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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Firat, aome method of determining prior rights had to be devised. Second,
if prior rights were to be meaningful some reasonably exact principle
for the measurement of water had to be discovered. Finally a system of
stream-flow administration which would authorize and control diversions
was needed, if that prior right was to be completelY realized.

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The convention met in Denver December 5-7, 1878. About fifty-one
irrigators were in attendance~-all from the South Platte or its .
tributaries. A few came to oppose any legislative program. L. C. Mead
was again elected chairman. David Boyd of Greeley was appointed chair-
man of the committee on order of business. Three proposals were brought
before the convention by the committee. ' The proposal to divide the State
into districts for the administration met vigorous opposition. G. 'i.'!.
Harriman of Bear Creek was reported to have said, "If the people of the
Cache La Foudre want legislation let them have a district law and pay for
it themselves." When the question of water measurement was under
di.scussion J. Max Clark of. Greeley supported the proposal by a reference
to the successful measurement of streams in Italy. However, there was
a good deal of skepticism about the feasibility of measurement of water,
even among the friends of a legislative program. One man, David Barnes
of the Big Thompson, suggested that it would be more feasible to measure
the snow in the mountains. The convention ended with the chair being
authorized to appoint acow~ittee to draft a bill for an irrigation law
to be submitted to the legislature. The 'committee was composed of David
Boyd of Greeley, Chairman; J. S. Stange, editor of The Colorado Farmer;
Daniel Witter of Boulder, John C. Abbott of Fort CoIIIns;-aDa-r.-L. Bond
of Boulder.

The program this committ.ee recommended to the legislature provided
Jirst, for, dividing the Sta,te into water districts corresponding with
the natural drainage basins; second, the appointment by the Goverrior of
a water commissioner in each district whose duty it would be to divide
the water on the basis of prior appropriations; third, a plan for
securing a record of priorities through referees' hearings in each
district. The latter was the most contentiously discussed problem.
Dr. Bond wanted water rights based not on diversion but on application
to the land. Each parcel of land thus would have the water rights
permanently attached to it. Finally, the program provided for the
appointment of a state engineer. '

The bill was placed in the hands of L. C. Mead who introduced the
measure. It was rewritten in committee by Judge H. F. H. Bron~ell,
one of the few lawyers who were sympathetic with the idea of state
administration. The bill faced determined cpposition in the legislature.
Three times L. R. Rhoads of Fort Collins, who later became one of the
leading irrigation attorneys of the state, attempted to kill the bill.
However, on February 9, 1879, the bill became law. The act created ten
~~water districts, all but one in the FlatteRiver system, and provided
for the appointment of ten water commissioners. It empowered the District
courts to appoint referees to determine the priority of rights on each
stream. The legislature refused to provide for a state engineer or for
gauging stations. To economize, the supervision over irrigation '~as
given to the State Board of Agriculture.

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