It, generally, is bounded on the west by Pawnee Creek and on the east by the dike originally constructed to function as part of the inlet canal. The dike shown on Exhibit B was one bank of the inlet canal, and Pawnee Creek was the other. When the project was first constructed, neither a ditch nor flume was built through or across the "pond." The water was run into the "pond" and backed up Pawnee Creek until it reached a level where it would flow into the inlet canal on the north end of the "pond." The "pond" filled up with silt and weeds and during the intervening years large trees grew up in the area. The silt and weeds were brought to the "pond" through the inletcanal and down Pawnee Creek during floods. By 1943, the effectiveness of the "pond" as a part of the inlet canal was impaired, and in 1948 a ditch was constructed through the bottom of it, in order to more effectively serve the needs of the inlet system.
The witness Wright, engineer and super-intendent of the District, testified that the area in dispute is, and for forty years has been, a necessary part of the intake system; that the "pond" is essential in order to handle and control floods down Pawnee Creek; that it is used for diverting flood waters of Pawnee Creek to which the District has decreed rights; and that during the past twenty years he kept a record of emergency high water in the area and during