Brace & Hergert Mill Co. v. State

Citations

• 49 Wash. 326
• 95 P. 278
• 1908 Wash. LEXIS 579

Syllabus

<p>Navigable Waters — Title to Beds — Riparian Owners — Shore Land. The constitutional assertion by the state of ownership in the beds and shores of navigable lakes up to and including the line of ordinary high water vests the title thereto in the state, and the upland owners have no riparian rights therein by virtue of patents from the United States, except that patentees take title up to the meander line if the same was run below high water mark.</p> <p>Same — Lakes—Navigability. A lake with an area of nine hundred acres, five hundred of which is of a depth of twenty-five feet, used even to a limited extent by the public for navigation, and the shores of which were meandered by the government by lines which did not include the bed of the lake in any of the grants, is a navigable lake.</p> <p>Adverse Possession- — -Against State — Shore op Navigable Lake —Owner op Upland. Adverse possession of the bed or shores of a navigable lake below the line of high water does not run against the state, in view of the fact that, after the state’s constitutional assertion of title thereto, the legislature passed laws uniformly recognizing the rights of the many persons in possession of such shore lands at the time of the adoption of the constitution, giving them the preference right to purchase the same when the land shall be put on the market, or requiring the purchaser to pay for the value of the improvements thereon; since the possession thereby became permissive.</p> <p>Same — Payment oe Taxes. The statute of limitations respecting the adverse possession of land and the payment of taxes for seven years expressly provides that it does not apply as against the state.</p> <p>Same — Estoppel. The state is not estopped to assert title to the bed of a navigable lake by the fact that it has permitted improvements thereon by one in possession and stood by while, the same was conveyed and taxes were paid for many years.</p> <p>Boundaries — Navigable Waters— Shores — Ascertainment. Th