Page:Report of the Oregon Conservation Commission to the Governor (1908 - 1914).djvu/489

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The Oregon Water Code has been attacked in both State and Federal courts. In every case the present laws have been sustained.

As the Oregon Conservation Commission was largely instrumental in securing the passage of these laws, we deem it advisable to call attention at this time to the language used by the courts in construing the water code. Now that these laws have been tested in the courts and their construction is established, any amendments should he made only after careful consideration. This is not to say that the law is perfect, but only to advise special caution in attempting to modify it.

The unsettled and complicated state of water titles in the state prior to the enactment of this law caused endless disputes, and water users often expended more money on litigation than the original cost of the works. Development was hampered, bad feeling was engendered, and valuable lands were rendered unsalable by the uncertainty of water titles. In one instance, a case involving only forty-three users was before the courts for ten years before a final decree was secured at great cost. Under these conditions the enactment in 1909 of a law providing for definite state control of diversions from streams, and a systematic record of old water rights, was welcomed by thousands of water users, and all others interested in the development of the state's water resources.

The provisions of this law are concisely outlined in the decision of the Federal District Court for Oregon, in the case of In Re Silvies River (199 Fed. 495), as follows:

In February, 1909, the Legislature of Oregon passed an act for the regalution, control, distribution, use and determination of the existing rights to the use of the waters within the state. (Laws of 1909, p. 312.) It divides the state into two water divisions, provides for election of a state engineer and superintendent for each division, authorizes the creation of the necessary number of water districts, and the appointment of a water master for each district. All applications for the use of the unappropriated waters of the state are to be made to and approved by the state engineer. It is the duty of the water master to divide the water of the natural streams or other sources of supply in his district among the several ditches and reservoirs according to their respective rights, and in general to supervise and control the use and distribution thereof, subject to the general supervision of the superintendent and the board of control (State Water Board). The division superintendent is given general control over the water masters and the execution of the laws relating to the distribution of water within his division with authority to make reasonable regulations to ensure the equal and fair distribution thereof ịn accordance with the determined rights as may be needed, not inconsistent with the laws