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<br />~~ti~n 3. HISTORY OF THE INTERSTATE CONTROVERSY <br /> <br /> <br />Appropriation and diversion of water from th~ Arkansas <br /> <br /> <br />River for irrigation purposes in the plains area of southeastern <br /> <br /> <br />Colorado and western K&,sas dates back to the decade 1875 to 1885. <br /> <br /> <br />Litigation to settle the intergtate constroversy which developed <br /> <br /> <br />from increased use and deficient flow of water was almost continuous <br /> <br /> <br />from 1901 to 1943. <br /> <br /> <br />In 1901 Kansas first brought suit against Colorado. The <br /> <br /> <br />United States intervened and set forth Federal claims to the waters <br /> <br /> <br />of the Arkansas River, but the contentions of the Federal Government <br /> <br /> <br />were denied by the United States Supreme Court. In deciding that <br /> <br /> <br />suit (Kansas v. COlorado, 206 U. s. 46) the Supreme Court decreed <br /> <br /> <br />in 1907 that, aJ~hough certain irrigation interests in western <br /> <br /> <br />Kansas had been injured by diversions of water from the Arkansas, <br /> <br /> <br />River in Colorado, such diversions had not exceeded Colorado!s <br /> <br /> <br />equitable share of the waters of this interstate stream, and <br /> <br /> <br />dismissed the case without prejudice to Kansas to bring suit at a <br /> <br /> <br />later date, if continued diversions in her judgment justified such <br /> <br /> <br />action. <br /> <br />Administrators of certain ditches in Kansas instituted suit <br />in 1910 in the Federal Court for the District of Colorado against <br />agencies that controlled ditches and reservoirs in Colorado seeking <br />to restrain them from diverting water in Colorado to the alleged <br />injury of Kansas ditches. This case was compromised and settled out <br />of court in 1916, but a similar suit was instituted in the same <br /> <br />-Jr. <br /> <br />