Hildebrandt v. Montgomery

In this case we must determine whether the water in question was subject to appropriation, and, if so, who was first in time as an appropriator. If the water in these springs was of sufficient quantity to rise to the surface and to flow off in a definite channel with a tendency to regularity, it was subject to appropriation: Brosnan v. Harris, 39 Or. 148 (65 Pac. 867, 87 Am. St. Rep. 649, 54 L. R. A. 628); Morrison v. Officer, 48 Or. 569 (87 Pac. 896); Hayes v. Adams, 109 Or. 51 (218 Pac. 933); Wiel on Water Bights (3 ed.), § 336. Did the flow of water from these springs constitute a…