Bean v. Morris
Headline: Court affirms prior Wyoming water appropriations and blocks Montana diversion, protecting earlier water users and upholding lower-court allocations for measured shares of the creek.
Holding: The Court affirmed the lower courts’ decree recognizing prior Wyoming appropriations and preventing Montana-based diversion, holding that earlier water rights acquired before statehood are protected and the earlier allocations must stand.
- Affirms prior appropriators’ water shares against out-of-state diversion.
- Leaves specific allocations of 100 and 110 inches in place.
- Recognizes longstanding appropriation rules and territorial statutes as binding.
Summary
Background
A man named Morris sued to stop other people from diverting water from Sage Creek in Montana because he claimed a prior right, based on earlier use, to a large share of that creek’s water in Wyoming. Another person, Howell, joined the case with a similar claim. Sage Creek flows into a chain of rivers that cross state lines. The lower court awarded Morris 100 inches (miner’s measurement) dated April 1887 and Howell 110 inches dated August 1, 1890, finding both claims were earlier than the petitioners’. Those findings were affirmed by the Court of Appeals.
Reasoning
The main question was whether water rights acquired earlier in Wyoming could be enforced against people diverting the same water in Montana. The opinion observed that Montana has authority over waters inside its borders but also recognized the long-standing local practice of acquiring water by appropriation, a system in place before statehood and acknowledged by federal statutes while the area was a territory. Because Morris made his appropriation before statehood and both states recognize the appropriation system, the Court accepted the lower courts’ factual findings and concluded the decree should stand without deciding broader constitutional limits.
Real world impact
The decision leaves the lower-court allocations in place and protects those who took water earlier under the local appropriation system, even when the diversion occurs across a state line. It confirms that long-standing territorial and state practices of water appropriation carry weight in resolving cross-state disputes, while leaving detailed questions about an upper State’s full powers for another case.
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