Phœnix Water Co. v. Fletcher

This is an action to recover damages, and for an injunction to restrain the defendants, who are the owners of a sawmill on a stream, the waters of which the plaintiffs claim by prior appropriation for -mining purposes, from interfering with the regular flow of water to plaintiffs’ ditch, and from throwing sawdust and other refuse into the water, to the plaintiffs’ injury. Special issues were *485submitted to a jury, who returned the following special verdict: “ First. At what time did the plaintiffs’ grantors appropriate the waters of Sugar Pine Creek for mining purposes ? Answer : March, 1852.…