Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co. v. Scott

The plaintiff brought an action to recover damages alleged to have been sustained by loss of property occasioned by the defendant’s having thrown an embankment across a watercourse, upon which to lay its ties and rails and to operate its line of railroad, without having made suitable provision for the flow of the water. Verdict and judgment for plaintiff, to reverse which defendant prosecutes error.

Plaintiff in error makes two contentions: First, that plaintiff’s evidence did not prove that the ravine across which the defendant threw the embankment was a watercourse, and, therefore, the court…