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===Importance of Water Records=== | ===Importance of Water Records=== | ||
Particularly in the western part of the United States, water rights were transferable in the same way any other property rights were transferred; by deed, by lease or testamentary distribution. Since water records were maintained separately from other land title records, they may provide information not contained in the land and property records. You may not be aware at all that your ancestors had or owned water rights until you begin looking for documents with reference to those rights. | |||
In most of the western part of the United States, water rights were often the subject of bitter controversy and extensive litigation. Some of the water rights litigation has continued for decades and the reports of the cases have created their own archives. For an idea of the length of time involved and the complexity of these extensive litigations, see Feller, Joseph M., [http://www.arizonalawreview.org/pdf/49-2/49arizlrev405.pdf The Adjudication that ate Arizona Water Law], Volume 49 Number 2 of the Arizona Law Review. | |||
There are several other huge law cases involving hundreds of litigants and likely millions of pages of transcripts, pleadings and exhibits that contain a huge amount of information about the history of the State of Arizona and all of the adjoining states and those states along the Colorado River waterway. | |||
===Finding Water Records=== | ===Finding Water Records=== | ||