§ 36-3-120 — Duty of settler - proof of settlement

(1) Within one year after any
person, company of persons, association, or incorporated company authorized to
construct irrigation works under the provisions of this article has notified the
settlers under such works that it is prepared to furnish water under the terms of its
contract with the state, the settlers shall cultivate and reclaim not less than one-sixteenth part of the land filed upon. Within two years after the notice, the settler
shall have actually irrigated and cultivated not less than one-eighth of the land
filed upon. Within three years from the date of notice, the settler shall appear
before the register, or a judge or clerk of the district court in the county in which
such land is situated, as designated by the register, and make final proof of
reclamation, settlement, and occupation. The proof shall embrace evidence that he
has a perpetual water right for his entire tract of land sufficient in volume for the
complete irrigation and reclamation thereof, that he is an actual settler thereon,
and that he has cultivated and irrigated not less than one-eighth part of said tract
and such further proof, if any, as may be required by the regulations of the
department of the interior or the board.

(2) The officer taking this proof is entitled to receive a fee, to be fixed by the
state board of land commissioners, not to exceed five dollars and to be paid by the
settler. It shall be in addition to the price paid to the state for the land. All proofs so
received shall be submitted by the register to the board and shall be accompanied
by the last final payment for the land, and, on the approval of the same by the
board, they shall be forwarded to the secretary of the interior, with a request that a
patent to the lands be issued to the state.

(3) When the state, through its state board of land commissioners, can make
proof that such irrigation works have been completed for the reclamation of the
lands so segregated and that an ample supply of water is actually furnished in a
substantial ditch or canal or by artesian wells or reservoirs, for such purpose, the
board shall apply for a patent to such lands, in the manner provided by the
regulations of the department of the interior and in accordance with the provisions
of the acts of congress relating thereto, without waiting for settlement or
cultivation of such lands.

Legislative History

Source: L. 1895: p. 165, � 18. L. 07: p. 366, � 1. R.S. 08: � 5155. C.L. � 1140. CSA: C. 134, � 38. CRS 53: � 112-2-20. C.R.S. 1963: � 112-2-20. L. 64: p. 301, � 259.