Water rights are determined based primarily upon state law. Federal law
applies when Indian Tribes, etc. dispute rights. I've had to pursue
discovery of my water rights in more than a single state. In states where
water is a real issue, there are always attorneys who specialize in that
area. For a small landowner like me, it has always been best to let the
title company and/or a lawyer figure things out. I just stay out of the fray.
Mineral rights are a mess. during the Great Depression, opportunists ,
primarily from big northern cities, would travel through the South and stop
at every farm and buy 50% of their mineral rights for a few dollars. I don't
know why , but usually it was 50%; Maybe that was all state law would allow
at the time. ...bobford
--- On Tue, 6/24/08, Roy Morgan <k1lky AT earthlink.net> wrote:
> From: Roy Morgan <k1lky AT earthlink.net>
> Subject: Re: [Homestead] Garden pests, four-legged variety
> To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 9:03 PM
> On Jun 24, 2008, at 6:55 PM, Bunjov AT aol.com wrote:
> ...but I need to know whatever I can find
> > out about 'in-stream water rights'. I've
> googled myself silly and
> > yet no
> > clarification.
>
> Sandy,
>
> Celia tells me that the magazine we get about small farms
> and such
> lifestyle is Countryside. Lately, it has had a number of
> articles or
> question/answers or letters from readers about mineral
> rights.
> "Mineral rights" may include water rights. In
> the case that started
> the series of articles, a reader whose mineral rights were
> sold by an
> earlier owner to an oil company tells of "company
> men" who come at
> will onto her property to set off explosive charges in
> search of oil
> or gas. Apparently they act badly in the process.
> Important points I
> remember from the articles are:
>
> - It takes a lawyer or other specialist to know and
> understand "the
> law" regarding mineral rights in *your* area
> - Even if you get and read documents related to the sale
> of mineral
> rights, you may not know what they mean. There are
> "terms of the art"
> in that field that do not mean what you would expect.
> - The mineral rights to your land may have been sold a
> long time ago
> - If so, you *should* have been told of that event when
> you bought
> your place
> - Mineral rights can be un-excercised for decades, and
> then one day
> BOOM, you've got large equipment and/or dynamite
> charges going off in
> your pastures.
> - most oil/mineral companies are big conglomerates now,
> and are
> particularly un-interested in the land owners point of
> view.
> - people and equipment which are the earliest hint of new
>
> prospecting are most likely sub- or sub-sub- contractors of
> the rights
> owner, and are from places very far away. Those folks care
> even less
> about the landowners' point of view.
>
> I sincerely hope none of this applies to you.
>
> Roy Morgan
> k1lky AT earthlink.net
> Lovettsville, VA 20180
>
>
>
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Re: [Homestead] Does this idea stink?
, (continued)