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<br />~ 0069 <br /> <br />also recognize, however, that the federal government may have <br />reserved some .proprietary. interests in unappropriated <br />water appurtenant to federal lands at the time tAe states <br />were admitted into the Union. In the so-called .California <br />doctrine" and "Oregon doctrine" states, 181 the state courts <br />have held that the federal government haa-an original property <br />right to all non-navigable waters on the territories that formed <br />those states, a right it did not pass to the states at the time <br />of their admission. Those states, however, by virtue of their <br />sovereignty over lands within their borders, can nonetheless <br />determine rights that appertain to federal as well as private <br />ownership of property, such as the use of water, subject to the <br />ultimate authority of the federal government to determine such <br />rights on federally owned lands. 191 In the "Colorado doctrine" <br />states, by contrast, the courts have held that the United States <br />never acquired any proprietary interest in waters in those <br />states, and therefore that the transfer of sovereignty to such <br />states with their admission simultaneously transferred full <br />power to control the disposition and use of those waters. 201 <br /> <br />B. Role of the Federal Government <br /> <br />The most significant role that the federal government <br />has played in the development of water law in the western <br />states has been that of owner of vast public lands within <br />those states. As we discuss below, the federal government <br />has largely acquiesced in or fostered the development of <br />comprehensive state control over water in the western states, <br /> <br />181 The "California doctrine. states are California, Kansas, <br />Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington. The <br />.Oregon doctrine" is followed in Oregon and South Dakota. <br />See Colum. Note, supra n.5, at 972-75~ Note, "Federal <br />Nonreserved Water R~ghts,. 48 Univ. of Chi. L. R. 758, <br />766 n.46 (1980)~ 2 Clark, supra, 5 102.3. <br /> <br />191 The "Oregon doctrine. differs from the .California doctrine. <br />Tn that it construes the Desert Land Act as establishing a <br />uniform rule of appropriation applicable to private and federal <br />rights. The .California doctrine" holds that the Desert Land Act, <br />together with the Mining Acts of 1866 and 1870 (discussed at <br />pp. 18-24, infra) merely recognized and affirmed whatever state <br />system had been developed for allocation of water rights, including <br />systems such as California's that recognized some riparian rights. <br />See Colum. Note, supra n.5, at 972-75~ 2 Clark, supra, 5 102.3. <br /> <br />201 The 'Colorado doctrine. states are Arizona, Colorado, <br />ICaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. 2 Clark, <br />supra, 5 102.3(C) n.21. For a full discussion of the origins <br />and holdings of the California, Oregon and COlorado doctrines, <br />~ 5 Clark, supra, 55 401, 405, 420~ Colum. Note, supra n.5, <br />at 973-75. <br /> <br />-13- <br />