Laserfiche WebLink
<br />001088 <br /> <br />.'l <br />< <br /> <br />The appropriation made by the predeoessors of the Reservoir <br />Company and confirmed in that company by decree in the adjudication proceeding <br />was for agricultural purposes and the appropriations made by the ditch owners <br />were for agricultural purposes. The appropriation by the former was prior <br />to the a,pprcpriations by the latter, and as all are using the Water for the <br />same purpose. namely, for the irrigation of agricultura.l land, under the clear <br />terms of the Constituticn the former has the better right. <br /> <br />L, <br /> <br />The COnstitution makes no distinction between appropriations based <br />Upon the mea:ns or instrumentality employed to convey the water to the land. <br />The use of the water for agricultural purpcses is the end in view; reservoirs. <br />canals and ditches are merely the means or instrumentalities whereby the <br />appropriatcr applies the water to the irrigation of agricultural land, that <br />being the purpose for which he appropriated the water. Within the meaning <br />of the constitutional provisions quoted above, there is no such thing as a <br />"reservoir purpose," a "storage purpose," a "canal purpose." or a"ditch purpose.1. <br /> <br />< , <br /> <br />When the predecessors of the Reservoir Company made their a,ppro- <br />priation. they did so knowing that the Constitution expressly made their <br />rights subordinate to the rights of prior appropriators. Vfhen the later appro- <br />priators appeared, they had full knmvledge of the existence of the prior <br />appropriations. inoluding the appropriation made by the predecessors of the <br />Reservoir Company. They went upon the stream with their eyes open. They <br />ran the risk, whioh all subsequent appropriators run, of having their supply <br />diminished if, by reason of an insufficient supply of water. there is little <br />left after the lawful requirements of prior appropriators have been satisfied. <br /> <br />. ! <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />It is suggested that, as the relator is a corporation, its rights <br />as such are limited by seotion 2355 of Compiled Laws of 1921 to storage of <br />water "when not needed for innnediate use." That provision is capable of the <br />construction given in this opinion to the provision in the Aot of 1879. That <br />the purpose of seotion 2355 is to permit reservoir oorporations to store water <br />of which it has not made an appropriation--water already appropriated by <br />others, but not then needed for immediate use--is made clear by the conCluding <br />words of the seotion: "but this shall not be oonstrued to prevent the appro- <br />priation and use of any water not theretofore utilized and a,pplied to benefioial <br />uses." The aot, of which section 2355 is a part. relates to corporations <br />organized for the purpose of construoting ditches, reservoirs. etc. C. L. 1921 <br />section 2353.) The relator corporation was not organized to construot, nor <br />did it oonstruct a reservoir. The reservoir had already been oonstruoted by <br />landowners, who had made a valid appropr iation of water for irrigation purposes. <br />and who organized the corporation as a mutual reservoir company to take over <br />the reservoir and their appropriations solely for their benefit. Hutual reservoir <br />oompanif;ll are organized. not for profit, but for the convenienoe of their <br />members in the management of the irrigation system and in the distribution to <br />them of water upon their lands in proportion to their interests. Ownership of <br />the shares of stock therein is but inoidental to ownership of the water right. <br />Ireton v. Idaho Irrigation Co., 30 Idaho 310, 317, 164 Pac. 687; Kendrick v. <br />Twin Lakes Reservoir Co., 58 Colo. 281, 144 Pao. 884. And see concurring <br />opinion in Comstock v. Olney Springs Drainage District, 97 Colo. 416, 50 P. <br />(2d) 531, in which the majority of the justices joined. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />In the dissenting opinion in Fort Morgan Reservoir & I. Co. v. <br />McCune, 71 COlo. 256, 272. 206 Pac. 393 is the following statement of the <br /> <br />-8- <br />