United States v. Walker River Irr. Dist.
| Decision Date | 06 June 1935 |
| Docket Number | No. C-125.,C-125. |
| Citation | 11 F. Supp. 158 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES v. WALKER RIVER IRR. DIST. et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Nevada |
H. H. Atkinson, U. S. Atty., as successor to George Springmeyer, former U. S. Atty., both of Reno, Nev., and Ethelbert Ward and Cole L. Harwood, Sp. Assts. to Atty. Gen., for the United States.
William M. Kearney, of Reno, Nev., for a large number of the defendants, including Walker River Irr. Dist.
George L. Sanford, of Carson City, Nev., for a number of other defendants.
Green & Lunsford, of Reno, Nev., for a number of the defendants including Antelope Valley Mutual Water Co., the successor to Antelope Valley Land & Cattle Co. and Minnie M. Powell.
Thatcher & Woodburn and William Forman, all of Reno, Nev., for Sierra Pacific Power Co. and Bank of Nevada Savings & Trust Co.
W. H. Metson and E. B. Mering, both of San Francisco, Cal., for certain defendants.
W. W. Watson, of San Francisco, Cal., for Bertrand Salles.
This is a suit in equity brought by the United States, as plaintiff, hereinafter referred to as the government, against 253 defendants, all appropriators and users of the waters of Walker river, East Walker river, West Walker river, and the tributaries thereof, in the irrigation of lands in the Walker river basin owned or possessed by defendants. The suit is brought on behalf of the government by direction and authority of the Attorney General, by request of the Secretary of the Interior, under the provisions of chapter 345, 42 U. S. Stat. 849 (28 USCA § 112). The government, in its "sovereign and proprietary" capacity, claiming to be "the owner of," "appropriator of and entitled to the use and benefit of a vested water right" in and to 150 cubic feet per second of time of the waters of said rivers and their tributaries, seeks to quiet title thereto, and asks that defendants be restrained from in any manner interfering with the natural flow of said quantity of water to and upon the Walker Indian Reservation in the state of Nevada.
The complaint was filed on July 3, 1924, and an amended bill was filed on March 19, 1926. The amended complaint alleges that the United States on November 29, 1859, being the owner of the lands now constituting Walker River Indian Reservation, reserved and set aside said lands for the use of the Pahute and other Indians for the purpose of affording them the opportunity to acquire the arts of husbandry and civilization; that said lands are arid and incapable of producing crops without artificial irrigation; that approximately 11,000 acres of said lands are susceptible to irrigation from Walker river and have no other source of water supply; that the government began the irrigation of said lands in the year 1859 and gradually increased the irrigated area thereof until approximately 2,000 acres are now being irrigated and producing crops of hay, grain, and vegetables; that about 520 Indians live upon said lands; that the President of the United States by order on March 23, 1874, withdrew from sale the lands of said reservation; that the government has expended in constructing canals, ditches, and improvements and in reclaiming said lands $175,000 and is maintaining upon said reservation an extensive Indian agency and school for said Indians; that 150 cubic feet of water per second of time from said river are necessary for the irrigation of the irrigable lands of said reservation and without said water said lands will become of little or no value; that the government by the reservation of said lands reserved 150 cubic feet of water per second for the irrigation thereof; that the defendants are using the waters of said river and its tributaries and preventing them from flowing down to said reservation and threaten to use all of said waters upon their lands and threaten to prevent the government and said Indians from using any of the water upon said reservation, and, unless enjoined, will cause the government irreparable loss and damage; that the government recognizes as binding the water rights on said river and its tributaries in Nevada and California which were adjudicated in that suit in said court entitled Pacific Live Stock Co. v. T. B. Rickey et al., hereinafter referred to as decree No. 731, but only to the extent that in asserting its own claim, it will not disturb the relative rights, as among themselves, of the parties to that decree who are parties to this suit. The prayer is for injunctive relief and that the court adjudge the government to have a prior right to 150 cubic feet of water per second; that its right thereto be quieted and that the relative rights of the parties to this suit to the waters of Walker river be adjudicated; that a water master be appointed for the carrying out of the decree.
