The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-05-06
IMPORTANT EQUITY SUIT
Scranton Gas and Mater Company is
Defendant.
EVIDENCE TAKEN YESTERDAY
Judge Mcpherson. of HARRISBURG. Is the
Chaneclior-Lehish Coal aud Navica-
tiou Company and Others Arc
tho Plaintiffs.

Evidence was taken yesterday IN one
of the most important equity SUITS III III
stituted in Lackawanna county. Ine
Scranton Gas and Water company Is
defendant and there are three PLAIN
| tifs. the Lehigh Coal and Navigation
c,n,nony. the Bethlehem South water
company. and Samuel Wallace anu
others, of White Haven. Judge Johh
Il. Mcpherson, of Harrisburg, one OF the
ablest jurists In the state. Is presiutns.
The hearing began at 40 yes'erTay
| afternoon in No. court ROOM The
plaintifrs are represented by Attorneys
| William f.. Doster of Bethlehem; sam
uel Dickson and George Wharton Pep
| per. of Philadelphia. the latter being
| one of the authors of Pepper & Lewis's
digest of the laws of Pennsylvania.
! EX-Justice Alfred Hand. eX-Judge IL.
| A. Knapp, and w. j. Hand. esq, ap-
peared for the defendant. There was
! a number of prominent men from out
| of town present as witnesses.
! Mr.. Pepper opened the case In COM
! prehensive manner for the benefit OF
| Judge Mcpherson. The Lehtgh CoaI
| and Navigation company was chartered
! In 1918, and it obtained the right to the
use of the waters of the Lehigh river
| from, it's source to Easton. at whlch
place il flows into the Delaware river.
|
water enough from the river for canai
purposes, hut was forbidden to take as
| much as would render the Lehigh un-
| navigable. s-"
| Another charter right was that the
| company could lease at any point along
| the course the privilege to any person
or corporation Of taking. storing. or
using part of the water for any pur-
| pose such as milling, manufacturing
and so forth; provided. however, that
there would not be any interference
with navigation. Two canals were
| built, one ~ miles long, called tho Lee
high canal. beginning at Weissport
and running to Mauch Chunk; the
other beginning at Bristol and extend
ing to Easton. a distance of 90 miles,
and called the Delaware canal.
CONSTRUCTED A DAM.
From time to time the towns along
the river from White Haven to Eastoh
began using water from either the
canal or river for one purpose or an
other. Some time prior to October,
1895, the Scranton Gas and Water com
pany purchased large tract of land
along the Lehigh at Gouldsboro in this
county, and in October the construction
of a large dam on this tract of land
was begun 1t Is now finished and
about forty acres are submerged by
water of an average depth or eight
feet, The water from this dam Is
pumped by means of a large pumping
station through a 2-foot pipe line I,oOO
feet long, to the head waters OF the
Roaring brook down which the water Is
carried tn this city and used In supply
ing the people of Scranton and vicinity.
When the purpose of the Gas and
Water company was disclosed the
equity suits were instituted. first In
Wayne county. In which place II was
decided that this county was the prop
er place to bring such action. Accord
ingly the papers We're filed here last
, November. The plaintiffs desired the
Gas and Water company to be enjoined
from taking any of the water Of the
Lehigh They alleged that the legis-
lature granted the Lehigh company the
exclusive right to all the water Of the
river and the taking away Tf a portion
of it by the Gas and Water company
was diminishing the supply ard by that
causing loss to the people along the
river to Easton, who at certain periods
of the year would not have enough for
their use. ....
The Gas and Water company an
swered the bill Of complaint by saying
that they purchased IL large acreage
of land in GOuldsborO, and by virtue OF
a right that no one can deny them
, they built a dam upon 1t. That they
proposed simply to have Ii az storage
reservoir and to fill 1t in time Of freshet
and high water, not to interfere with
. the ordinary and common flow Of thu
stream. That this water which they
would store in their dams would bt
gathered instead Of being allowed t.
go to waste. They have a riparian
right and they were only availing them
= selves of 1t Is what they claim.
WATER IS LEASED.
Superintendent Ruddle. of the canals
). of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation
company. who lives In Mauch Chunk
;, | was the first witness called. The testi
q mony was taken by Court StenOgraphe
II. H. Coston. Mr.. Ruddle explained
n how the water Is leased from Whit
II Haven to Easton. The town of Whit
Haven depends largely on the river 70
= industry and solely for water supply
r a considerable portion of the men ar
= employed in storing ice which forms OF
dams supplied from the river. Maucl
Chunk depends upon the Lehigh TO
lighting and street car service.
Y Lehighton and Weissport derive pow
{; er for lighting and for planning and lum
ber mills. At Parryville there are fur
naces; at Catasauqua the town Is sup
3l,ed and so Is the Crane Iron works
and so on down to Easton. the town
= and villages are dependent largel
No upon the water Of the river. Mr.. Rud
: die said the water was so low In tn
|. canals a part of last year that it wa
T. difficult to carry on business.
d w. F. Warrington, civil engineer c
/ the Lehigh company. was called to Civ
testimony concerning the location {
the dam at Gouldsboro.
"a SUPERINTENDENT Meyer. Of the Bethle
e. hem South Gas and Water cOmpan!
n testified that the company is lesse
= of the Lehigh company and there is n
other source OF water supply IN BethlG
,e hem than the river.
c. A. s. Schropp, secretary of the Betf
lehem Iron company for the past thin
. ty-two years. was examined. He test
!. fed that the works cover an area or
and one quarter miles in length by
quarter Of mile wide and usually en-
z ploy 4500 men, The works use $1,000
900 gallons of water every twenty-for
hours and the only source of supply
the canal or. river. There Is sma
water is plped, but the Lehigh is II
only source for manufacturing pu
poses.
Superintendent Ruddle was recalle
and gave some statistics about hors
power and volume, etc. Justice Har
I! asked him what effect 1t would have {
/ the LNhigh stream II it takes only fl,
i hours to fill the dam of the Gas ar
I Water company during winter foo
i Mr.. Ruddle thought the effect would
very slight.
Jerome Scott. Of White Haven. ";
heard. He is SIS years old, and in
early days he navigated the .Lehis
riveY. He was in the log business. al
by means of natural and artifici
- floods carried his logs down sream. tt
y volume Of water has greatly diminish,
since then. In those days the floo