Humboldt River Chronology Part III—Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries 1900 (February 8) It soon became evident that the plea presented in the Reese River Reveille (Austin) in September 1898 to eliminate the carp from the Humboldt River had met with little success. The Silver State (Winnemucca) reported in a very long article that there was no apparent use for carp: “Before the carp were placed in the river, the Humboldt was one of the best trout streams in the State; now the carp have overstocked the river, taken all the feed and destroyed the spawn of the other fish, so today you can catch nothing but carp…”1 1900 (February 27) In an early reference to the eventual construction of Rye Patch Reservoir, the Tuscarora Times-Review reported that “The ranchers in the vicinity of Lovelocks [Lovelock] have spent over $100,000 in litigation and this has not settled the water question and has not added a drop to the present supply. This [same] sum spent in storage reservoirs would have settled the water question in short order, but possibly the ranchers didn’t think of so simple a scheme as that.”2 1900 It was around this time that the annual cheatgrass began to replace the depleted climax perennial grass-forb understory and out-compete sagebrush that had been thinned or eliminated by range wildfires or excessive grazing by cattle and sheep throughout the Humboldt River Basin. This cheatgrass “invasion” would have extensive effects on trends in future wildfires as well as the habitats of animal species. For example, sharp-tail grouse and sage grouse, which relies on native grasses and sage brush, have been replaced in many areas by chukar partridge, which thrives on cheatgrass.3 1901 (March 28) Four years after taking enforcement authority away from the Nevada Fish Commissioner (see March 22, 1897 entry) with respect to the requirement for installing fish ladders on all dams, the Nevada Legislature had a change of heart with the passage of “An Act to provide for the preservation of fish in the waters of this State, and matters properly relating thereto.” Section 2 restored that authority, at least jointly, and required that “All persons…who have erected, or may hereafter erect, all dams, water weirs, or other obstruction to the free passage of fish…shall construct and keep in repair, to the satisfaction of the Fish Commissioner, fish-ways or fish-ladders…and it shall be the duty of the Fish Commissioner and of the District Attorneys…so far as practicable, [to] enforce the requirements of this section…”4 1901 (June 7) In a nostalgic reflection of by-gone days, the Nevada State Herald (Wells) reported on finding an idyllic place on the (Little) Trout Creek which resembled fishing conditions which probably existed when the first Europeans settlers arrived in this area: “…about twelve miles from town… almost alive with mountain trout from four to ten inches in length…stream winds down through a wooded canyon for a mile or two before it enters a wide flat below where the water is used for irrigating…”5 [Note: Trout Creek is a tributary of Bishop Creek and is located about 12 miles due north of Wells. It drains the southern and eastern slopes of Antelope Peak in the Snake Mountain Range.] 1901 (August 31) Showing high regard for abstinence, as well as a hint to the hunting impaired, the Tuscarora Times-Review noted that “The season for killing wild ducks and geese will begin Sunday, September 1st. There are plenty of ducks this year and hunting will be good. Poor marksmen and others who have, in conformance with law refrained from killing wild geese and ducks may now slaughter away with impunity mixed with properly charged Nevada Water Basin Information and Chronology Series III–1 Humboldt River Chronology—Part III DIVISION OF WATER PLANNING shells.”6 1902 (June 17) Congress passed the Reclamation Act which authorized the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to locate, construct, operate, and maintain facilities for the storage, diversion, and development of waters for the reclamation of arid and semiarid lands in the Western States. To facilitate these functions, in July 1902 the Secretary of the Interior established the U.S. Reclamation Service (USRS) within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In March 1907 the USRS was established as a separate entity apart from the USGS and in June 1923 the name was changed to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). The basic purpose of the Reclamation Act was to assist states and local governments to stabilize and stimulate local and regional economies, enhance and protect the environment, and improve the quality of life through the development of water and related land resources throughout the 17 contiguous western states and Hawaii.7 This act committed the federal government to construct water storage and irrigation projects in the West and reclaim arid lands for cultivation and settlement.8 1902 (July 18) In reporting on a camping trip along