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<br />0219 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />The substantial exception from federal deference to <br />state water laws came with the Supreme Court's development <br />of the reservation doctrine. <br /> <br />The real beginning of the doctrine came in the case of <br />Winters v. United States 19/, in which the Supreme Court <br />held that when Congress created an Indian reservation, an <br />unspecified quantity of water, without which the land would <br />be valueless, had been impliedly set aside for the Indian's <br />use and that this reserved right was superior to the rights <br />of subsequent appropriators who had obtained water rights <br />under the applicable state laws, even though the Indians had <br />not made a diversion for beneficial use. <br /> <br />The winters Doctrine, as it became known and accepted, <br />was universally thought of as a special rule of Indian law. <br />~/ However, in the landmark case of Arizona v, California <br />21/ in 1963, the Court agreed with the Master's conclusion <br />that the principle underlying the reservation of water <br />rights for Indians applies equally to other federal estab- <br />lishments. As a result, the Court upheld reserved rights not <br />only for Indian reservations, but for national forests, <br />national recreation areas, and wildlife refuges. 22/ <br /> <br />Concurrent with the development of the reservation <br />doctrine, the Supreme Court was narrowly construing the <br />scope of the state role under the reclamation laws. Since <br />1902 when the ReclamatioT! Act was enacted, the Supreme <br />Court, prior to its most recent decision, had decided three <br />cases which actually presented questions of interpretation <br />of Section 8 of the Act: Ivanhoe Irrigation District v. <br />McCracken, 23/ City of Fresno v. California, 24/ and <br />Arizona v. california. 25/ Although none of the cases was <br />clearly dispositive of the question of the scope of Section <br />8, proponents of national power urged that Congress intended <br />federal administration according to federal policies, and <br /> <br />1:.2./ 207 U.S. 564 (1908) . <br />~/ F. Trelease, Federal-State Relations in Water Law <br /> 105 (1971) . <br />?l./ 373 U. S. 546 (1963) . <br />~/ Id. <br />~/ 357 U.S. 275 (1958) . <br />~/ 372 U.S. 627 (1963) . <br />e./ 373 U.S. 546 (1963) . <br /> <br />-5- <br />