State of Nebraska v. State of Wyoming et al. 325 US 589 (1945) 325 US 589

Home Browse Search

Wyoming west of Cheyenne, and continues in a northerly direction to the vicinity of Casper. There it turns east across the Great Plains and proceeds easterly and southerly into and across Nebraska. About 40 miles west of the Nebraska line it is joined by the Laramie River. At North Platte, Nebraska, it is joined by the South Platte, forming the Platte River. It empties into the Missouri River at Plattsmouth, near the western border of Iowa. In North Park it is a rapid mountain stream. In eastern Wyoming it gradually broadens out, losing velocity. In western and central Nebraska its channel ranges from 3000 to 6000 feet; it frequently divides into small channels; and in times of low water is lost in the deep sands of its bed. Here it is sometimes characterized as a river'two miles wide and one inch deep.' There are six natural sections of the river basin: (1) North Park, Colorado, or more accurately Jackson County; (2) Colorado- Wyoming line to the Pathfinder Reservoir located between Rawlins and Casper, Wyoming; (3) Pathfinder Reservoir to Whalen, Wyoming which is 42 miles from the Nebraska line; (4) Whalen, Wyoming to the Tri -State Dam in Nebraska near the Wyoming- Nebraska tine; (5) Tri -State Dam to the Kingsley Reservoir, west of Keystone, Nebraska; (6) Kingsley Reservoir to Grand Island, Nebraska. 3 [325 U.S. 589, 594] The river basin in Colorado and Wyoming is arid, irrigation being generally indispensable to agriculture. Western Nebraska is partly and and partly semi -arid. Irrigation is indispensable to the kind of agriculture established there. Middle Nebraska is sub - humid. Some crops can be raised without irrigation. But the lack of irrigation would seriously limit diversification. Eastern Nebraska, beginning at Grand Island, is sufficiently humid so as not to justify irrigation. Irrigation in the river basin began about 1865, when some projects were started in eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska. Between 1880 and 1890 irrigation began on a large scale. Until 1909 storage of water was negligible, irrigation being effected by direct diversions and use. Prior to 1909 the development in Colorado and Wyoming was relatively more rapid than in Nebraska. Since 1910 the acreage under irrigation in Colorado increased about 14 per cent, that of Wyoming 31 per cent, and that of Nebraska about 100 per cent. 4 The large increase in Nebraska is mainly attributable to the use of storage water from the Pathfinder Reservoir. 5 The Pathfinder Reservoir is part of the 'North Platte Project' which followed the adoption by Congress in 1902 of the Reclamation Act. 32 Stat. 388, 43 U.S.C.A. 372, 373, 381, 383, 391 et seq. Pathfinder was completed in 1913. It has a capacity of 1,045,000 acre [] Colorado Wyoming Nebraska * Total [] 1880 200 11,000 _ 11,200 1890 44,500 86,000 15,300 145,800 1900 83,500 169,100 105,690 358,290 1910 113,500 224,500 192,150 530,150 1920 129,140 265,375 306,930 701,445 1930 130,540 307,105 371,300 808,945 1939 131,810 325,720 383,355 840,885 [] * not including about 65,000 acres now irrigated from the Platte River between North Platte and Kearney, Neb. 5 Of the 174,650 acre increase since 1910, 104,000 acres are North Platte Project lands. [325 U.S. 589, 595] feet, which is 79 percent of the average annual run -off of the North Platte River at that point. This project includes an auxiliary channel reservoir called Guernsey, located above Whalen, Wyoming. Its capacity is 50,870 acre feet. The project also includes two small reservoirs in Nebraska -Lake Alice and Lake Minatare- having a capacity of 11,400 and 67, 000 acre feet respectively. There are two main supply canals - Interstate and Fort Laramie -which take out from the North Platte at the Whalen diversion dam. The Interstate canal runs on the north side and the Fort Laramie on the south side of the river. Both extend far into Nebraska. Northport-a third canal -is located wholly in Nebraska. These canals and their laterals extend over 1600 miles. The project also includes a drainage system and two hydroelectric power plants. The United States contracted with landowners or irrigation districts for use of the water- selling it, as contemplated by the Reclamation Act, so as to recoup the cost of the project which was about $19,000,000. It also entered into so- called Warren Act contracts pursuant to the Act known by that name (36 Stat. 925, 43 U.S.C.A. 523 et seq.) which authorized the Secretary of the Interior to contract for the storage and delivery of any surplus water conserved by any reclamation project in excess of the requirements of the project.