Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1890-08-07
A SPECIAL SESSION
The Council VIII Hold 81 Early
Meeting This Morning
10 CONSIDER AZ IMPORTANT NATTER
Ah Injunction VIII Probably be Asked
To Prevent Hon. WA. 4 Powers from
building Dock Lac ina the Grand
kIyer-Ihat Gentleman Iaiks.

A special meeting Of the Common
Council viii be held this morning at
$50 sharp. twas called late Yesterday
afternoon by Mayor Uhl who an
nouneed IN the notices sent TO the
aldermen that the call WAS TO consider
the matter of the wall which the Hon.
William I. Powers Is constructing or
the west side of Grand River, from
Bridge-st. north 10 the dam.
The early hour for which the meeting
was called occasioned much surprise in
the city hall. Many of the officials
affirmed that il will be the earliest ses-
sion of the council held in Grand
Rapids. 1t was conhdentialy eX-
pressed that Mayor Uhl had an es-
peeial reason for calling IT at this un-
seemly hour. Alderman Stein said the
mayor undoubtedly was of the opinion
that immediate action should be taken,
as every hour made the matter worse.
His Honor, however, says he does
not consider $50 a. IN. very early. He
states ms reasons for sending out call
for that hour were that he wanted 10
get the opinions of the aldermen on the
matter as soon as possible. Again,
many Of the members of the council
are workingmen, and he did not want
TO break up the day for them. He also
| says the city attorney Is also making an
| investigation. and Will be asked TO give
| ms views on the question of the legal
| right of Mr.. Powers TO establish dock
| line according 10 his own ideas.
For the rast two weeks Mr.. Powers
! has had gang of men at work In the
| river building a stone wall twenty-five
! or thirty feet outside the line established
! by the city. He said yesterday TO the
TELEGRAM HERALD that the dock line
has never been properly established.
| He investigated the matter thoroughly
! even consulting lawyer and he came
! to the conclusion that any man owning
property along the bank of the river
| owns to the thread of the stream and
can use it as he likes providing ne don't
| obstruct the free passage of water or
navigation and does not use II 10 the
| detriment of his nelghbOr. He also
said he had considerable trouble IN
| determining lilc JilItau OI TIE stttalH.
A lawyer was engaged TO look up the
law and it was finally decided that the
! thread of the river was the line midway
between the original banks Of
| the stream at the ordinary
stage of water. The banks must
| therefor be the natural banks be-
fore artificial changes were made Mr..
Powers also called attention to the east
side of the river where an encroach-
ment of at least 800 feet from the line of
the natural bank had been made. He
SAYS he proposes to have a straight
dock line. This year he will build from
the dam to Bridge-st., and next year
to Pearl-st., unless unforeseen obstacles
arise.
member of the Board of Public
Works said last night that Mr.. Powers
was building his wall at least thirty feet
beyond the established line. He also
said that if this part of the river was
| filled up the chances are that the lower
portion of the city would be subjected
to floods during heavy flow of water.
The city attorney viii probably be
instructed to proceed against Mr..
Powers by injunction.