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The Pueblo Chieftain Online <br />Published: Monday August 08, 2005 <br />CHIEFTAIN PHOTO /JOHN JAQUES <br />Doug Wiley's family has been using <br />the Bessemer Ditch for generations. <br />Farms along ditch see changes <br />By MARGIE WOOD <br />THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN <br />Page 1 of 4 <br />Bert Hartman, chairman of the Bessemer Ditch board, has lived all his life along <br />the canal. "I started working for my father when I was about 10 years old, so I've <br />been working more than 60 years," he said. He made his living primarily in cattle - <br />feeding, but the family business now is doing more grazing and less feedlot <br />operation. <br />Contemplating the construction of the ditch in the 19th century, he said, "There <br />were some miraculous things farmers were able to do with just their horses and <br />the little bit of equipment they had. The ditch still operates pretty well - I guess <br />we have our ancestors to thank for that, though of course they make <br />improvements every winter." <br />Hartman has toiled on the Bessemer board and through the Arkansas Valley Ditch <br />Association to protect farmers' water rights, and he is outspoken in his opinion <br />that water is a property right. <br />"Our water is an asset, and if we can't sell it, that's taking a property right away," <br />he said. "I will never do anything to take another person's property right and I <br />expect other people to allow me to do the same." <br />http : / /www.chieftain.com /print.php ?article= /metro /1123480800/5 8/9/2005 <br />