Hannah v. Pogue

Plaintiff Mrs. Kate H. Hannah is the owner of approximately a section of land in Tulare County subject to a $50,000 mortgage held by the Regents of the University of California. Through it runs the Kaweah River, from which defendant Harley Smith has for many years diverted water by means of a dam located on plaintiff’s land and a ditch known as the Hamilton Ditch, which also runs through plaintiff’s property. The Hamilton Ditch has been in use since about 1860, and the trial court found that the dam has been in use for over twenty years. The dam in existence before 1920 was built of rock, but…