Developer, city of Spearfish accused of polluting irrigation ditch

Ditch has allocated water rights since before Custer was defeated in battle

The non-profit corporation that manages the oldest operating irrigation ditch on Spearfish Creek is accusing a developer and the city of Spearfish of polluting its customers’ water.

That water is used for irrigation and agriculture customers, and part of the ditch runs through Spearfish before reconnecting with Spearfish Creek, according to the federal lawsuit filed by the Spearfish Evans-Tonn Ditch Co.

Water rights from the ditch were first allocated in May of 1876. For historical context, that’s 13 years before South Dakota became a state and the month before George Armstrong Custer led his troopers with the 7^th Cavalry to their doom at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

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