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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />.... II ,". <br />. .' ,- <br /> <br />-23- <br /> <br />.. ~ .- ~ <br /> <br />tracts surrounding aval lable water sources of a given area. By control- <br />ling access to the available water, a person could effectively retain <br />exclusive use of great expanses of public lands. Stated another way, <br />the water Is often the key to the use of the land and la~d Is the key <br />to gaining access to the water. <br /> <br />!!:-;.~J~ <br /> <br />The 1926 reservation was designed to prevent this private monopolization <br />of water on the public domain. The means used was the traditional and <br />most effective way of preserving resources on the public domain, I.e, <br />restricting entry by withdrawing the land and thus maintaining the ;ater <br />thereon open and free for public use, After the withdrawal, therefore, <br />a party desiring to use the water either on or off the reservation would <br />be required to obtain permission to do so from the United States through <br />some form of permit. The permitting process al lowed the United States <br />to determine that the proposed use was In the public Interest and not <br />In derogation of the purposes of the reservation. <br /> <br />3. Purposes of the 1926 Withdrawal <br /> <br />The 1916 Act referred to water holes "needed or used by the public for <br />watering purposes," and authorized the reservation "for such purposes <br />. . . as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe," The 1926 Order <br />reserved the water holes "for public use." It Is obvious that the <br />purposes for which the public water holes and springs were withdrawn <br />Include stock watering and human consumptlon.321 <br /> <br />.~-~-:,;,:-i7j <br /> <br />- <br />We mu st, hOI,ever, ex~m I ne whether other purpc,.e,s were a I so contemp I ated <br />by the withdrawals. Such other purposes arguably might Include, among <br />other things, wi Idl Ife watering; range Improvement, protection and <br />management; agr I cul~ur~_1 I ~r I gat Ion; and watershed protect 1 on. <br /> <br />The language and legislative history of the public springs and water <br />hole withdrawals, as wel I as the Departmental regulations, compel a con- <br />clusion that the purposes for which public springs and water holes <br />were withdrawn were relatively narrow and specific. Water was, however, <br />needed for purposes other than stockwaterlng and human consumption on <br />the public lands that were Intended to be homesteaded and patented <br />pursuant to section 10 of the 1916 Act. Water was also needed for <br />additional purposes on the 'unpatented public domain surrounding these <br />soon-to-be-prlvate lands that would be used by the Influx of new set- <br />tlers and homesteaders for livestock grazing and other uses, <br /> <br />I am therefore of the opinion that those other purposes Include only <br />II) water for growing crops and sustaining fish and wi Idllfe to allow <br />the settlers on the public land to obtain food for their faml lies <br /> <br />321 Colo. 4, 5, 6, suora at 40. <br /> <br />"'-.. <br /> <br />. ......,,: <br /> <br />-.,-.-....... <br />