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<br />C..! <br />(0 are given to clear a title. No evidence was found that supports <br />U) any charges against Meyer. <br />(:"..1 <br />t_ ) <br />t.' During the compact negotiations, Malcolm Lindsey claimed <br />that the Water Company owned portions of the Acequia Madre and the <br />Manzanares Ditch and all the Madriles Ditch, and he implied that <br />the company acquired these rights by purchase. The previously <br />mentioned court cases cast some doubt on Lindsey's claim; however, <br />the claim apparently was not checked during the negotiations. A <br />complete title search for the lands under the three ditches probably <br />would confirm or refute the claim and confirm the manner of acquisi- <br />tion, but it would be expensive and was considered beyond the scope <br />of this study. <br /> <br />It seems extremely unlikely that the Garcia residents <br />would intentionally dispose of their water rights and, thereby, <br />depreciate their source of livelihood. It does seem likely that <br />the prominent attorneys who were involved in the promotion and <br />development of the costilla Estate were legal. if not just, in <br />their transactions. Perhaps, a fitting epitaph for the claimants <br />of these three ditches can be found in a history of Mormon settle- <br />ment in the San Luis Valley: <br /> <br />But in spite of the work done by the first <br />settlers to secure water, a wealthy company <br />deprived them of most of their water rights, <br />SO in 1909 the settlement was vacated.* <br /> <br />The settlement referred to was Eastdale, which developed around <br />the Eastdale reservoir system, and the wealthy company apparently <br />was the costilla Estate Development Company. <br /> <br />The costilla Creek Compact has damaged the water rights <br />owned by the Garcia people. The maximum diversion rates of the <br />Acequia Madre and the Manzanares, Madriles, and Chalifu Ditches <br />were reduced in half. The compact recognized changes of points of <br />diversions for the Acequia Madre and for the Manzanares and Madriles <br />Ditches even though the changes were never approved by a Colorado <br />water court. From a search of the Colorado Water Conservation <br /> <br />*Andrew Jensen, 1940, THE FOUNDING OF MORMON SETTLEMENTS IN THE <br />SAN LUIS VALLEY, COLORADO: The Colorado Magazine, Vol. 17, No.5, <br />p. 179. <br /> <br />-9- <br />