Harper v. Holston

Citations

• 119 Wash. 436
• 205 P. 1062
• 1922 Wash. LEXIS 816

Syllabus

<p>Public Lands (9) — Waters and Water Courses (45) — Survey— Meander Lines — Right to Bed oe Stream. Government meander lines of a stream, marking fractional portions of the public domain, are run to ascertain the quantity of land in the fractions and not as boundary lines, and the patentee takes to the thread of an unnavigable stream.</p> <p>Waters and Water Courses (46) — Bed and Banks of Stream— Accretion. Where a meandered stream, constituting the boundary of government fractional subdivisions, gradually shifts its location, a subsequent patent of the fractional lot conveys title to any accretions.</p> <p>Same (46). The shifting of a government meandered stream is shown to have been gradual, so that the gains were made by accretion, and not by avulsion, where all the witnesses testified that there were no sudden changes and there is no evidence of abandoned channels characteristic of avulsions.</p> <p>Ejectment (6) — Title to Support Action. In ejectment, plaintiff must recover on the strength of his own title, and not on the weakness of his adversary’s.</p>