Depew v. Board of Trustees

Case to recover damages for the obstruction of a navigable stream.

Depew, the plaintiff, alleges that Raccoon creek, in Parke county, Indiana, is, and has been, a navigable stream for boats, &c.; that he had been accustomed to navigate it, and make profits thereby, till, &c., when the trustees of the Wabash and Erie canal obstructed it, &c.

The trustees pleaded that the legislature of the state located the Wabash and Erie canal; that they (the trustees) constructed said canal, by authority of law, upon the location made by the state; and that in doing so, it became necessary to cross said…