Titcomb v. Kirk
California Supreme Court
Appeal from the District Court, Fourteenth Judicial District, County of Placer. The gold fields on the Pacific coast, and on the eastern slopes of the Pocky Mountains, were situated on the public lands of the United States. These fields were also in mountainous districts, through which flowed numerous rivers and small streams of water. This water was necessary to separate the gold from the earth.
Read the full summary
Appeal from the District Court, Fourteenth Judicial District, County of Placer. The gold fields on the Pacific coast, and on the eastern slopes of the Pocky Mountains, were situated on the public lands of the United States. These fields were also in mountainous districts, through which flowed numerous rivers and small streams of water. This water was necessary to separate the gold from the earth. It had to be turned, by means of ditches, from the beds of the rivers, canons, and ravines, where it flowed, upon the sides and summits of the hills and mountains, where the deposits of gold-bearing…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court:
Appellant urges that he should have had judgment, in accordance with the prayer of his complaint, under an act of Congress entitled “An Act granting the right of way to ditch and canal owners,” approved July 26, 1866, and an act amendatory thereof, approved July 9, 1870.
The provisions of the statutes referred to and of the “Act to promote the development of the mineral resources of the United States,” approved May 10, 1872, should be considered and construed together ; and it is apparent that it was the purpose of the legislation, taken as a whole, to recognize in, and confirm…
2Cited by2 opinions
- Clark v. TaylorDistrict Court, D. Alaska · 1938
- Miocene Ditch Co. v. JacobsonDistrict Court, D. Alaska · 1905