The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-05-07
WATER SUIT IS CLOSED
.Iudae YcPhersOn and the Attorneys
Mill NieM the Dams.
THEY MILL GO TO GOuLDSBORO
Trip TO Rc Made This Morning g-Evidenee
for defendant Takcn-Thc Court Went
to W. W. ScrantOn's Residence.
The Closing Arguments

This morning Judge Mcpherson. with
the attorneys and Others Interested III
! the equity suit of the Lehigh Coal and
Navigation company. ana others
against the scranton Gas ana water
company. will go to Gouldsboro ana
take. a. view of the Lehigh river. the
dams built by the defendant, and they
will also .ake survey of the water
sheds of the Roaring Brook and i-e-
high. The dams arr about 1000 feet
from Cuuldsboru station of the Della
ware. ackawanna and Western.
The case is ended with the exception
of this trim today. The Defendants
case was opened in the morning by
ey-Judgc Hand. w. NJ. Marble, civil
engineer Of the Gas and Water COM
pany, was the first witness examined.
After him was called eX-County Sur
vcyor \. R. Dunning. jr.. and what they
gave evidence concerning was with
reference to the dimensions and volume
Of the dams built by the Gas ana
Water company on the LehiSh river.
Robert Reeves, general superintend~
,nt of the company, explained the uses
Of :he dams on the Lehigh that they
| were used only i'm eases nf emergency,
when the other dams along the Roar
ing Brook run low The capacity of the
Lehigh dams is sufficient To supply
IbT sVU utNS 4 ieA''
| now a population Of 100000 apDroXi-
mately and so per cent. are supplied by
! the defendant company. MIR. Reeves
said that last summer it almost became
necessary to draw from the emergency
| dams. These dams are not filled except
! in times of freshet and high water
MIR. DUrNNINC: RECALLED
| Mr.. Dunning was recalled and gave
some statistics about the population of
the city and county. The city Of
! Scranton in 1850 had only $4,000 inhab-
! itants and in 1890 the census was
! doubled. At present. he thought, the
city has reached the 100, 900 mark.
! George T.. Schaffer county surveyor
| Of Monroe county. gave testimony con-
ceIning the dimensions of the dams on
! the Lehigh. and So did F.. l.. jerks an
! other engineer. Isaac Case and +. l..
Harvey. of Gouldsboro. We're sworn,
and they testified that the l.ehigh is
10 feet wide at Gouldsboro
The court then adjourned to the resi-
dence of W. W. Scranton. president of
the Gas and Water company, who Is
| i'll and could not come to the hearing.
Mr.. Scranton said that the Roaring
| Brook, Stafford Meadow Brook and lie
high are the only sources of supply for
the city of Scranton He testified to
the number of dams bull, by the COM
pany along each of these streams.
ATTORNEY PEPPERS ARGUMENT.
When court returned Attorney George
Wharton Pepper began his argument
for an injunction. He said it could not
be denied that the legislature has the
power to grant to Il corporation or
company the exclusive right to the wat
ers of any navigable stream in the
state to use or sell the water. This Is
what the commonwealth had done In
1918 for the I.ehigh Coal and Naviga-
ton company with respect to the Le-
| high river
This right granted to the Lehigh com
pany did not estop the riparian own
ers along the Lehigh from using the
| water fer domestic purposes or a rea
sonable. amount of 1t for manufactur-
ing PURPOSES: But the riparian owners
| could not take water from the stream
and divert it to non-riparian use, such
as the Gas and Water company is do
ing by pumping It through pipe line
to the Rearing Brook, adOwn which II
| flows twenty miles for use in Scranton
The argument the defendant makes
that the dams are filed during winter
freshets when the water would anyway
go to waste he said. was about on the
same principle as the case of the man
who excused his taking handful OF
shekels from a bag and diverting them
to his Own use because it was over.
flowing and the owner would not miss
them.
EX-Judge Knapp and ex-Judge Hand
argued their side of the case, and in
substance they said that what the
Scranton Gas and Water company has
done in the matter of taking water
from the Lehigh is only in pursuance
Of it's charter rights. 1t was chartered
to supply pure water to the people OF
Scranton for drinking and other do.
mestic uses. and this is solemn re.
sponsibility,
They argued that the Gas and Watet
company's dams on the Lehigh rivel
are storage reservoirs to be used only il
case of necessity. and they are fillet
only during the freshets common on the
Lehigh in the winter and spring, ant
that in this way the supply of the plain
tiH's stream Is not diminished par
tiCle. as the water otherwise would g
to waste.