Federal Water Rights in the Colorado River

Abstract

IT is a common saying of the arid West that no irrigator is so honest that he will not steal water in an emergency. Like most epigrams, this saying is not strictly true, but it emphasizes in a colorful way the high value placed upon that compound of hydrogen and oxygen, known to chemistry as H20, in the great desert regions of Uncle Sam's far-flung sunset domain. It also explains in a measure the many bitter quarrels, both between individuals and between sovereign states, carried on for years over claims to the use of the insufficient discharge of Western streams. Notable among such conflicts between the states were the long fight by Kansas and Colorado relative to the waters of the Arkansas (Kansas v. Colorado, 206 U. S. 46), and the equally earnest contest between Wyoming and the Centennial State concerning the Laramie (Wyoming v. Colorado, 259 U. S. 419; 260 U. S. 1). Each of these battles was waged in the United States Supreme Court and was carried no further only for want of a higher appellate tribunal. In neither instance was either contender satisfied with the result. By the Colorado River Compact, drafted in 1922 under the able guidance of Hon. Herbert Hoover, it was planned to eliminate some of the water con-