STATE v. MENDENHALL

No. 6768.

362 P.2d 998 (1961)

68 N.M. 467

STATE of New Mexico ex rel. S.E. REYNOLDS, State Engineer, and Pecos Valley Artesian Conservancy District, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Elliott MENDENHALL and Ruth Mendenhall, Defendants-Appellants.

Supreme Court of New Mexico.

June 26, 1961.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Carpenter & Phelps, Roswell, for appellants.

Hilton A. Dickson, Jr., Atty. Gen., Charles D. Harris, J. Lee Cathey, Sp. Asst. Attys. Gen., John F. Russell, Roswell, for appellee.

Seth, Montgomery, Federici & Andrews, Santa Fe, C.R. Brice, James M.H. Cullender, Roswell, Neal, Neumann, Neal & Fort, Carlsbad, amici curiae.


MOISE, Justice.

Does a landowner who lawfully initiates the development of an underground water right and carries the same to completion with reasonable diligence acquire a water right with a priority date as of the beginning of his work, notwithstanding the fact that the lands involved were put into a declared artesian basin before work was completed and the water put to beneficial use on the ground? This is the only question presented in this appeal.

The...

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