186 Iowa 469 | Iowa | 1919
T. Plaintiffs own certain residences and other property in the city of Des Moines, adjacent to the Des Moines River and north of the Center Street dam. This suit was instituted by plaintiffs for the purpose of enjoining the defendant Des Moines Electric Company, owner thereof, and F. E. Marsh & Company, contractors, from reconstructing a portion of the Center Street dam which
Plaintiffs, in their petition, allege that the Des Moines * River is a navigable stream; that, when the river is high, the dam causes the same to overflow its banks, and to run
The defendant Electric Company, for answer to plaintiff’s petition, avers that a dam has been maintained at the present site thereof since 1847, by itself and grantors, and that the defendant city of Des Moines, on August 28, 1916, in pursuance of authority granted by the twenty-eighth general assembly to it, by resolution of its city council ordered defendant to repair and reconstruct its dam; denies that it is the intention or purpose of defendant to increase the height of said dam; as alleged by plaintiffs in their petition; and avers that the Des Moines River is a non-navigable stream, that defendant owns the banks and bed thereof, on which the said dam rests; and avers that it and its grantors have been for more than 65 years the owners and in possession thereof, during all of which time said dam has been maintained at its height prior to its partial destruction in the spring of 1915; and claims a prescriptive right to maintain the same; and further denies that same constitutes or creates a nuisance, as claimed by plaintiff.
For answer, the city of Des Moines alleges that it has, for many years, contemplated and been engaged in improving and beautifying the banks of the Des Moines River; and that, by Chapter 179, Acts of the Twenty-eighth General Assembly, it was authorized to control, regulate, and improve the beds and banks of said river within the cor
The Des Moines Ice & Cold Storage Company and the state of Iowa each filed a petition of intervention, the former alleging that it is a corporation organized under the laws of the state of Iowa, and the owner of certain real estate situated north of the Center Street dam, and abutting upon the river; that it became the owner thereof in 1881, since which time it has erected large buildings and other improvements upon its property, for the purpose of housing and vending ice cut from the waters of the river, stored by said dam; and that it has annually cut and housed in said building ice which it has sold to the citizens of Des Moines;- that, in addition thereto, it has, at great cost, built under the bed of said river, within the territory covered by the back water from the dam, galleries, conduits, and other appliances for the purpose of filtering water used in making artificial ice for sale; and that all of said improvements have been erected in reliance upon the right of the defendant Des Moines Electric Company and its predecessors to maintain said dam, and alleges that it has acquired a right to have said dam maintained, and asks that said rights be protected by a proper decree herein.
The state of Iowa, for its petition of intervention, adopts and makes a large part of plaintiffs’ petition a part thereof, alleges that the Des Moines River is a meandered and navigable stream, and denies that the defendant Electric Company has any right to repair, reconstruct, or maintain the dam in question. Answers were filed to the petition of the state by the Des Moines Tee & Cold Storage
A trial resulted in a finding by the court below that the river is non-navigable, and in a decree dismissing plaintiffs’ petition and the petition of intervention of the state of Iowa. The plaintiffs, the defendant city, and the state of Iowa gave notice of appeal, but the latter has not prosecuted its appeal in this court.
From the foregoing statement, it is manifest that the real controversy in this case is between plaintiffs and the defendant Electric Company, and involves the right of the latter to repair and maintain the Center Street dam. If such right exists, the status quo of the Des Moines Ice & Cold Storage Company, intervener, will be fully preserved. The defendant F. E. Marsh & Company is made a party only because, at the time of the commencement of this suit, it had a contract with the defendant light company to repair the dam. In so far as the questions presented for our decision affect the defendant city, they will be referred to and discussed hereafter.
The defendant Electric Company claims the right to repair and maintain the dam, upon the grounds (a) that the Des Moines River above the Raccoon Forks is, in fact and law, a non-navigable stream, and (b) that defendant owns the banks upon which the dam abuts, and the bed of the stream underneath the same, and, therefore, has a common-law right to maintain the said dam, provided it does not materially impair the rights of proprietors above or below the same to the use of the water in its accustomed flow; and contends that the same does not materially impair or affect the rights of such proprietors, and that it has acquired a right, by prescription, to reconstruct and maintain the same at its original height.
