State of Nevada Ex Rel. Shamberger v. United States

ROSS, District Judge.

The question here involved is whether or not the Federal Government must first secure permission of and from a state agency — here the State Engineer’s Office — before it can make use of the ground or percolating water developed in its own wells, drilled at its own expense, upon its reserved lands constituting the Hawthorne Naval Ammunition Depot, situate about the Town of Hawthorne, Mineral County, Nevada. Or, to put the question another way, can the State of Nevada, at the instance of its State Engineer, enjoin the Federal Government from the use of the waters of its…