State ex rel. Clear Lake Logging Railroad v. Superior Court

Citations

• 83 Wash. 445

Syllabus

<p>Eminent Domain — Public Use — Logging Railroad. A logging railroad is entitled to exercise the right of eminent domain to condemn lands for right of way on a showing of a large supply of timber tributary to the road, since the bringing of this timber to mill or market would constitute a public use regardless of the extent of the use.</p> <p>Same — Private Interest of Lumber Company — Effect. The interest of .the stockholders of a lumber company in a logging railroad is no objection to condemnation proceedings by the railroad company, since the latter is a public service corporation bound to give reasonable service to the public and is amenable to control by the public authorities.</p> <p>Same — Selection of Route — Necessity of Taking — Review. The choice by a logging railroad of a route across respondent’s lands as the most feasible and practicable will not be controlled by the courts because it may interfere with, respondent’s contemplated use of a portion of the land for a mill site, when there is no sufficient showing that the land sought is not reasonably necessary, and it was not convincingly shown that a slight change of location would meet the necessity of the taker and cause less damage to the owner; the availability for the owner’s special purpose being an element to be considered in estimating damages, and not as defeating the right of condemnation.</p> <p>Eminent Domain — Compensation—Pkepayment — Damages — Appeal — Costs. Under Const., art. 1, § 16, prohibiting the taking of private property without just compensation being first made or paid into court, the costs of an appeal, successfully prosecuted by the petitioner from an order denying a public use, which was reversed, cannot be taxed against the landowner; since the proceedings to review the order was a necessary part of the petitionerls proceedings to take the land, which the petitioner is required to pay before the taking.</p>