PUB00068

• Year: 1952
• Title: A Hundred Years of Irrigatioin in Colorado, 100 Years of Organized and Continuous Irrigation
• Author: CWCB
• Description: Irrigation history of Colorado
• Publications - Doc Type: Historical

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vicinity of Fort Collins and Greeley, the science and art of irrigation
practices were extended by the bolder spirits to the reclamation of
greater areas of land far~removed from the local source of water supplies;
how men of vision later foreseeing the exhaustion of the normal stream
flow, conceived and brought about the existence of a great system' of stor-
age reservoirs for equalizing stream flows; and finally, as the need for
greater supplies became manifest, pierced the mountains with expensive
tunnels, and by the use of many miles of great canal systems, supplemented
their local supplies by diversions from foreign drainage areas; and when
it seemed that individual arid corporate ability had been exhausted, the
Federal Government was appealed to to construct huge systems of storage
and distribution beyond the ability of individu~ls and corporations to
finance. These great accomplishments have not been consummated without
hindrances and discouragements, yet,have gone forward under conditions,
economically both fair and foul, during periods cfhigh mortality to rail-
ways, banking institutions, mining and manufacturing industries.

Such have been the transformations wrought within the brief span of
a single life.

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We, as a young Nation, inherite.d many of our basic laws from England,
our Mother country, which as jn mos~ humid regions, recognized the Com-
~on law doctrine of riparian ownersh~p which, among other things, pro-
vides that one owning land adjacent to, or abutting on a stream, is vested
with the right to have the waters thereof flow past his land substa;ntiall
undiminished in quantity or quality.' That he may take therefrom only so
much of the water as may be required to meet the needs of his household
and livestock; but should he take an' additional amount over and above
those requirements, he must return the excess amount to the stream before
it leaves his land.

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Our forefathers realized that such a theory is not applicable to an
arid or semi-arid region where the maximum consumptive use of the water
is necessary to produce food products and to sustain life. So in fram-
ing the Constitution of our State, our forefathers repudiated the
Doctrine of riparian O1ffiership as it applies to the use of water, and
adopted ,'That is knmIU as the ~Doctrine of Appropriation," which is now
the recognized law in seventeen of our western States. Thirteen .other
states have recognized this principle by legislative enactments.
Colorado, as I recall, "Tith t,IQ or three exceptions, is the only State
of the West which has this announced principle written into its constitu-
tion. .

The ~J?PJ:'opr~~~ive DoetriTle_.:'Ias. first ~llngJlnSce,'LinJ...872in__tbe .cas.e
of Yunker vs. Nichols-;--as reported in the First' Colorado Reports of our
Supreme Court.

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The Territory of Colorado was created by Act of Congress out of
lands which were then parts of the States or Territories of Kansas,
Nebraska, Utah and New I1exico. Local Qustoms 'lith respect to the use
of Hater which had developed ;Jrior to tilat time involved important
questions relative to the rights of different appropriators, both as to
quantity and time of use. These differences later resulted in the noted ~
decision of the Territorial Supreme Court, in Yunker vs. Nichols in 1872.' .
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