Extensive canals and water rights and riparian water rights were not developed till the demand by the Gold Rush, and then after its admission into the Union ad

Extensive canals and water rights and riparian water rights were not developed till the demand by the Gold Rush, and then after its admission into the Union additional laws and provisions were passed and levees and canals built, and then in the early 1900s water from the Colorado was diverted into Calif. then much later aqueducts to channel water into semi-desert cities. The Spanish may have had a few little channels here and there (for their missions along the el camino), but it wasn't till the Gold Rush people built large elaborate systems for water distribution (for their claims). Then appropriative and riparian rights attracted many farmers into fertile lands. Does it deserve a revisit, sure. It will be fraught and messy, but sure.