Tabor Creek (which flows into the Humboldt River nearly 20 miles below Wells and two miles up from Deeth), the Nevada State Herald (Wells) painted a pastoral picture: “…shaded by large cottonwood trees, with green grass as a carpet. Roses and flowers in profusion…In this stream is found an abundance of solid, juicy, speckled trout of the native and eastern brook variety…”9 1903 (February 16) The Nevada Legislature passed the Irrigation Act of 1903 which, among other things, created the Office of State Engineer to solve water problems, to protect existing water rights, and to bring about a better method to utilize the state’s water resources. This represented the state’s first step in providing a speedy and relatively inexpensive method of adjudicating existing (vested) water rights.10 According to this act, “All natural water courses and natural lakes, and the waters thereof which are not held in private ownership, belong to the public, and are subject to appropriation for a beneficial use…” Notably absent from this legislation was any provision to control new appropriations for water as well as wording as to the appropriation of underground water.11 This act also provided for the cooperation of the State of Nevada with the Secretary of the Interior in the construction and administration of irrigation works for the reclamation of arid lands in the state under the recently passed National Reclamation Act of 1902. State Engineer offices in Western states were an essential corollary to the National Reclamation Act. Implied in the Reclamation Act was the primacy of the Department of the Interior (USDI) and its U.S. Reclamation Service over water development projects. In fact, with respect to water, individual state sovereignty was so limited that candidates to the office of State Engineer had to be approved by the USDI before appointment by the governor.12 1904 After the Southern Pacific Railroad realigned its railroad districts, a roundhouse was built at what was to become the town of Imlay, located approximately 32 “track” miles down the Humboldt River from Winnemucca. The station served the Imlay mine to the south where a 10-stamp mill had been built, and four other mining companies were headquartered there as well. A post office opened first in the town, and within another three or four years the bustling community had a restaurant, hotel, physician, church, boarding house, livery stable, mercantile company, three saloons and a few hundred people. During the 1950’s the railroad relocated their shop facilities and Imlay’s population quickly departed to where only about 60 people live there at present.13 1905 (March 1) The Nevada Legislature amended the Irrigation Act of 1903 to require that any III–2 Nevada Water Basin Information and Chronology Series DIVISION OF WATER PLANNING Humboldt River Chronology—Part III person desiring to appropriate water file an application with the Nevada State Engineer for a permit. The application form was to describe the source of water, location of proposed works, amount of water needed, purpose for which the water was to be used, and other information. If the State Engineer found that there existed unappropriated water, he could grant a permit. Within six months following such approval the applicant was required to file a map in support of such application. Upon satisfactory proof that the application had been “perfected,” i.e., the water had been diverted and put to beneficial use, the State Engineer could issue a certificate of appropriation. The act also provided a method to adjudicate existing water rights.14 1905 (March 16) Either recognizing the impossibility of expecting a single individual to enforce the state’s fish ladder requirement or, more probably, wishing to diffuse such authority and avoid the issue altogether, the Nevada Legislature passed “An Act to provide for the appointment of a Board of Fish Commissioners and to define their duties.” Section 1 of this act established a three-member Board of Fish Commissioners and gave them rather vague duties: “…may superintend and direct the construction of fish-ways and fish-ladders that may be built in the streams and waters of this State…”15 [Emphasis added] 1906 After the disastrous cattle losses of the “White Winter” of 1889-90, sheep began to move into the North Fork of the Humboldt River sub-basin. By this year several large sheep outfits had bought, leased or homesteaded enough key acreage to effectively control the summer range in many of the basin’s upper watersheds. This was not only the case the Independence Mountains, but also the high country formerly used as Daniel Murphey’s16 summer range around Gold Creek and the headwaters of the Bruneau River in the Jarbidge Mountains, lying adjacent to the northern boundary of the North Fork sub-basin.17 1906 (May) To protect the valuable watershed source areas of the North Fork of the Humboldt River sub-basin from the growing threats of severe grazing, the Independence Forest Reserve was established.