Broder v. Natoma Water & Mining Co.
California Supreme Court
Appeal from the District Court, Sixth Judicial District, County of Sacramento. The defendant, in 1853 and 1854, constructed a ditch to convey water for mining purposes from the South Fork of the American Biver, in the gold regions, to a point below Folsom.
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Appeal from the District Court, Sixth Judicial District, County of Sacramento. The defendant, in 1853 and 1854, constructed a ditch to convey water for mining purposes from the South Fork of the American Biver, in the gold regions, to a point below Folsom. The ditch was about thirty miles in length, and of a capacity to carry fourteen thousand inches of water, and was excavated to carry water for sale to miners and others, and passed over public lands of the United States which were surveyed by the United States prior to 1865. The ditch passed through sections 28, 29, 32 and 33, of township…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court:
The defendant having shown that prior to the act of Congress of July 26, 1866, it had acquired a right to the use of the water which was “recognized and acknowledged by the local customs, laws and decisions of courts,” that act operated a grant to it of the right of way, and of the ditch through which the water was running at the date of the passage of the act. The subsequent grantees of the United States of tracts through which the ditch ran, took subject to defendant’s easement.
There is no question that the government title to a portion of the lands described in the complaint…
2Cited by5 opinions
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- Krieger v. Pacific Gas & Electric Co.California Court of Appeal · 1981