

CHAPTER XIV 



THE TRANSPORTATION OF TIMBER PRODUCTS 

 BY FLOTATION 



146. The Use of Streams. Under the English com- 

 mon law only those streams which the tide affected were 

 considered navigable as a matter of law. Early in the 

 development of the lumber industry in America it was 

 recognized that many streams which were not affected by 

 the tide in any part of their courses, and the upper portions 

 of many which were subject to tidal effects only in their 

 lower courses, must either be declared navigable or, legally 

 designated as highways to facilitate the transportation of 

 logs, spars and rafts. 



It appears that the streams were at first used for the 

 driving of logs and the floating of rafts to market without 

 the formal sanction of the law, but when controversies arose 

 the legislatures of several English colonies enacted laws de- 

 claring certain streams to be highways for such purposes and 

 regulating their use. 1 Subsequent to the separation of the 

 colonies from the mother country there was a marked de- 

 velopment of this kind of legislation in New York 2 and 

 Pennsylvania. 3 As the lumber industry extended to the 



1. Acts of General Assembly of Province of New Jersey, 1753-1761 (Woodbridge,) 



N. J., 1761. p. 64, ch. 123. 



Acts of General Assembly of Province of New Jersey, (Burlington, N. J., 1776) 

 p. 205, ch. 271. 



Laws of Com. of Penn. 1700 to 1810 (Phila. 1810), Vol: 1. p. 322, ch. 626; Vol. 

 1, p. 324, ch. 627; Vol. 2, p. 43, ch. 966; Vol. 2, p. 311, ch. 1144. 

 Compare French v. Connecticut River Lbr. Co., 145 Mass. 261, and Scott v. 

 Wilson, 3 N. H. 321, 325. (Indicating establishment of character of Connecti- 

 cut River as highway through usage). But see Carter v. Thurston, 58 N. H. 

 104, 42 Am. Rep. 584 (Holding streams highways because of adaptability for 

 such use.) See also Browne v. Schofleld 8 Barb N. Y. 239. 



2. Laws of New York, Webster & Skinner, Albany, 18O6, Vol. 4. p. 541; Vol. 5, 



pp. 93, 388, 467; Vol. 6, p. 74; Session Laws 1849, p. 663: S. L. 1880, p. 752; 

 S. L. 1881, pp. 18, 80; S. L. 1891, p. 739; S. L. 1892, p. 710; S. L. 1897, p. 

 612, 7J3; S. L. 1898. p. 1118. 



3. Laws of Com. of Penn., Phila. 1810, Vol. 3, pp. 70, 95, 122, 123, 127, 278, 315, 



320. 369, 450, 464, 473; Purdon's Digest Laws of Pa., Rev. by Brightly, 1883, 

 pp. 1094, 1107. 



210 



