Green v. Swift

By the Court, Wallace, C. J.:

The plaintiffs are owners of certain premises situate upon the western bank of the Sacramento river, in the county of Tolo. The American river is a comparatively short stream, having its sources at a high altitude in the mountains, and running at a generally steep grade to the point of its confluence with the Sacramento river on the eastern shore of the latter river; and prior to the year 1862 the point of confluence was to the southerly of the premises of the plaintiffs. In periods of protracted rain storms it rises much more rapidly than the Sacramento river…