Campbell, Glenn G. Saunders, John P. Akolt, Robert A. Dick, Harold D. Roberts, Milton J. Keegan and John M. Dickson, Denver, for plaintiff in error, City and County of Denver. Henry, Colorado Springs, A. William R. Kelly, and John R. John B. Barnard, John B. Barnard, Jr. Barnard, Granby, for defendant in error, F. Under our Colorado Statutes for adjudication of water rights, two proceedings were brought in Water District No.
These proceedings were consolidated for trial in the court below and are considered together here. We have here for review the decree of the trial court as to priorities awarded to the water project of the City of Denver and that of the City of Colorado Springs and the refusal of priority to the project of South Platte Water Users Association, all situate on the Eastern Slope of the Continental Divide and all proposing to divert water by means of tunnels through the Divide, and also the refusal of priority to the Green Mountain Reservoir and hydroelectric plant, which had been sought at first by the United States of America and later by the Colorado River Water Conservation District.
In considering these conflicting claims, the Court must be concerned not with the oratorical hyperboles of council, or the alarming prophecies of partisans in the Press, or our own opinions as to comparative value of use, but only with the facts in the record, the questions argued before the Court and the application of established rules of law to the adjudication of the respective property rights in the waters of said stream.
First, considering the provisions of the decree adjudicating the rights of the Denver Blue River project:. By its statement of claim in the proceedings before us, Denver asserted right of priority to its Blue River project, both for direct use and for storage of various amounts in its several reservoirs.
No challenge is made or argument presented before us concerning the decree to the Dillon Reservoir or concerning the failure of the trial court to award decrees to the other reservoirs; the only issues presented in behalf of Denver concern the award to its Blue River diversion project for direct use. Claim was made therefor in the amount of second feet as of date of March 21, , and conditional decree was awarded therefor in the amount of second feet as of June 24, A brief summary from the record of the steps taken by Denver in connection with the intended appropriation of water from the Blue River is necessary to understand the issue presented.
