Coffin v. Left Hand Ditch

In a column last week on the notion of “beneficial use” in western water law,  I quoted a wonderful little bit of business from a 19th century Colorado Supreme Court decision that is one of the foundational documents of the legal structure for the management and distribution of water in the arid west:

“The climate is dry,” a Colorado judge wrote in 1882, explaining the concept, “and the soil, when moistened only by the usual rainfall, is arid and unproductive; except in a few favored sections, artificial irrigation for agriculture is an absolute necessity. Water in the various streams thus acquires a value unknown in moister climates.”

I gave the decision short shrift in the column itself (seldom space for side trips in those things), but a reader asked for more detail. Here, then, is a link to the case of Coffin et. al v. Left Hand Ditch Company. Bloomberg Law has a nice summary.