The defendants filed their several answers and counterclaims to said amended complaint denying the rights of the government to said water, admitting the order of the President withdrawing said lands from sale, admitting that the lands are arid, denying that they are wrongfully diverting said water, but admitting that they are diverting and using said water under said decree No. 731, and setting up their respective lands, claiming the water of Walker river for the irrigation thereof with dates of priority and use. The defendants further allege that their lands were acquired from the United States under the homestead and desert land laws; that the water claimed by the defendants is necessary for the irrigation of their lands; that they and their predecessors in interest have been using the water of said river for more than 50 years; that the government permitted them, without objection, to expend millions of dollars in the construction of irrigation works for the irrigation of their lands, in reclaiming their lands, and in constructing houses and other improvements, all with the knowledge, assistance, and acquiescence of the government, and they pray that the government take nothing by its said suit against the defendants, and that their claimed rights be decreed to them. The defendants admit the use by the government of water from the Walker river stream system upon some of the lands within the reservation, based upon use as shown in decree 731, as follows:
Priority Cubic Feet Per Second Acres
1868 4.70 385.95
1872 3.55 295.80
1875 6.15 512.80
1883 7.50 625.20
1886 1.03 85.80
The defendant Sierra Pacific Power Company claims for its lands situated in the state of California, riparian rights, alleging that its rights were not determined by decree No. 731.
Walker river is a nonnavigable, interstate stream. It consists of two main branches, East and West Walker, which are fed by many small streams rising high on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Mono and Alpine counties, Cal. The West Walker in the course of its descent flows through Leavitt and Pickle Meadows, two high mountain valleys, thence through a canyon with practically no cultivated area, thence northerly and northeasterly through Antelope Valley into the state of Navada, thence through Smith Valley to the head of Mason Valley where it joins the East Walker river. The principal streams forming the East Walker river combine in Bridgeport Meadows, which is a large area devoted to the raising of wild grasses and pasturage at an elevation of 7,000 feet above sea level. The East Walker river flows thence northerly and northeasterly through canyons and sparsely populated valleys to Mason Valley where it unites with the West Walker river and forms the main Walker river. This river flows northerly and northeasterly, descends through the latter valley to near the town of Wabuska, where it turns abruptly to the southeast and flows through the Walker River Indian Reservation and thence into Walker Lake. The mountains at the source of these streams are sparsely forested and afford little protection for the snows, resulting in a rapid runoff of the water upon the advent of warm spring days. The distance from the source of the two main branches of Walker river to the reservation are great, resulting in large losses of the water through evaporation and seepage. From the source of the East Walker to its junction with the West Walker, the distance is approximately 70 miles. From the source of the West Walker to the junction is approximately 67 miles, and from the junction through Mason Valley and to the point of diversion on the reservation the distance is approximately 35 miles, and from the latter point to Walker Lake approximately 12 miles. The peak of the flow usually occurs in May or June and thereafter the water subsides rapidly so that in most years the flow by the middle of July is insufficient, without storage facilities, to meet the requirements of the lands along the river which have been brought under cultivation. Even under natural conditions, that is, in the absence of upstream diversions, the water would not in some years reach the lands of the Walker River Indian Reservation by the end of July by reason of seepage and high evaporation loss occurring with the streams in a depleted condition at their source. Estimates show that the loss in transit between the lower end of Mason Valley to the diversion point in the reservation, when the flow had diminished to 10 or 12 second feet, would be 100 per cent., that is, that the entire flow when reduced to that volume would be lost by evaporation and seepage before reaching the diversion point on the reservation. There is a considerable return flow into the river from the water diverted for the irrigation of Bridgeport, Antelope, Smith, and Mason Valleys, which in a measure augments the flow to the Indian Reservation.
Bridgeport, the county seat of Mono county, Cal., is situated on the East Walker in Bridgeport Meadows. It has a population of about 600. The principal...
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...before turning southeasterly through the land of the Walker River Paiute Tribe ("the Tribe"). See United States v. Walker River Irrigation Dist. , 11 F.Supp. 158, 161 (D. Nev. 1935). From there, the River flows through Weber Reservoir and Schurz, and into Walker Lake. See id . at 160–62.Wal......
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