Show WATER RIGHTS EIGHTS AND WATER WRONGS IT will take mine somo time and nud a great deal of patience and good J judgment to determine and settle the rights of the land owners of utah to the use of water for irrigation the law passed at the last session of the legislature is not yet fully understood by the people and even the water commis commissioners appointed under that law hold various opinions in regard to its meaning but this is not at all strange in in view of the fact that one learned judge at least has gone astray in relation to it giving a decision subversive of the rights of very important and extensive corporations evidently through a misapprehension of the subject of irrigation in general and the utah statutes relating to it in particular we receive many requests for explanations pla nations of points in the new law which indicate that those who are principally interested do not study the statute in all its bearings or that they do like some wine people in their scripture investigations start with a theory of their own and interpret the text to sustain their preconceived opinions it should be understood by those who complain of ambiguity or insufficient clearness of the wording of the new now law that it was not enacted in its original form our late Govern governor br after reading the bill as it first passed both houses of the assembly thought there was too much of it for the ordinary farmer to understand der stand and so refused to sign it unless it was cut down considerably he seemed to imagine that the tiling thing would be made easier to comprehend by the same process that a log og is made easier to handle and so insisted upon having a good piece of it chopped WE off he measured the farmers power of compres tu n t t i by themester the meter of his own intellect and as he could not understand the bill lie he lma ima imagined ined nobody elle elce el could ha he forgot that a practical irrig irrigator ga tor might understand things s of which even a governor por eor mil might lit be ignorant But in cutting it down it was mutilated and made less definite and perspicuous some of the very clauses that were thrown away were needed to make others that were retained clear and unequivocal qui vocal the bill was framed by a law yer w who ho had devoted much time to the subject and had bad gained large experienc experience 6 in practical irrig irrigation 0 a and in disputes arising from R it the committees of both houses also well understood the wants of the territory and more time was spent aspen t on the measure that was afterward afterwards 8 mutilated than on any other bill before the assembly it was not perfect by any means its phraseology ter fer 02 0 1 1 Y wa was q on a first reading rather obscure to an ordinary mind but the more it was studied the better it appeared a aed and its excellencies were ge developed by scrutiny and the hasty curtailment of the bill certainly did not add to IQ its merits or its completeness however after the screws yero yere put on by the one man power w e I 1 it t was that or nothing therefore that was passed so much by way 0 explanation about the passage of the law now in regard to somo some ti simple I 1 ints points which we are asked to alm gim explain does a prim primary right accrue to a person choh who has hab the water for seven years in the past or must he us use it for seven years tears after the passage of the law to secure that right undoubtedly a primary right is re cognized by the law lav to have vested and accrued to all persons who up to the date of its passage had been in the peaceable uninterrupted and continuous use of the water for seven years past the law lawit 1 it should be observed does not create or confer water rights it merely recognizes and the existence of those rights under ep certain conditions water commissioners have no power whatever to confer water rights they can but determine their existence under the conditions laid down in the law jaw and certify thereto ills Is it necessary that water shall be divided by inch measurement and must applicants to the commissioners ners for certain portions of water ask forgo for fon so many ubie uble inch inches no it is not necessary tn in some cases cages it would be entirely imp impracticable rac rae ti for instance a certain company or association of persons has a vested right to one third of a natural source of supply if that source is of uniform flow the third might be determined by so many cubic inches but when the them stream is fluctuating in volume a definite quantity in cubic inches cannot be applied for nor distributed the law says it may be so moa measured but also that it may be measured aby by fractional parts taj a as s one ne half one third on one ro fourth rth a and n d olo oso so on of the whole source of supply or by such fractional parta parts with a limitation as to periods of time when it may be used each company or person should know and establish his right to what whai portion of a natural source of supply has accrued to it or him by usage or other accretion and a apply p liy for that portion to ta the I 1 e water who have the duty of making the alviston Alv division islon and will distribute it according to the nature and extent of recorded rights what about the rights of cities to the control of the waters some municipalities have chartered rights in relation to the control of certain ta in streams or other natural sources of sub sup supply ply pis we presume tha that t they are valid having been conferred bd by the same legislative authority wha which has created the office of water commissioner we should judge that the municipal rights confer conferred redby by charter are equally good in law with those powers bestowed by law on the water commissioners those municipalities which have no chartered rights to the control of natural sources of supply speaking on general principles will have to obtain their portions of streams as other corporations under the new now law this however may not apply in every case each must be determined according to rights that have vest vested ed a and nd ace accrued rued and the customs and usages of each locality must I be ia a taken into consideration as they am recognized by act of congress and therefore it would be impossible to lay down in a newspaper article a simple rule applicable to all there is one thing that should b clearly hy bavery avery on om that te ils x right aright esthe use ude use uve of vat wat watt under the the law out ont only ix extends tends to th reasonable necessity 1 for fey such buch IB sst thereof 11 water nights rights are dia dsa ent from land rights or derson person property pm perty tights rights ve vw that the judge to whom om we hase have hided in this article articie a stated toted from ah ai J bench berch ch that a to waty was the same as his right to his bis horse that iia ila lie might mih muk a hole ia in the ground if b hi could and pour poun courbis his portion of th tin latec water oc or do just liked with ith it the guage confessed that thai he had not studied the law jaw closely clos cios elj he might have spared pas par himself frol fron sueh sueh such a confession to those who havi hav studied I 1 it L no noman jomaa has an absolu lt right to so much water for Irrig irrigation atla atiz his uis right on ony ons amounts met wet it and that buh but to the reasoned such use thereof sm see 6 acton on 11 water rights 1 rami c utah ubah 1880 p 37 water is ta too precious in this arid region to 1 h wasted or dr for powe powen to be given to t one person in relation to it detrimental to others with the various marious irrigating Compa Cona pania aid aig organized under the laws of cheter the territory are not affected bethene by the thene new statute their powers rema a the their thein b by bylaws daws jaws hold hald good the net law confirms rather than abrogates abro gatei them sec sec see 16 P ibid A eudicia decision 0 to o the contrary should be appealed from until justice is ob bained there are no mare more imer tant industrial organizations inai inal in thi the country than the irrigation copp com nies which have been organ organize gro Wro the purpose of df diverting theau the wa waters of our creek creeks ad rivers upon the parched and dese desert bolli soil thus turning the wilderness wilde Wild ernes raea into a fruitful nield field and abd making wealth for tor the district and the nation courts should throw aroulia armma aroma them the protection of the law against a ainest factious fac fab litigant desirous c of smirking SE shirking Irking well undenA understood tood obligation and of cri crl crippling ling the very vers com companies paniel from which they hae have obtain obtained ei their chances of making a living it will be found on fair investigation that those companies have a begil lege exis existence tenee tente aid and legal hla hid hk hia cannot re he ruled aawar away by the olima of tt judge who by his own admi adib si slon sion bas not fully studied the la ht concern concerning length them em we view the subject of wite wate rights as one of the vital question guestion om of the times in this territory hope that out of the beginning th tbt has been made for the settle settie sett lemm lemo rae rad of claims to the use of water a fd fj and satisfactory fatis factory law or serie serle s of in la may yet Y et be framed which will be i definite and complete as io make mahe possible to set all water disputes A 1 rt rest for ever a consummation e to be wished |