ion to exohimga tile sarplhs above 100 statute inches in tho (iorern~nent stook of 227 shares for nnonaasrs~nble water deed to 100 statute inolles of water; bnt, Sel~temhor1 1,1886, Supo. Frssier informed this office that he could get no assur-ance from the <litellr ou~lianrt hat 811011 R <lee&w onlcl be made. Marol~7 . 1889, the Gmucl iralley C11.nalC ompany advised this office that the Grand River 1)itch Company having bocoma $300,000 in clebt had closed business September, 1888, under a toreclosure sale lnatle that ~dny,% ~.tuh<atl after the bourlholdera pur-ohwed the ditrll thc (irsnd Valley Canal Conlpauy was organized as a new aomp:bny and snhmitted two ],repositions to the holdera of water rights, (1) to take the ditch off tho eoml,an~.'s ]rands for $50,000, or, (2) to lot the water contracts thenoutst,a.nd-ing betaken np i&n<lissnefdr om the Grand RirerDitohCampany proper, the aolrlpany to nsc all the other clitohos ns laterels and oarriers of water from the mein ditch to the resl,ectire r;mchea, no!\- contracts to be issued (in aocordaura with the priority of d:lte~o f the old <rontl.sotsa nd deeds) containing a olause providing for a maximum xasessmeutof $1 per inch and extraordinary assessments not enreedmg $10 per right. July 9, 1839, Supt. Wheeler forwarded letter from Cllnrles F. Cns!rell, attorney |
