Larimer County Canal No. 2 Irrigating Co. v. Pleasant Valley & Lake Canal Co.

55 Colo. 138
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedApril 15, 1913
DocketNo. 7096
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 55 Colo. 138 (Larimer County Canal No. 2 Irrigating Co. v. Pleasant Valley & Lake Canal Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Larimer County Canal No. 2 Irrigating Co. v. Pleasant Valley & Lake Canal Co., 55 Colo. 138 (Colo. 1913).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Scott

delivered the opinion of the court.

This case was disposed of by the district court by sustaining a general demurrer to the complaint, and the only question involved is as to whether or not the complaint states facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action against the defendants. It is alleged in the complaint [139]*139that' by virtue of a certain general adjudication decree entered in the district court of Larimer County on the 11th day of April, 1882, there was decreed to the plaintiff, as a part of said decree, priority No. 56 for irrigation purposes, amounting to 10,500 cubic feet of water per minute (175 cubic feet per second), of date of April 1st, 1873. The ditch was to be eleven miles in length with its headgate on the south side of the Cache la Poudre river.

It is then alleged that the construction of plaintiff’s ditch was commenced on the first of April, 1873, and completed in the spring of 1874, and thereupon it began the immediate use of the appropriated water. That for a period of twenty years after the completion of its ditch, and for more than ten years after the date'of said decree, plaintiff and its stockholders enjoyed during the entire irrigation season of each year, its said appropriation from the Cache la Poudre river, through its ditch and without interruption, and there was during said period and at all times a plentiful supply of water in the river to supply plaintiff’s appropriation, to the- end of each irrigation season; that beginning with the year 1892 plaintiff and its stockholders have been deprived of water for irrigation during the latter part of each season by the alleged wrongful conduct of the defendant.

It is then said that the defendant, The Pleasant Valley and Lake Canal Company “is the owner of a ditch with headgate on the south side of the Cache la Poudre river about one below the canon of the river, and above the headgate of plaintiff’s ditch. That the defendant company’s ditch extends in a south and easterly direction for a distance of three and one-half miles, through what is known as Pleasant Valley, where said ditch reaches what is known as Bingham Hill. That the said defendant company was a party to the said general adjudication decree of April 11th, 1882, and there was decreed to said [140]*140company priority No. 4 by construction, 10.9 cubic feet per second of time, of date of September 1,1861; priority No. 11, 29.63 cubic feet per second of time, of' date of June 10, 1864; priority No. 48 of 16.5 cubic feet per second of time of date of July 19,1872, and priority No. 83 of 80.83 cubic feet per second of time of date of August 18, 1879; that in the year 1873, when plaintiff began the construction of its ditch, and in the year 1874, when it finished the same and began the beneficial use of water therefrom, and for a period of more than eight years after plaintiff had constructed its ditch and began the use of its appropriation, that the ditch of defendant, The Pleasant Valley and Lake Canal Company, terminated at said Bingham Hill, and its entire length covered not to exceed one thousand acres of land, of which not to exceed six hundred acres were under actual cultivation, and that the amount of water required and used for said land so cultivated did not exceed twenty cubic feet per second. That in the year 1879, five years after the plaintiff had made its full, actual and complete appropriation and use of the water subsequently decreed to it, The Pleasant Valley and Lake Canal Company commenced the construction of an extension and enlargement of its said ditch and constructed the same along the east side of Bingham Hill, and around the north point of said Bingham Hill and thence in. a southerly direction, making its extension a total length of about ten miles, and brought under said ditch and extension over six thousand acres of new land which had never beén cultivated or irrigated; that said extension and enlargement was not completed until 1882, and the lands lying under the extension were not irrigated to any extent until after said date. That said defendant company has gradually brought under cultivation since the year 1882, said lands, so that by the year 1892 the total amount of land so cultivated under said extension amounted to six thousand acres, none of which lands were [141]*141ever cultivated until after plaintiff liad cultivated some seven thousand acres of land under its ditch for a period of from eight to ten years, and had fully used its appropriation and applied the same during all such times to a beneficial use. • That since the year 1892, the said defendant, The Pleasant Valley and Lake Canal Company, had taken from the Cache la Poudre river water that belonged . to this plaintiff, and that should flow past the headgate of defendant company down to plaintiff’s headgate, and be diverted therein for the purpose of supplying its complete appropriation made in manner as aforesaid, and conveyed such water through defendant company’s canal, to and upon the lands lying under said extension, although this plaintiff and its stockholders had made full appropriation of such water by actual use and application to a beneficial purpose so early as the year 1874, and had their lands under cultivation, and had actually used such water thereon for a period of ten years before any water was used under said extension of the defendant, The Pleasant Valley and Lake Canal Company’s ditch.

It is further alleged that the defendant John L. Armstrong as water commissioner, wrongfully permitted the Pleasant Valley and Lake Canal Company to take from the Cache la Poudre river, through its canal, about 40 cubic feet of water per second, to be used under the said extension, all of which water belongs to the plaintiff. That all of this has been against the protest of plaintiff, and contrary to its repeated and constant demand upon the water commissioner, that it be allowed to have furnished to its ditch the water which it claims under its appropriation. But that the defendant water commissioner has, at the request of the defendant company, closed the head-gates of the plaintiff, and deprived it of its appropriation of water which it so alleges it was entitled.

The prayer was for injunctive relief.

It will be thus seen that the complaint alleges in sub[142]*142stance that at the time of the completion of defendant’s ditch, and for more than eight years thereafter, it terminated at Bingham Hill, and nnder which not more than six hundred acres were under actual cultivation, and which did not require more than twenty cubic feet of water per second of time for its necessary use, and that this was all that was used by the defendant up to the year 1882, at the time of the completion of defendant’s extension. Also, that the six thousand acres of land under the extension was not all brought under cultivation until 1892, at which time the plaintiff began to lose the use of water under its appropriation after the 30th day of June, of each year. The water in dispute is that contained in the priorities under the decree No. 4, with 16.9 cubic feet.of water per second of time of date of June 10th, 1861; priority No. 11, 23.63 cubic feet of water per second of time dated June 10th, 1864; and priority No. 49 of 16.6 cubic feet per second of time of date of July 9th, 1872, containing a total of 57.03 cubic feet all of which priorities are of date and right prior and superior to the appropriation of the plaintiff.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hinderlider v. Town of Berthoud
238 P. 64 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1925)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
55 Colo. 138, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/larimer-county-canal-no-2-irrigating-co-v-pleasant-valley-lake-canal-colo-1913.