| Show BIG WATER SUIT NOW BEING TRIED IN II SILT LAKE CITY case adjourned at fillmore wednesday and reopened at salt lake monday the water suit involving the rights as between the piute diute reservoir irrigation company and the sevier bridge reservoir company I 1 is now I 1 in course of trial this case was called for hearing before judge elias hansen of the fourth district court sit ting in place of judge burton of the fifth th district court at fillmore on monday day march 1 at 2 p m the afternoon of monday and part of the forenoon of tuesday was occupied by the opening statements of counsel in the case and thereupon testimony was introduced on behalf of the petitioners petition ers during the remainder of tuesday and up until noon on wednesday when the court adjourned the case to be reopened for further hearing at salt lake city on monday march the esth at 10 a in the big question in issue at abc the present time is the relative priorities as between the hawley filing in connection with the sevier bridge reservoir rights on the one hand and the otter creek reservoir filing in connection with the piute diute reservoir rights on the other hand on the day of august 1902 one jacob C hawley then president of the deseret irrigation company I 1 for and on behalf of said company claims to have posted a notice on the bank of the sevier river where the bridge then crossed the same and approximately at the present site of the sevier bridge reservoir lain dam for the appropriation of 1600 1500 cubic feet of water per second for the purpose of irrigating acres of the lands of the stockholders of said company in millard county utah on the day of march 1905 the otter creek reservoir company filed in the state engineers office of the state of utah an application for the appropriation of second feet of continuous flow of the sevier river from november first of each year until june 30 of the year following for the purpose of using the direct flow during the irrigation season and of storing acre feet of w water ater in a reservoir to be constructed at a point about 12 miles south of marysvale Marys vale and at or near the north b boundary line of the heppler sevy ranch which is the present site of the piute diute reservoir as now constructed said waters were appropriated for the purpose of irrigating acres of land in sevier county and subsequently ent other filings were made on behalf of the plute reservoir so as to include also lands in sanpete county soon after the hawley filing was made the said deseret irrigation company filed its maps and plats in the united states land office at salt lake city showing the proposed resen reservoir loir to be built said filings being made there for the purpose of obtaining from the united states government a right of way for storing water upon the public lands included within the proposed reservoir site A short time thereafter the said deseret arri continued on page nine big water suit now being bein in tried in salt lake city continued from page g e one gation company filed its maps and plats in the office of the state engineer of the state of utah for the purpose of getting permission to build the said reservoir in both of the sets pets of maps filed fileds the capacity of me the said reservoir is designated as being acre feet in the maps and plats filed in the united states state land office the height of the dam to be constructed is given as 60 feet whereas the maps and plats filed in the state engineers office prescribe a dam 66 feet high the hawley Haw lev filing was of record and these plans and specifications were filed in the state engineers office and in the united states land office at the time the otter creek filing was made and the otter creek company would probably be charged with notice at the time it made its ita filing that the deseret irrigation company was claiming the right to store acre feet of water in the sevier bridge reservoir with this information in existence tile the state of utah through the state board of land commissioners after succeeding to the rights of the otter creek reservoir company determined to build the piute diute reservoir with a capacity of approximately acre feet of water and proceeded at once to build the same commencing the work thereon in the year 1907 and practically completing the same by the year 1914 the position now taken by those interested te in the sevier bridge re reservoir er is that the Det deseret seret Irrig irrigation irrigate ati 1011 company intended from the beginning to build its reservoir in two units the combined capacity of which should be sufficient to irrigate acres of land which would require a capacity to store approximately acre feet of water and that it built its first unit with u capacity of acre feet of water by constructing its dam GG feet high hagh and that as soon as it was financially able to do so which was about seven years after the 66 foot dam was built it in connection with five other irrigation companies who had in the meantime acquired an interest in the hawley havley filing p proceeded rao to and did raise its dam to a height of 80 feet after the diute piute reservoir was constructed thus and thereby giving its reser reservoir voir an em pounding capacity of acre feet of water to be applied upon the lands of the stockholders of these six irrigation companies and n this ground these lower users claim tile the right to store acre feet of water before the plute reservoir is entitled to store any water whatsoever the status of the two reservoirs at this date is that the alie mute reservoir now has stored stared in it approximately acre feet of water and the sevier bridge reservoir has stored in it approximately acie feet of water or a 1 total in the two of acie feet I 1 tile the contention of tile the piute diute company is that the sevier bridge reservoir company if it has any right at all under hawley filing is limited to a right to stole stoic water vater to a sufficient quantity to irrigate the lands of the stockholders of the deseret irrigation company only as stated in the said hawley filing and N ia also limited to store only acie feet of water because by its ils public acts I 1 and declarations it indicated indicate its in purpose to build a voir limited to this capacity and that by such acts and declarations it abandoned any other claim that it might other otherwise ise have had under the hawley filing to store a greater quantity of water it is contended by the plute company that the lands now owned by the deseret irrigation company and its stockholders do not cheed acres and that acre feet of stored water is more than ample to irrigate the same and that any other additional lands in millard county which are now under the canals leading front from the sevier bridge reservoir ind and owned by the stockholders of other irrigation companies than the deseret irrigation company are entitled to no water under the hawley filing above the 60 foot condoure con toure line the plute reservoir company contends that by reason of the fact that at the time the otter creek filing was wa made there was no notice given to the otter creek company that the sevier seier bridge reservoir company claimed or intended to claim the right to store any water in excess of acre feet and that with this limited claim before it the state of utah proceeded to build the plute reservoir without any protest or objection on the part of the deseret irrigation company or any of the companies associated as therewith that the said associated companies acs ics are now as a matter of law equity and justice es topped estopped from denying tile the right of the piute diute company to store acre feet of water in ill its reservoir reservoir leser voir immediately succeeding the right of the sevier bridge reservoir company if it has any right at all by reason of the purported hawley fiting filing to stoie e acre feet which sad latter amount it is contended can be stored in the sevier bridge les without any segious detriment to tile the piute diute reservoir irrigation company for the reason that the water shed below the piute diute reservoir reservoir together with the ledurn flow aloni the sevier and sanpete county lands will vill create acre feet of water even in hy years the plute reservoir company further contends that eliat tile said filing is invalid in its entirety because the same was not made in con to law existing at the time said filing was made ahe the trial of the issue as to the relative value of the rights of these two reservoirs reservoir will probably occupy the attention of the court for from ten days to two weeks longer and thereafter the issue between the millard county people and the rocky ford canal company and the willow bend irrigation company will vill be tried |
