State ex rel. Ham, Yearsley & Ryrie v. Superior Court

Citations

• 70 Wash. 442
• 126 P. 945
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 1068

Syllabus

<p>Waters — Irrigation—Right to Appropriate. The right to appropriate land for an irrigation project depends upon the appropriator’s right to the water to be used in such project.</p> <p>Navigable Waters — Riparian Owners — Right of Appropriation —Constitutional Provisions. In view of Const., art. 17, § 1, asserting title in the state to the beds and shores of all navigable waters, including the line of high water in navigable lakes, the riparian owner on a navigable lake has no common law right as such owner to the waters of the lake for the purposes of ii;rigstion superior to the right of appropriation possessed by owners of land not bordering upon the lake under the laws of the state relating to the appropriation of water for irrigation; and it is immaterial that such riparian rights are based upon titles from the general government prior to the adoption of the state constitution.</p> <p>Same' — Statutory Provisions. The riparian owner on a navigable lake is not given any right superior to others to appropriate the water thereof for the purpose of irrigation, by Rem. & Bal. Code, §§ 6325, 6326, in the act entitled an act providing for condemnation proceedings for right of way for irrigation and relating to the right of appropriation of water, which provides that any person is entitled to appropriate water for irrigation, if not otherwise appropriated, and that all owners on the banks of any stream or water course shall be entitled to the use of water therefrom, not otherwise appropriated, for the purposes of irrigation to the full extent of the soil for agricultural purposes.</p> <p>Same. Rem. & Bal. Code, § 6338, providing that all persons on the “margin, brink,' neighborhood or precinct” of any lake shall have the right to place upon the bank a wheel, steam pump, or other machine for the purposes of raising the water to the level required for irrigating the land, does not give a riparian owner any right to appropriation superior to the right of other owners not