75 P. 144 | Or. | 1904
Lead Opinion
after stating the facts in the foregoing terms, delivered the opinion of the court.
In Toledo, P. & W. R. Co. v. Chisholm, 83 Fed. 652 (27 C. C. A. 663), a railroad company had been granted the right to lay its track along a public highway or levee of the City of Keokuk, under certain conditions, among which was that it should build a way of certain width and dimensions for public use. The company built a bridge track on an embankment crossing the levee, and the plaintiff’s intestate, a coal operator, had gone upon it for the purpose of inspecting some cars on a coal track on a lower level, and while there was struck by a moving train and killed. It was contended by the company that under the ordinances of the city the public was prohibited from going upon or using that part of the levee occupied by its track, and in disposing of this defense the court says: “In support of its contention that the aforesaid ordinance operated to prohibit the public from going upon or using that part of the levee which is now occupied by the bridge track, much stress is laid by the defendant company on that provision of the ordinance which directs that the bridge track shall be located at least sixty-six feet from the front of the lots lying on Water Street, and that Water Street shall be of a uniform width or sixty-six feet; also on that provision which requires a passageway for teams and vehicles to be maintained underneath the embankment at the west end of the bridge. We think, however, that these provisions of the ordinance do not indicate an intention on the part of those who framed it to devote any part of the levee to the sole use of the bridge companies, and to exclude the public therefrom. It is doubtful, to say the least, whether
In all the cases it will be noted that where, as in the case at bar, there were no words in the agreement between the public authorities and the railway company excluding the public from the use of the highway, or granting to the railway company an exclusive use thereof, the courts have held that only a right to occupy and use the highway in common with the public was granted. Applying the doctrine of these cases to the one in hand, the several orders of the county court do not evidence an intention to grant defendant the exclusive right to any part of the highway. The first two simply granted permission to use and occupy the road for a railroad track or bed, and this right does not seem to have been subsequently enlarged. The provision in the third order allowing the company to relocate its track fourteen feet nearer the river, and requiring it to construct a fence between the track and the traveled way, was intended as a protection to the traveling public, and not as an exclusive grant to the company. No particular width of the space to be occupied by the railway is specified in the order, as would probably have been the case if an exclusive use had been intended ; and it is not reasonable to suppose that the county court meant to give to the railway company, absolutely and without compensation,
We are of the opinion, therefore, that the trial court did not err in its construction of the contract or agreement between the county court and the railway company. Neither did the orders of the county court and the subsequent occupation of the highway by the company indicate an abandonment by the public of any portion of the road. An abandonment is a question of intent, and there is no evidence of an intention by the county court or the public to abandon the use of the road by pedestrians.
There are other assignments of error, but they are involved in, and intimately connected with, the questions already considered, and require no further notice. The judgment is affirmed. Affirmed.
Rehearing
On Motion for Rehearing.
Notwithstanding the able and forceful argument in the petition for rehearing, a reexamination of the chief and controlling point in this case confirms us in the decision heretofore rendered. The other points not referred to in the opinion were carefully considered before the decision, and were deemed without merit. It was believed that they were not of sufficient importance to require a written opinion.
The testimony of Apperson, stricken out, that the fence built by the railroad company was intended to be on the line between the railroad company’s right of way and the county road, assumed that there was a difference between the railroad right of way and the county road—the material fact in question. Again, Apperson said that he had no knowledge on the subject other than that of any other citizen of the county, and he was therefore not qualified to testify as to what was intended by the parties. His testimony was not competent for the purpose of contradicting Ganong, because Ganong was the road supervisor at the time the railroad track was changed and the fence constructed,’ and his testimony referred to and was based upon conversations between himself, as an officer of the county, and the agents of the company.
The petition for rehearing will be denied.
Rehearing Denied'.