On the other .hand, it is asserted by plaintiffs that the
Counsel for the defendant Electric Company have ably and critically reviewed the decisions of this court upon the question of the navigability of the Des Moines River, and pointed out numerous apparent inconsistencies therein. Our attention is called by counsel to the following cases, in which the question of the navigability of the river is referred to or briefly discussed: Steamboat “Globe” v. Kurtz, 4 G. Greene 433; Wood v. C., R. I. & P. R. Co., 60 Iowa 156; Serrin v. Grefe, 67 Iowa 196; Steele v. Sanchez, 72 Iowa 65; Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Porter Bros., 72 Iowa 126; Bennett v. National Starch Mfg. Co., 103 Iowa 207; Boehler v. City of Des Moines, 111 Iowa 417; Dashiel v. Harshman, 113 Iowa 283; Board of Park Comm. v. Diamond Ice Co., 130 Iowa 603; Berry v. Hoogendoorn, 133 Iowa 137; Board of Park Comm. v. Taylor, 133 Iowa 153; Hohl v. Iowa Cent. R. Co., 162 Iowa 66; Hubbell v. City of Des Moines, 166 Iowa 581.
Serrin v. Grefe, Boehler v. City of Des Moines, Park Comm. v. Ice Co., Park Comm. v. Taylor, and Hubbell v. City of Des Moines, supra, deal with the river above the Raccoon Forks, and within the corporate limits of the city of Des Moines; while the other cases relate to controversies below the Forks.
Serrin v. Grefe, supra, was an action brought in the name of a riparian owner to recover the value of ice taken by defendant from the river opposite his land. The defendant contended that the river was navigable, and that plaintiffs had title only to highwater mark, and did not own the ice opposite the land owned by him. The court, in the course of its opinion, said:
The reference by the court to the Des Moines Eiver as a navigable stream, in Boehler v. City of Des Moines, was incidental only to the ground upon which the decision is based, and, impliedly only, treats the river as navigable.
In Board of Park Comm. v. Diamond Ice Co., the plaintiff sought to enjoin the defendant from taking ice from the Des Moines Eiver within the limits of the city of Des Moines, the plaintiff claiming authority, under Chapter 179, Acts of the Twenty-eighth General Assembly, to exercise jurisdiction and control over the bed and banks of the river at the point in controversy. The court, in its decision, treats the river as a navigable stream, saying:
“Congress declared the Des Moines Eiver to be a public highway in 1846, but the act was repealed in 1870. The river was meandered, however, and the title to its bed is
Plaintiff’s action in Park Comm. v. Taylor, supra, was for the purpose of determining whether it had jurisdiction and right to control certain premises claimed by defendant as constituting a part of certain lots owned by him, and to use the same for park purposes. It appears from .the opinion that the defendant conceded in the court below that the river was navigable, and that his rights extended only to high-water mark. The court, however, in the course of the opinion, said:
“But as we view it defendants could not, under the record, question the character of the river as navigable; for it is conceded that, in the original government survey, it was meandered, and its character as a navigable stream was thus established, so far as the possible limits of defendants’ lots are concerned. The action of the land dé-* partment of the United States government in meandering the stream and conveying the land bordering on such stream with reference to the meander line is conclusive that the stream was navigable, in such sense that the title of the riparian owners resting on such survey extended, under the rule in this state, Only to high-water mark.”
The court, in Hubbell v. City of Des Moines, assumes that it is, and treats the river as, a navigable stream.
Each of the other cases cited above recognizes and treats the Des Moines River as a navigable stream. In ad
Chapter 179, Acts of the Twenty-eighth General Assembly, Chapter 210, Acts of the Twenty-ninth General Assembly, and Chapter 66, Acts of the Thirty-third General Assembly, each confers certain authority upon certain municipal corporations, and assumes that the title to the bed of the Des Moines River is in the state, and the rights conferred are based wholly or in part thereon. Section 1, Chapter 179, Acts of the Twenty-eighth General Assembly, is, in part, as follows:
“Wherever now or in the future any public street,- highway, public ground, or park, owned by the city of Des Moines or by the public, or owned or controlled by the board of park commissioners of said city, abuts upon either bank of the Des Moines River, the portions of the said river banks on which the same abut situated below high-water mark and also the bed of the river to the opposite shore line thereof, and the river itself within the limits aforesaid, are to be subject to the operation of this act; provided, that the fee title to such bed and banks shall remain in the state, and the vested rights of other riparian owners shall not be affected by this act.”
