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We have mentioned the Interstate, Ft. Laramie, and Northport canals which are part of the North Platte
<br />Project, the first two of which take out at the Whalen diversion dam. About a mile east of the Wyoming -
<br />Nebraska line is the Tri -State Dam. Just above that dam in Nebraska are the headgates of three large
<br />Nebraska canals -Tri- State, Gering, and Northport. Water for the Northport is diverted through the Tri -State
<br />headgate, Northport physically being an extension of the Tri -State canal. Another Nebraska canal is the
<br />Ramshorn which also receives its supply through Tri- State. Just above the state line is the headgate of the
<br />Mitchell canal serving Nebraska land. [325 U.S. 589, 596] While these five canals are commonly referred
<br />to as the Nebraska State Line Canals, this opinion generally uses the term as excluding Northport which, as
<br />we have said, is a North Platte Project canal. There are also nine Wyoming private canals diverting below
<br />Whalen. One of these, French Canal, serves lands in both Wyoming and Nebraska. The section of the river
<br />from Whalen to the Tri -State Dam is the pivotal section of the entire river. In this short stretch of 40 odd
<br />miles is concentrated a demand for water as great as in the entire preceding 415 miles apart from the
<br />Kendrick project to which we will refer. We will return to a conside ation of the problems of this pivotal
<br />section shortly.
<br />The North Platte Projects has greatly increased the water resources of the river available for irrigation.
<br />Unused and wasted water are stored and held over from one season to another. Moreover, the storage water
<br />has affected the water tables through saturation of the subsoil. This has increased the return flows available
<br />for rediversion and irrigation. The Special Master found that due largely to the influence of the North Platte
<br />Project and the application of storage water to lands in eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska the returns
<br />flows increased from a negligible quantity in 1911 to 700,000 acre feet in 1927. While that amount sharply
<br />declined during the drought beginning in 1931, it still is substantial. Thus from 1931 -1936 it amounted to
<br />54,300 acre feet in the Whalen -Tri- State Dam section. And as we have already said, the great and
<br />disproportionate increase in acreage irrigated in Nebraska since 1910 as compared with the increase in
<br />Colorado and Wyoming is largely attributable to the North Platte Project. While the North Platte Project
<br />has increased the water resources, it has complicated the problem of water administration in Wyoming and
<br />Nebraska. It has necessitated a segregation of storage and natural flow. The storage plants and diversion
<br />works are in Wyoming, although much of the beneficial use is in Nebraska. Appro- [325 U.S. 589, 597]
<br />priators in Nebraska are dependent on regulation and control in Wyoming.
<br />There is a second large federal irrigation project in Wyoming known as the Kendrick project, the estimated
<br />cost of which is over $19,000,000. Its primary purpose is the irrigation of some 66,000 acres north and west
<br />of Casper, Wyoming. The first unit, capable of serving 35,000 acres, was completed in 1940. Due to the
<br />lack of water supply it has not yet been put into operation. The second unit is under construction. The
<br />storage facilities are completed. They consist of two channel reservoirs -the Seminole thirty miles above
<br />Pathfinder, with a capacity of 1,026,400 acre feet; the Alcova, thirteen miles below Pathfinder, with a
<br />capacity of 190, 500 acre feet. Casper Canal will divert the water at Alcova and serve the lands of the
<br />project.
<br />The combined storage capacity of the reservoirs of these two federal projects- Kendrick and North Platte -is
<br />2,313,270 acre feet which, as the Special Master found, is 175 per cent of the long -time average annual
<br />run- off of the river at Pathfinder.
<br />There are also two projects in Nebraska - Sutherland, with a capacity of 175,000 acre feet and Tri - County
<br />with a capacity of 2,000,00 acre feet. The latter is expected to bring under irrigation an additional 205,000
<br />acres in Nebraska. Including that acreage but excluding the 60,000 acres expected to be irrigated in
<br />Wyoming under the Kendrick project the Special Master found that the acreages under irrigation in the
<br />three States would be approximately as follows:
<br />Colorado 131,800 acres (12 %) Wyoming 325,720 " (29 %) Nebraska 653,355 " (59 %) _ Total
<br />1,110,875 (100 %)
<br />Prior to the time when the North Platte project went into operation there was a serious shortage of water for
<br />[325 U.S. 589, 598] irrigation in western Nebraska and to some extent in eastern Wyoming. Many
<br />irrigation enterprises were closed. After the North Platte Project had been in operation for awhile most of
<br />the projects which had been abandoned were reopened. From then until 1931 the supply was reasonably
<br />adequate for most of the canals. But the year 1931 started the driest cycle or swing in the North Platte and
<br />Platte River valleys of which there is any record. The annual flow at Pathfinder6 had always fluctuated
<br />widely. 7 The average flow for the 37 years commencing in 1904 was 1,315,900 acre feet, the maximum
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