Letter from Alfred Merritt Smith (Carson City) to Leo A. McNamee (Las Vegas), March 3, 1945

STATE OF NEVADA OFFICE OF STATE ENGINEER CARSON CITY March 3, 1945. Las Vegas Land & Water Company Attention Leo A. McNamee Attorney at Law El Portal Bldg. Las Vegas, Nevada. Dear Mr. McNamee: This will acknowledge your letter of February 27th, to-gether with application of the Las Vegas Land and Water Company to appropriate underground water for municipal supplies and your check in the sum of $20.00, filing fee. In answer to the question in the last paragraph of your letter, will advise that we will be unable to start publication until after the map has been filed in support of this application. Action on such applications can only be taken 30 days following the final publication date, and, as set forth in Section 6, of the Underground Water Law, as amended in 1943, no drilling operations can commence until after a permit has been issued. There will also have to be considered the Griffith application, which has been protested by the Las Vegas Land and Water Company. The fact that the Las Vegas Land and Water Company has made a new application would indicate that there is unappro-priated water there. Naturally, if in our opinion, there is unappropriated water, favorable action would have to be taken on the Griffith application. I have often thought that it would be to the best interests his sub-division development, possibly at wholesale rates. We feel that the water company could develop more water from the wells that they now have drilled by installations of pumps and this might be a more practical method rather than the drilling of new wells. Very truly yours, ALFRED MERRITT SMITH State Engineer By HUGH SHAMBERGER Hugh A. Shamberger HAS:KC Asst. State Engineer. C O P Y