The sections following confer certain power and authority upon the park commissioners to supervise and control the banks and bed of the river and to- improve the same, including the right to construct a dam at some point below the present dam, for the purpose of creating a pond suitable for boating, skating, and other sports.
Chapter 210, Acts of the Twenty-ninth General Assembly,-applies only to certain cities having a population of less than 25,000, but specifically recognizes the title to the beds of meandered streams as in the state, and declares
“That when said commissioners have been so appointed and qualified, the fee simple title to the bed of the meandered stream, separating the corporate limits of the city, for which they are appointed, shall immediately vest in the commission in trust for the public and the same while held by the commission shall be exempt from taxation, provided that the fee title to the channel or bed of the stream to be located and preserved as hereinafter provided shall remain in the state, and provided also, that the vested rights of riparian owners and owners of water powers, shall not be injuriously affected by this act.”
In addition to the above, the legislature has authorized and empowered the executive council to sell, lease, or demise any of the islands belonging to the state which are within the meandered banks of rivers therein, except islands in the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and to deliver a patent or lease therefor. Section 2900-a28, Supplement to the Code, 1913.
“We are first required to determine whether the premises in controversy are a part of the river bed, or whether they have become a part of Lot 10 by the process of accretion. It is the settled rule in this state that the owners of land bordered by a navigable stream own 'only to ordinary high-water mark, — that is, to the edge of the bank,’ — and that the whole bed of the river belongs to the public. Musser v. Hershey, 42 Iowa 361. The conveyances through which plaintiff derived title to his lot described the premises conveyed as bounded on the south by the north bank of the Des Moines Eiver, and, although the river is not now regarded as navigable, the rule which limits the ownership of the plaintiff to land bounded by the ordinary high-water mark applies.”
“The question of the navigability in fact of non-tidal streams is sometimes a doubtful one. It has been held, in effect, that what are navigable waters of the United States, within the meaning of the act of Congress, in contradistinction to the navigable waters of the states, depends upon whether the stream, in its ordinary condition, affords a channel for useful commerce. * * *■ But it results from the principles already referred to that what shall be deemed a navigable water, within the meaning of the local rules of property, is for the determination of the several states.”
Section 2, Chapter 179, of the A'cts of the Twenty-eighth General Assembly, conferring certain power upon the board of park commissioners of the city of Des Moines over the bed and banks of the Des Moines Biver within the corporate limits of said city, provided that:
“Said board shall have power to construct one or more bridges across said river to connect one park with another, or to connect different portions of the same park; and also to construct a dam across said river below the present dam, provided, such dam shall not injuriously affect the water power or dam of the Des Moines Edison Light Company while maintained and kept in proper repair.”
The foregoing enactment of the legislature was passed after the 50-year license above referred to had expired. The purpose of the legislature in granting such authority to the defendant city and other cities having a population of less than 25,000 which are traversed by meandered streams, as may be necessary to enable such cities to improve the bed
It appears from the record that, under the authority conferred upon the defendant city, it has caused concrete walls to be built on either side of the stream, for a short distance above the mouth of the Raccoon River, its banks to be terraced, and small parks laid out along the banks, and numerous expensive public buildings to be erected fronting upon said river, and, as appears from the portion of Section 2, Chapter 179, Acts of the Twenty-eighth General Assembly, quoted above, the authority of said city is so limited that it can do no act which will interfere with the dam in question.
Many years prior to the commencement of this suit, a large dike was erected near the river, for the purpose of preventing the lands from being overflowed. This dike has been maintained and increased in height, from time to time. Plaintiffs and their grantors have been the owners thereof and have occupied their property for many years, during all of which time, except when a portion thereof has been occasionally destroyed by flood waters, defendant’s dam has been maintained at the same elevation as it had when a portion of it washed, out, in 1915. While vegetation is injured by the overflow water from the river, and, to some extent, it causes unpleasant odors to arise therefrom, and the residents in that portion of the city to suffer more or less injury and inconvenience, this condition has existed for more than 10 years. The defendant city is not complaining of the dam, but, on the contrary, by resolution of its city council, adopted August 26, 1916, directed the defendant Electric Company to rebuild and restore its dam to its original height, declaring that same was in the interest of the public health and welfare of the people of the city. The water held back in the river by the dam spreads out over
IV. The appellant city of Des Moines complains of