PUB00148

• Year: 1978
• Title: The Colorado Water Study Directions for the Future
• CWCB Section: Administration
• Description: The Colorado Water Study Directions for the Future
• Publications - Doc Type: Historical

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II. A (BRIEF) HISTORY OF COLORADO WATER LAW.

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A. Evolution of the Colorado Doctrine: Recognizing the
Right of Prior Appropriation.

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Colorado has established a system of water rights and legal controls
on the exercise of those rights which is particularly adapted to the
arid conditions in the West but is nonetheless unique among the west-
ern states. The origins of this system may be found in the experiences
of the farmers and miners who first attempted to put the water to pro-
ductive use.

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1 Ell" 1
. ar y rrlgatlon.

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The first recorded attempt to irrigate land in Colorado occurred
in 1787, when a group of farmers from the Spanish Province of New
Mexico settled at the junction of the St. Charles and Arkansas rivers
and began an irrigation project in cooperation with a tribe of Comanehe
Indians. This project lasted only a short time. In 1832, the Bent
brothers irrigated about 40 acres of land on the north bank of the
Arkansas River between the present towns of Las Animas and La Junta.
Their attempt was also short-lived.

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The early settlers in the Colorado region encountered conditions
vastly different from those which prevailed in the humid East. Precip-
itation was scarce and limited to certain seasons of the year. Runoff
from melting snows was confined to narrow stream channels ?nd even the
land adjacent to the riverbanks was too dry to farm using traditional
methods. Water diversion was required before the land was capable of
supporting crops.

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It took a great deal of time and experience to develop dependable
irrigation methods. Crop failures were not uncommon in these early
days. Nevertheless, some attempts did succeed. A group of farmers
sustained an irrigation project at the mouth of the Founta:in River
near Pueblo from 1841 until 1854, when the entire settlement was
destroyed by local Indians. The San Luis People's Ditch on the
Culebra and Conejos rivers, begun in the l8s0s, is the oldest ditch
in continuous use in Colorado.

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Since early ditches were confined to the river botto~s, there
was an adequate supply of water for all users; hence, there was no
need for a formal definition of rights or a system for adjudicating
competing demands for the same resource.

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This idyllic situation changed dramatically in 1858 with the
discovery of gold near Pikes Peak. The next few years witnessed an

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