86 Mo. 209 | Mo. | 1885
— This was ejectment for Island. Seventy-three in the Missouri river. The island was surveyed and numbered when the public lands were surveyed. It was patented to the state as swamp land, and by the Mate to the county of Franklin, and by the latter sold to plaintiff. The plat of the public surveys, certified from the surveyor general’s office, shows that the island was, at the date of the survey, located near the left bank of the Missouri river. This is one of a number of islands,
The court, at the request of the plaintiff, gave the following instructions :
“3. If the jury believe from the evidence that a slough, or arm of the Missouri riyer run between Island Seventy-three and survey 1922, at the time of making the United States survey, and that since that time the same has been filled up so as to connect the island with the main land, and make the island and survey one continuous tract of land, then the adjacent owners of Island Seventy-three and survey 1922, qre entitled to the ' accretions to their respective lands, but if the slough simply filled up from the bottom, or by deposits within the bed of said slough, and said accretions did not form on the one side or the other, then the center of the slough as it was before the water deserted it, is the boundary between said survey and said island.”
£ £ 4. That although the jury may believe that Island Seventy-three, section six, township forty-four, range one, west, at any time washed away entirely, or in part, after the same was surveyed and patented by the United States government, yet if they further find that the land*213 in controversy is a reformation of said island on the bed of the river where such island formerly existed, then plaintiff is entitled to recover in this action, if it be shown that the defendant unlawfully detained the same.”
“5. The court instructs the jury that if they believe from the evidence that the land and premises described in plaintiff’s petition, and of which the defendants were in possession at the time of the institution of this suit were, and are not within the boundary line of survey 1922, nor are any part thereof, nor are any accretion thereto, but that they are within the original boundary line of Island Seventy-three, in Missouri river and the ■accretions thereto, and that defendants held and hold the possession wrongfully from the plaintiff, then they will find for the plaintiff.”
At the request of the defendant, the court instructed the jury as follows:
“ The court instructs the jury that if they find from the evidence in this cause, that Island Number Seventy-three was washed away by the waters of the Missouri river, and that the land claimed by plaintiff as Island Number Seventy-three, is land made by deposits of the said river against and to survey 1922, then they must find the issues in this cause for the defendants.”
The jury found for the plaintiff, and fixed the boundary line between the parties at the center of the first depression next to survey 1922.
Plaintiff introduced evidence to the effect, that, prior to the flood of 1844, the island was covered with timber, which was cut off about that date; that the channel of the slough thus filled up so that no steamboats ran through it. after that date; that the slough was then no more than fifty or sixty yards wide, and gradually filled up to dry land; and that stumps were found on the island in 1876, of considerable size, in their natural place in the earth. The jurors had a right to take into consideration all these physical evidences, as well as the bare assertion of the witnesses. There was not only sufficient evidence upon which to base the instruction, but it is difficult to see how the jury could do otherwise than find the facts hypothecated for the plaintiff.
Prom the plat, survey 1922 appears to have been bounded by the river. It being thus bounded, under the well settled law, both the survey and the island became entitled to the alluvion, or deposits made to the banks, and the respective owners of the island and survey acquired the title to such new-made land by accretion, as. incident to their ownership of the main land so bounded on the river. Smith v. Schools, 30 Mo. 280; Schools v. Risley’s Heirs, 40 Mo. 356; Benson v. Morrow et al., 61 Mo. 345. It must follow that if the shore lines of two bodies of land, divided by a water course, receive accretions until they come together, the line of contact will be the division line. If, however, the slough gradually filled up, as the waters receded therefrom, the same principle is applied, and the land belongs to the riparian owner from whose shore the water receded, and for this purpose it makes no difference whether the water was navigable in the common law sense, or the general acceptation of the expression, or was a non-navigable stream. Benson v. Morrow et al., 61 Mo. 345; Warren
It is true, the plaintiff must recover on the strength of his own title, and that he must show title to the land in question. The instructions must be read in the light of the cause as it stood before the jury on all the evidence. What might be the law if the island had washed away wholly, so as to become a part of the navigable portion of the river, and so remained for any considerable length of time, we are not called upon to determine by any of the facts in this case, nor do the instructions hypothecate any such state of facts. It cannot be claimed, by any fair intendment, from the evidence, that any considerable portion of the island proper ever became a part of the navigable channel of the river, or
Plaintiff produced his title papers and identified the location of his grant. The defendant can defeat the recovery only by showing that there was, at all times, a well defined channel and body of water next to the survey, and that the new formed land was by way- of accretions to the bank of the survey. This they have failed to do with favorable instructions.
The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.