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<br />hold him liable under this law for furnishing everybody at all, times an
<br />adequate supply o! water. I apprehend that this is one offioe for whioh,
<br />there would be not many oandidates.
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<br />Of oouree, the next major step in the development of our irrigation
<br />laws, was the adoption of the oonstitutional provision in lB76, making
<br />a part of our organio law the dootrine of priority of appropriation.
<br />It has been said by our Supl'eme Court that this provieion of the
<br />oonstitution was merel;r a reoognition o! the previous existing oustom
<br />diotated by the "imperiOUS 'neoessitY" of' bringing the lite, giving waters
<br />to the thirsty land. '
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<br />Following the adoption of the Cohstitution, and in the year lB79,
<br />the Legislature passed an aot providing a prooeclure for defining, fixing
<br />and establishing the relative rights of appropriators in aooordanoe,with
<br />the date of each appropriation. This aot was very shortly after its
<br />paesage deolared by the Supreme Court. unoonstitutional in part. In the
<br />next sepsion of the LegiSlature, in 18Bl, the def.ects in the,aot of '79
<br />were remedied. From that, date to the present, with modifioatione and
<br />amendments not speciall;r far reaohing or drastio, we are oapturing,
<br />utiliZing and developing the water supplies of our state, demended by
<br />expanding agrioul tural needs.
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<br />, It wUl be aeen that the inhabitants of Colorado, from the very
<br />earli.st date of its oooupanoy, have followed the cyole of the history of
<br />oivilization. 'Originally, the, prosperity and very existenoe 01' those who
<br />were living in ,this arid region, were based upon the produotion of food
<br />by irrigation. Without thie foundation the State would have bElen peopled
<br />only by the wanderiDg tribes of nomad savages.
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<br />There then followed the great boom of lBSB and .'59, created by the
<br />disoovery of preoious minerals. This in time faded into oomparative
<br />unimportanoe. This era was followed by the Wide-flung range-oattle industry,
<br />whioh in turn gave way to the s,ettlement of homestsads and similar farm
<br />uses. We then had ,a period of gr~h, based largely upo~ the develop-
<br />ment of the great bitUJDinous ,ooal fields, and related industry. Those
<br />are no ,longer of prime importance in the economy 01' the State. Now, as in
<br />the beginning, the oreation of taxable wealth, the prosperity and growth
<br />of towns and cities, the dsvelopment of far-flung transportation systems,
<br />are all depandent upon the continusd spresd of agriculture I and'that in
<br />,turn ~pon the ut1li~ation of our water supplies through irrigation systems.
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<br />So, these hardy", far-sighted snd oourageous pioneera who 100' years
<br />ago mads it their first task to construct the S!II1 Luis Peopte8' Ditch,
<br />buildSd better than they kn8ll', No shatt of purest marble, no lofty ec;lifice
<br />of stone and steel, no tablet of bronze or gold, can constitute a
<br />monUIII,ent to,foraver oommemorats their achievement, comparable with the
<br />acequia dug through the desert of sand and sage by the tou and vision cf
<br />those people whose 'memory we today honor. '
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