People v. Truckee Lumber Co.

Citations

• 116 Cal. 397
• 48 P. 374
• 1897 Cal. LEXIS 560

Syllabus

<p>Pish—Ownership op State—Title to Lands Immaterial.—The fish within the waters of the state constitute the most important constituent of that species of property commonly designated as wild game, the general right and ownership of which is in the people of the state; and to the extent that waters are the common passageway for fish, whether such waters flow over lands, the title to which is in the government of the state or of the United States, or over lands entirely subject to private ownership, they are deemed for such purposes public waters, and subject to all laws of the state regulating the right of fishery.</p> <p>Id.—Extent op State’s Dominion—Non-navigable Waters—Resort and Passage op Fish.—The dominion of the state for the purpose of protecting its sovereign rights in the fish within its waters, is not confined to navigable waters, but extends to non-navigable streams, wherein fish are habited or accustomed to resort for spawning or other purposes, and through which they have freedom of passage to and from the public fishing grounds of the state.</p> <p>Id.—Judicial Notice—Non-navigable Stream Connecting Navigable Lakes—Truckee River—Passageway op Fish.—The court will take judicial notice that the Truckee river, though a non-navi gable stream, has its source in Lake Tahoe, a large, navigable body of water lying partly in this state, and that it empties into Pyramid Lake, in the state of Nevada, which is also navigable; and that the river has from time immemorial afforded a natural and free passageway for the passage of fish habiting those lakes.</p> <p>Id.—Injury to Fish—Pollution of Truckee River—Refuse from Sawmill—Public Nuisance—Injunction—Action by State.—The pollution of the Truckee river by refuse matter which is poisonous and deleterious to the fish therein, and which is deposited from a sawmill . operated on its bank, to the injury and destruction of the fish in the stream, is a public nuisance, which may be enjoined in an action brought by the a