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the Reclamation Act, for the use of the landowners; and by the <br />terms of the law and of the contract already referred to, the <br />water rights became the property of the landowners, wholly dis- <br />tinct from the property right of the government in the irrigation <br />works# ** *The Government was and remained simply a carrier and <br />distributor of the water * * *, with the right to receive the sum <br />stipulated in the contracts as reimbursement for the cost of <br />construction and annual charges for operation and maintenance of <br />the works. As security therefore, it was provided that the govern- <br />ment should have a lien upon the lands and the water rights <br />appurtenant thereto---a provision which in itself imports that the <br />water rights belong to another than the lienor, that is to say, <br />to the landowner." <br />The Federal Power Act (Act of June 10., 1920, 41 Stat, 1. 1077, Ch, <br />185, sec, 27; U.S Code, 193. edition, Title 16, oh. 12, sea. 821) pro. <br />vided that nothing contained in the Act shall in any way interfere with <br />the laws of the respective states relating to the control, appropriation, <br />use and distribution of water used in irrigation,. <br />Irrespective of this explicit Congressional enactment, we find the <br />government in a recent case, United States vs. Applachian Power Co., 107 <br />F. 2d 769, contends that the primary purpose of this legislation is the <br />control of water power development by the federal government. However, <br />in accord with former decisions, the Circuit Court of Appeals, Fourth <br />Circuit, in November 1939 held: <br />" * ** If the river is not navigable interstate, its control and <br />use (except that downstream navigability of other waters of the <br />United States may not be impaired), is subject to the laws of the <br />State, and not of the federal government. * * *" <br />In this same decision the Court said: <br />" ** *Within the proper scope of the interstate commerce power, the <br />control of navigation by the federal government is plenary; but its <br />sphere of operation is necessarily limited to the protection of <br />commerce which is interstate] the control over purely intrastate <br />rivers and streams; as such, remains with the states, whether the <br />waters are navigable or not; and it necessarily follows even an <br />interstate stream which is not in fact navigable for purpose of <br />interstate commerce is not subject to the control of the federal <br />4.10: <br />