75 Iowa 263 | Iowa | 1888
— I. The evidence in the case discloses the following state of facts : The plaintiff has been for many years the owner of a farm, which is for the most part situated on bottom-land on the east side of the Nodaway river. The defendant’s line of railroad was built through Montgomery county in 1869, and it crosses said river about one mile west of the village of Villisca. When the road was constructed it spanned the river by a wooden Howe truss bridge, which was one hundred and thirty-seven feet in length, and rested on piling driven in the ground. At each end of the bridge there was trestle-work some fifteen feet in height, upon which the railroad track was laid. The length of this trestle-work at the east end of the bridge is about three hundred and sixteen feet, and at the west end it is about four hundred and eighty-five feet in length. Prom the east end of the trestle-work on the east side of the river there is a solid earthen embankment for about one thousand feet, at which point there is another open trestle-work seventy-five feet in length and fifteen feet high. The plaintiff’s farm is on the north side of the railroad, and its west line is about one hundred and fifty yards east of the river and seventy-five yards from the east trestle approach to the bridge. It appears that the low bottom-lands adjoining the river were subject to overflow to some extent at times of high water, before the railroad track was constructed. The evidence shows quite satisfactorily that, by reason of the obstruction caused by the railroad, in times of freshets in the river the overflow water is from two to four feet higher on plaintiff’s land on the north side of the railroad than it is on the south side. We think no other reasonable conclusion can be drawn from the evidence in the case. The plaintiff does hot complain of the road as it is at present, notwithstanding it raises the water higher on his land than it would be if the railroad had not been constructed. His complaint is based upon the fact that the defendant is