58 STATE LAND LAWS 



SEC. 59 CLASSIFICATION. 



Wash. 66 ; Bilger v. State, 63 Wash. 457 ; Eisenbach v. Hatfleld, 2 Wash. 236 ; 

 Brace & Hergert Mill Co. v. State, 49 Wash. 326 ; Grays Harbor Boom Co. v. 

 Lownsdale, 54 Wash. 83 ; Lownsdale v. Grays Harbor Boom Co., 54 Wash. 542 ; 

 State ex rel. Yesler v. Board, 2 Wash. 530. 



TIDE AND SHORE LANDS NAVIGABLE WATERS : 



See 2 Remington's Digest, p. 2120, sec. 1 ; Vol. 4, idem., p. 779 ,sec. 1. 



See art. XVII, sec. 1, Const., ante, and notes. 



The assertion of title to beds and shores of navigable streams refers to those 

 which in their natural condition are navigable for the general purposes of com- 

 merce, and not to those which are public highways merely for the floatage of 

 logs and timber products : WatMns v. Dorris, 24 Wash. 636 ; East Hoquiam 

 Boom etc. Co. v. Neeson, 20 Wash. 142. 



Water is navigable in law if navigable in fact, and the small size of a body 

 of water, which renders it of little practical use for navigation is not determi- 

 native of the question : Brace cC- Hergert Mill Co. v. State, 49 Wash. 326. 



A stream is not navigable merely because it has its source in navigable 

 water : New Whatcom v. Fairhaven Land Co., 24 Wash. 492. 



Tidal water which is navigable only at high tide is navigable in law : Daw- 

 son v. McMillan, 34 Wash. 269. 



An unmeandered river, having a depth of 4 feet during high water and 2 

 feet during low water, with occasional shoals, an average width of 40 feet, and 

 which has been navigated only by rowboats used in fishing for pleasure is not 

 a navigable river : Griffith v. Holm an, 23 Wash. 347. 



A tidal river which is navigable by rowboat at half tide and contains six 

 feet of water at high tide is navigable : Judson v. Tide Water Lbr. Co., 51 

 Wash. 164. 



A lake averaging less than a mile in width and two miles in length and 

 about 18 feet in depth, having no navigable outlet or inlet, and having been 

 put to no use of trade or commerce except the navigation of a small pleasure 

 steamer upon which passengers were carried for hire, is navigable : Madson v. 

 Spokane Valley Land etc. Co., 40 Wash. 414 ; Kalez v. Spokane Canal Co., 42 

 Wash. 43. 



A lake with an area of 900 acres and a general depth of 25 feet is navi- 

 gable : Brace & Hergert Mill Co. v. State, 49 Wash. 326. 



The fact that water is not meandered by the government survey does not 

 establish its character as to navigability : Sumner Lbr. Co. v. Pac. Coast Power 

 Co., 72 Wash. 631 ; Loicnsdale v. Grays Harbor Boom Co., 21 Wash. 542. 



TIDE AND SHORE LANDS BOUNDARIES : 



If navigable water encroach upon granted lands, the boundary shifts with 

 the line of ordinary high water or tide, and the submerged lands become sub- 

 ject to sale as tide or shore lands : Opinions Att'y Gen'l, '05-'06, p. 140. 



"Ordinary high water" does not mean unusual floods nor great annual rises 

 above the banks : Austin v. Bellingliam, 69 Wash. 677. 



Where the true line of ordinary high water cannot readily be ascertained, 

 because of artificial changes, and the meander line is concededly incorrect, the 

 courts will construct a conventional line as the boundary : Brace & Hergert 

 Mill Co. v. State, 49 Wash. 326. 



The establishment of a shore line by the Board of State Land Commissioners 

 is conclusive upon all persons except the state and abutting owners who claim 

 that the same has been located upon their uplands : Williams v. Cole, 54 Wash. 

 110. 



Soil which is submerged so long and so often in ordinary seasons that vege- 

 tation will not grow on it is below the line of ordinary high water : Austin v. 

 Bellingham, 69 Wash. 677. 



The state has no title to lands lying above the line of ordinary high water 

 or tide and below the government meander line, by reason of its ownership of 

 the tide and shore lands : Opinions Att'y Gen'l, '0'3-'04, p. 4. 



