North American Exploration Co. v. Adams

Citations

• 104 F. 404
• 45 C.C.A. 185
• 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 3925

Syllabus

<p>1. Water Right — Abandonment.</p> <p>The abandonment of the right to divert and use the waters of a stream is not different in its character from the renunciation of any other right which is asserted and maintained by its use.</p> <p>2. Same — Express—Implied.</p> <p>Abandonment is either express or implied. It may be effected by a plain declaration of an intention to abandon. It may be inferred from acts or' failures to act so inconsistent with an intention to retain and assert the right that the unprejudiced mind is convinced of the renunciation.</p> <p>3. Finding op Chancellor Prevails where Testimony is Evenly Balanced.</p> <p>Where the chancellor has considered conflicting evidence, and made his finding and decree thereon, they must be taken to be presumptively correct, and will not be disturbed unless an obvious error has intervened in the application of the law, or some serious mistake has been made in the consideration of the evidence.</p> <p>4, Conveyance of Mill Site Cabbies Appurtenant Water Right.</p> <p>A deed of a mill site, without specific mention of a right to divert water from a stream and to use it to operate a mill which, has been used thereon, conveys the water right as an appurtenance to the mill site, in the absence of any reservation of it, of any conveyance of it to another, or any other evidence that the grantor did not intend to part with it.</p> <p>5. Water Right Appurtenant to Hite on Which It is Used.</p> <p>A water right used upon a mill site to treat ore extracted from a mining- claim, and brought to the mill site for treatment, is not appurtenant to the mining claim, hut to the mill site.</p> <p>(Syllabus by the Court.)</p>