Maguire informs that Bracken was planning on using surplus water from the new artesian well to irrigate land on the Las Vegas Ranch.

Halstead believed that if a new well was dug, the railroad and the water company must make sure that all the water from it was appropriated.

McNamee states that although the Union Pacific Railroad owns the land that the springs are on and all the land it historically watered, to further protect their water right they should apply for the right to appropriate the water.