One Hundred Years of Wyoming Water Law (original) (raw)

On most occasions when I have written about Wyoming water law I have served the role of a critic. I have criticized the State's instream flow law, its water transfer laws, and most recently, its handling of the dispute over Indian reserved water rights. I am pleased to use the occasion of Wyoming's centennial not to criticize Wyoming water law, but to praise it. The reasons for my praise stem from Wyoming's long and proud history as a leader in the development of water law and policy in the western United States. What I would like to do in this article is to briefly trace 100 years of Wyoming water law. Of necessity, I will avoid most of the nuances in the State's laws, but I do hope to convey a sense of its history and general meaning.' Most of us, I suppose, intuitively associate the origins of western water law with the agriculture industry. In fact, however, our system of prior appropriation owes its beginnings to the mining camps that were established throughout the West in the mid-19th century.2 The miners, of course, were trespassers on federal lands, but the government had seemingly acquiesced in their presence, and the only real problem facing the miners was resolving disputes that developed * Professor of Law, University of Wyoming College of Law. The author gratefully acknowledges the able assistance of Charles Breer, casenote editor for Vol. 26, LAND & WATER L REV., in preparing this article. 1. This article is merely intended to provide the reader with a broad overview of Wyoming's role in the development of western water law. Readers interested in a detailed legal analysis of Wyoming water law should examine Squillace, Water Market