Sand Point Water & Light Co. v. Panhandle Development Co.

Citations

• 11 Idaho 405
• 83 P. 347
• 1905 Ida. LEXIS 72

Syllabus

<p>Water Location — Posting Notice oe Claim — Diligence in Prosecution oe Work — Completion oe Appropriation — Priorities as Between Different Claimants.</p> <p>1. One wbo posted and recorded notice of intention to appropriate waters under act of February 25, 1899 (Sess. Laws 1899, p. 380), and within sixty days thereafter commenced work on his proposed diverting works and continued the prosecution of such work with reasonable diligence, is entitled to have his appropriation date from the posting of his notice and the right' thus acquired is prior and superior to the rights of any subsequent appropriator claiming either by posting of notice and compliance with the statute or an actual diversion and application of the water.</p> <p>2. One who posts and records notice, and in all respects pursues the successive steps prescribed by act of February 25, 1899, is entitled to have his right relate back to the date of posting notice.</p> <p>3. In such ease the appropriation is initiated by posting the notice, and an inchoate right thereby arises which may ripen into a complete appropriation upon the final delivery of the waters to the place of intended use.</p> <p>4. A person desiring to appropriate the waters of a stream may do so either by actually diverting the water and applying it to a beneficial use, or he may pursue the statutory method by posting and recording his notice and commencing and prosecuting his work within the time and in the manner prescribed by the statute, and in the latter ease his right will relate back to the date of posting his notice.</p> <p>5. Where an appropriator posted his notice on December 16, 1902, claiming a certain amount of the waters of a stream, and thereafter and on the fourteenth day of January, 1903, commenced work on roads, surveys, etc., preparatory to constructing the diverting works and kept at least one man at the work continuously from that date until date of trial and expended over $1,700 on the work from' the commencement th