It has been said that in New Mexico ''whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting.'' Surveyed in this book are two centuries of struggles over water rights. Most conflicts have occurred when someone suddenly seized and redirected the flow of water away from another user. Usually disputes were resolved through an appeal process, but these often followed ditch-bank fights punctuated by blows from shovels.

Throughout the colonial period, access to water was a local issue and centered on maintaining the community acequia or ditch. Then beginning in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, competition for water intensified. Community-based decision-making gave way to district court hearings and the emergence of new legal principles--all arising out of claims advanced by those seeking large-scale irrigation development. In 1907 control was given to an appointed water engineer in a new legislative code, which still remains the foundation of water law in New Mexico.