United States v. Union Gap Irr. Dist.

In 1905 the officers of the National Reclamation Service were considering the feasibility of undertaking a reclamation project on the Yakima river in the state of Wash *47 ington. That they might have definite and dependable assurance of the 'amount of water available they adopted the plan of procuring from claimants of prior rights in the stream what are referred to as limitation agreements, that is, written declarations from such claimants that in ease the project was undertaken they would never assert rights in excess of the amounts specified. The agreements were all of a uniform character, and for particulars reference is made to one of them, set out in full in West Side Irrigation Co. v. United States (C. C. A.) 246 F. 212 . Such an agreement was, on November 25, 1905, executed by the Fowler Diteh Company, a corporation owning, in whole or in part, one of the ditches or canals which diverted water from the river. Having in due time thus received satisfactory assurance, the Reclamation Service at great cost constructed the project.

It seems that this ditch of the Fowler Diteh Company, originally owned by C. V. and Anamila Fowler, in its course ran through a quarter section of…