The second chapter of "Colorado Water Law for Non-Lawyers" is about early water use and development in the state. Of course it begins in ancient times and concludes in the mid 1950's as the major development projects are listed pretty much in chronological order. The water development focus is very much on surface water projects with side bars on the major players in these projects - primarily in the 1850 - 1905 time frame. The mention of these projects are largely superficial with not a lot of detail on the politics, local governmental players, financing or organizational structures. I assume this is by design in that an exhaustive section on these issues for every major project listed is likely not warranted. I would have enjoyed a little more detail, though. The groundwater development is mentioned only briefly, but again, I wonder how better it could have been covered without bogging down the book. I hope that groundwater is included in more detail later in the book. My largest, real criticism, is that a map should have been included as the surface water projects were being reeled off. Not being familiar with Colorado, I was geographically challenged in this chapter. Of course, I could have gotten up and found a copy of a Colorado Atlas I suppose. Overall, this was a short and sweet chapter that covered the very basics of major water developments in the state. I enjoyed the description of ditch construction with oxen teams (borrowed from Dorothy Gardner in her book "Snow-Water") and am looking forward to Chapter 3.
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