62 



TEE IRRIGATION AGE. 



applying to that company applies to him. 

 The important part of Judge Webb's rul- 

 ing is that while it gives Miller an injunc- 

 tion against James it is only because 

 James wished to apply the water taken 

 from the river through the enterprise 

 ditch to lands not riparian to the San 

 Joaquin. In other words, Miller has not 

 a right to restrain the diversion of water 

 for irrigating lands along the river, as he 

 would have had if the court sustained his 

 prescription claim. 



Judge Webb held that the? San Joaquin 

 river is a -navigable waterway and that 

 with its navigability 



is unlawful such as the diverting of water 

 by means of a dam. The act of the plain- 

 tiff, the San Joaquin and Kings river 

 company," says the court, "being unlawful 

 from its inception it can never found a 

 right on an unlawful act and I am of the 

 opinion that the company is not entitled 

 to recover in this action for any acts com- 

 plained of by the defendants for interfer- 

 ing or threatening to interfere with the 

 diversion of water from the San Joaquin 

 by said plaintiffs." 



Webb held that it devolved on the de- 

 fendants to show that their diversion of 

 water from the San Joaquin did not inter- 

 fere with Miller's riparian rights and that 

 they had failed to do so. He therefore 



granted the perpetual injunction with the 

 proviso, however, that James and the 

 enterprise company might sue Miller and 

 the intervenor to determine under what 

 circumstances they might divert water 

 without injury to the plaintiffs." 



Short & Cook and Houghton & Hough- 

 ton of San Francisco represented the 

 plaintiffs. James was represented by 

 Archie Borland, N. C. Coldwell and W. 

 C. Graves. A. S. Treadwell of San Fran- 

 cisco looked after the interests of the in- 

 tervenor, Mowry. 



TO STORE SIOUX RIVER WATER. 

 Col. H. M. Chittenden, United States 

 engineer at Sioux City, has just returned 

 from Watertown, S. D. , where he investi- 

 gated the matter of the projected reser- 

 voirs in which to store the surplus water 

 of the Sioux river in springtime and re- 

 lease it when wanted during the drier 

 portion of the year. The colonel will re- 

 port favorably to the war department on 

 this subject. The plan is to construct a 

 dam across the Big Sioux river, so as to 

 back the interrupted waters into Lake 

 Kampeska. During the summer, when 

 tock is looking for water along the courses 

 of the stream, the stored water will be let 

 out and the river be thus made a running 

 stream during the whole year. 



