Treaty

The Klamath Indian Reservation includes a large part of the drainage area of Upper Klamath Lake. The treaty with the Indians made in 1864 contained no reservation for them of water rights for irrigation but previous decisions of the United States Supreme Court in affairs of this nature leave room for doubt as to what the ultimate decision in this case would be. It may be argued that there is granted by the treaty an implied right to waters on the Reservation. On the other hand, there is logical support for the position that Oregon, which became a state before the treaty was entered into, then had control of the waters of the 37 non-navigable streams involved and the United States was without power to grant water rights to the Indians. Chapter 732 - Public Law 587, U. S. Code. The public law enacted by the 83rd Congress, 2nd Session, approved August 13, 1954, providing for termination of Federal supervision over the Klamath Tribe of Indians, contains the following provision: "Sec. 14. (a) Nothing in this Act shall abrogate any water rights of the tribe and its members, and the laws of the State of Oregon with respect to the abandonment of water rights by non-use shall not apply to the tribe and its members until fifteen years after the date of the proclamation issued pursuant to Section 18 of this Act."