BOARD01026

• Board Meeting Date: 5/16/2006
• Description: History of Reservoirs in the San Luis Valley - Presentation by Melvin Getz
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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evidence of the appropriation 'ilie eu!lmitted to the court by swcrn
testimony of witnesses faUdliar with the history of that ditch from its
inception. An attempt was made to have a priority ,awarded to the ditch
as of September, 1846, but, the trial, court held that there was no
privity of interest or title between the original appropriator 'and the
then claimant, and acoordingly fixed the priority date 'as of the year
1864. However, the appropriation originally made has been 'used and still
is bsing used, for the reclamation and use of the 60 acres first put under
irrigation by Hatcher. '

So far' as I have been able to ,determine from such invsstigation
and research as I have been able to make, the 'foregoing' is a brisf ,out-
line of the, history of irrigation in Colorado down to the date of the
construction of the San Luis 'Peoplesl 'Ditch, the irrigation enterprise,
the celebration of the,lOOth anniversary of which is the oocasion for
this meeting.

, Beginning with the year 1860 and following the gold rush of 18,9,
a great, infimc of people famUiar with the practioe of irrigation in
New Mexioo for generations, came into' ColoradO and immediately construct-
ed more or less ~tensive irrigation works. this, was not only true in
the valley of the Rio Grande, the PioketY/tre, the Greenhorn and the
Fountain, ths three latter being tributaries to the ArKansas River, but
to a less extent wes also carried on in northern Colorado. Ths develop-
ment, however, 'in ~outhern Colorado, was-quite 'extensive! on the Piokst-
wire, for instance, the averege or normal flow of that etream during the
irrigation season was completely eppropriated by the year 1864.

Subsequsntly the great irrigation aystems on the Platte and its
tributaries, the Arkansas and its tributaries and the Rio Grande and its
tributaries, ware construotecl and have continually expanded, and are
'still expanding, furnishing ths foundation and basis for the greater
part of the economic wealth and welfare of the 6tate of Colorado.,

In the process of this development Colorado was the pioneer in the
adoptton of what is known as the doctrine of the priority of appropria-
tion for ,the be,neficial use of tile waters of the streBJlls; ,or "first in
time, first in right." This was ,a distinot departure from the common
law theory of riparian rights: that is, that the owner or oocupant of
the lande immediately adjacent to a natliral, streBJll was entitled to have
that stream continue to flow past his holdings, und1:m1n1shed in quantity
and unimpaired in qUality. The'riparian,right.doctrine, of,course, waa
nsver practically adaptable to the proper and economioally feasible '
diverSion, transportation and beneficial usa of water for irrigation.
The State of California attempted to apply ,thie doctrine in the develop-
ment of irrigation in that State, bVt it proved to be a failure, and'
that state ha~ been more or less continually engeged in, controversy and
litigation throughout,its existenoe, It now attempts to operate under'
a hybrid law, based in part on the riplU'isn right doctrine. and in part
, on the dootrine of priority of appropriation. Their experience
emphasizes the wisdom of those leadere and statesmen of the 'early days
of' Colorado, who made our la:ws conform, to the necessitiee of the region, ,
rather than attempting to guide and govern the utilization of a nscessary
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