Hauge v. Walton

Citations

• 72 Wash. 554
• 131 P. 248
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1512

Syllabus

<p>Navigable Waters — Shore Lands — Islands. No statutes of this state indicate any intention to pass to the owner of abutting lands the title to islands, even if joined to the mainland by a strip of “shore land,” defined by Rem. & Bal. Code, § 6641, as lands bordering on the shores of navigable lakes and rivers, below the line of ordinary high water.</p> <p>Public Lands — “Fragmentary” Tracts or Adjoining Islands— Federal Grant — Title or State — Riparian Rights. Under the constitution whereby the state has been granted by the Federal government title to all shore lands, and the beds of navigable lakes and streams, riparian owners under Federal patent take title only to the line of ordinary high water, and acquire no interest in islands severed from the mainland by shore lands; hence such an owner who has purchased from the state the “abutting shore lands,” acquires no interest in an island, separated from the mainland by the intervening shore lands, although during low water in the dry season the island was connected with the mainland by a strip of uncovered shore lands.</p> <p>Ejectment — Title. In ejectment, the plaintiff must recover on the strength of his own title.</p>