Soon there came a huge demand for water by settlers which was an issue for the Fort Belknap American Indian reservation.

The settlers did things such as building dams and reservoirs which prevented the reservation from receiving water needed for agricultural purposes.

[11] It was decided that the water rights of the Milk River were implied when the Fort Belknap Reservation was created in order to uphold provisions that had been previously stated.

[12] The majority opinion was delivered to the United States Supreme Court by associate justice, Joseph McKenna.

It was determined by the Supreme Court that the reasoning behind the establishment of reservations was to provide a permanent homeland for the natives.

[14] The majority opinion was held by Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller and Associate Justices William R. Day, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Joseph McKenna, William H. Moody, Rufus Wheeler Peckham, and Edward D.

[12] After the verdict had been reached, the United States government allocated $25,000 to be used for the purpose of extending the irrigation system on the Milk River for use by the Fort Belknap American reservation.

[12] The Winters court reasoned that water rights were implied in the agreement that had been made with the natives in 1888, when the reservation was created.

This agreement stated that the Fort Belknap Reservation had been created with the intention of the tribal people being able to become self-sufficient.

This document states that the Fort Belknap reservation will need water for uses such as recreation, wildlife, forestry, energy, minerals, industrial use, domestic use, and agricultural use.

[8] While the United States government was caught up in the emergence of non-native settlers moving west, the government seemed to turn a blind eye to many non-native settlers who were making use of water sources which, under the terms of Winters v. United States, had been reserved for reservation use.

[8] The United States Supreme Court was not called upon to further define reserved water rights until the case of Arizona v. California in 1963.

Arizona v. California was a set of 11 United States Supreme Court cases dealing with water rights.

The court ruled that all limits that any federal legislation put on state-court jurisdiction over indigenous water rights were removed by the McCarran Amendment.

This piece of legislation allowed state courts jurisdiction to determine indigenous water rights.

[25] The United States claimed to have reserved the use of water out of the Rio Mimbres stream only where necessary to preserve the environment and wildlife.

[26] Devils Hole cavern in Nevada became a detached part of Death Valley National Monument in 1952, by a proclamation of President Harry S. Truman made under the Antiquities Act.

The cavern is home to a rare species of desert fish, the Devils Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis).

The federal government sought to place limits on the Cappaerts' use of the water, so as to protect the fish from extinction.