St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-04-02
ST. PAUL NEWS.
A DRAWN BATTLE.
Duluth Lumbermen and Knife Falls
Boom Company in the
COUrtS

Judge Stearns has just rendered decision
which is of great Importance to the lumber
ing interests of the state. He declares that
the st. Louis river is public highway and as
such is protected by the constitution and en-
abling act. We give below the opinion in
full. It is expected the case will go to the
supreme court:
Robert Osborn, ct ais plaintiffs, against The
Knife Falls Boom Corporation and The
st. Louis River Boom and improvement
Company, defendants.
In this action, tried by the court without a
jury, l make and file the following findings
of fact and conclusions of law, to-wit:
FINDINGS OF FACT.
LIST. That the defendants are corporations
duly organized under the laws of this state,
and the last above named defendant in the
matter complained of by plaintiffs acted
under license from the other defendant.
I'd. That the st. Louis river rises in
the central part of st. Louis county in this
state, flows more than two hundred miles in
this state, forms the boundary between this
state and the state of Wisconsin for distance
of about twenty miles, and empties into Lake
Superior.
3D. That there are extensive pine for
ests upon the St. Louis river and upon tribu-
tary streams that empty into the st. Louis
river, and in the country drained thereby, all
of which are above the distractions in said
river mentioned in the complaint, in which
said forests there is estimated to be from four
TO five million feet of pine timber fit for saw
logs, and the plaintiffs own the amount OF
land and timber in said forests as alledged in
I c,ric V-ir-nr lie
the only practicable outlet or highway by
which the products Of said forests can be
transported to any market
4th. That the st. Louis river is, and,
ever since its acquisition by the United States
has been from near It's source to its mouth a
public highway navigable for twenty miles
from its mouth for steamboats, and above that
for two hundred miles for row boats, canoes
and batteaux, with the exception of
two portages, one from Fond du Lac to
Thomson, a distance by river OF about nine
miles, and one around the Knife Falls in
township 40, range II, Carlton county, and
said river was in its natural state OF sufficient
size and capacity, and of a character which
made 1t entirely practicable to float loose
logs and timber from near Fits source to
its mouth during periods OF ordinary high
water, and was and is valuable highway on
which logs and timber can be foated to
market, and the said river, except the said
portages, has from the earliest settlement Of
this region of country by white men been
used as a highway for the transportation OF
passengers and merchandise by
canoes and batteaux from near
its source to its mouth.
5th. That from Thomson in Carlton coun-
ty to Fond du Lac in st. Louis county the st.
Louis river flows down a series of cascades
and rocky rapids, over which, in its natural
state, logs and timber would float in a rising
stage of high wafer, and though said rapids
have been improved for the running of logs,
by the building of dams and the blasting out
of rocks, still to run these rapids successfully
logs must be allowed to reach them on a high
or rising stage of water, otherwise they be-
come hung up on the rocks.
9th. That there are twelve saw mills at
and near Duluth, with manufacturing capa-
city of more than one hundred and fifty mil
lion feet of lumber annually, most of which
have been erected during the last three years
and largely in the expectancy and reliance of
getting logs to stock the mills from up the
st. Louis river above the distractions COM
planned of by plaintiffs, and all of the plain
tiffs own lands and pine timber on said st.
Louis river and its tributaries above said OBJ
structons, which pine timber each of the
plaintiffs desire to cut into saw logs and to
iloat the same down said st. Louis river to
the saw mills at and near Duluth. Some of
the plaintiffs own some Of said mills and de-
sire to float their said logs to their said mills
for manufacture, and some of the plaintiffs
desire to float their said logs to the Duluth
market for sale, deeming it better market
for said logs than any other to which said
logs can be foated, and any obstruction to
the floating of logs down said river to mark
ct renders the said lands and timber of
plaintiffs less valuable, and inficts upon
said plaintiffs a special injury not common
to the public generally.
9TH. That the defendant, the Knife Falls
Boom corporation, procured the passage by
the legislature of an act entitled can act re-
lating to the Knife Falls Boom corporation,
in Carlton county," approved Feb 20, 1872,
being chapter 106 of the special laws Of 1872,
which is made part of these findings.
Sth. That in the year 1880 the defendants
commenced the erection and construction of
booms and piers in the St. Louis river within
the limits mentioned in said act, and have
continued the erection of such booms and
piers with intent and purpose of arresting
and stopping all logs and timber floating
down said river, and said piers and booms
extend across the entire width of the St. Louis
river, and do stop and hold all logs and tim
berfloating down said river to where they
are so placed.
9th. That the defendants have also construct
edin connection with said piers and booms, as
sorting bOoms and gaps to facilitate the as
sorting OF said logs so stopped and the deliv-
cry of logs destined to mills within said lin
its to the owners thereof and the turning of
logs destined for points on the river below
said limits loose in the river below said works,
and such asserting works require all logs
passing down the river to pass through an
opening about twenty-seven feet wide; but
the general plan of said asserting works is
such as is in quite common use throughout
the lumber regions of the north
west for like purposes, and no bet
ter general plan for such works
has been suggested to the court.
10th. That the capacity of said works for
the rapid assortment and delivery of logs can
be largely increased without altering the
general plan of the works and without unrea-
sonable expense by extending the asserting
booms and broadening the upper portion of
the passage way to forty feet in width, or by
making two passage ways, or by both means,
but as much or more will always depend
upon the proper manning and operating the
works as upon their construction and capa-
city.
18th. That it is not practicable to CON
strut and operate any booms or asserting
forks on the st. Louis river within said
limits through which any considerable guam
sity of logs can be passed and assorted as
they pass without material hindrance and
delay to logs destined to points below said
limits, and if logs have to be scaled during
their passage through such works the him
drance and delay must be much greater.
18th. That no boom or booms or other
distractions in the St. Louis river within the