Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-09
SETTLERS GIVEN
WATER RIGHT
COURT DECIDES IN FAVOR OF
DEFENDANT
Granted Permanent injunction Against
Huntington Company, Which AZ
tempted to stop irrigation
Of earvey Ranch

BY an opinion handed down yesterday
by Judge Curtis D. Wilbur Of Depart
ment eight Of the superior court the
fa nous water suit of the Garvey Wa
ter company against the Huntington
Land and Improvement company was
settled in favor Of Garvey, the plaintiff,
and he was granted an Injunction re-
straining the Huntington company from
interfering with certain water pumps
which he had established on the shorb
rancho.
The suit was filed several months ago
and the story of the legal fight dates
back fourteen years.
In the early months Of 1892, accord
ing to the complaint of suit, Richard
Garvey. then owner of 1000 acres of
poor land known as the Garvey ranch,
made arrangements for the improve
ment of his property. His land was
practically arid. unfit for anything and
valued at about $50 per acre, although
it was close to Los Angeles
The adjoining strip of property, of
nearly the same area, was owned by J..
De Barth Shorb and his wife Mary Jesus
Shorb. The land was famous for it's
fine wells, three of which were perched
on the hillside.
Pays for Water
Shorb's ranch was practically over
flowing with water while the Garvey
tract was barren for want Of it and
Garvey made bargain whereby he paid
S25, 900 into Shorbs Golfers for the priv
i1ege of drawing water from the Shorb
wells. According to the contract Gar
vey was to be allowed thirty inches of
water and was to pipe it to his property.
At that time two of the wells were
overflowing while the third was not
quite up to level Garvey, however, put
in system Of bitches. canals and pipes
carrying the water from the Shorb
ranch to his own property for irrigat-
ing purposes The improvements cost
him 900 and as soon as he had the
pipes in and a great reservoir built he
organized the Garvey Water company,
with a capital stock of $4,000, and
divided the ranch into small tracts of
ten acres each, which he sold to pros
pective homeseelxers.
Since that time, according to the allie
cations of Garvey in his legal fight, 200
families have settled upon the tract and
they depend entirely upon the supply
of water from the Shorb ranch for their
very existence. Incidentally most of
the settlers own many fine lemon and
orange groves and it was for the pro-
lection of those groves and for the saw
80 hAv, o.tx hot Sor-
vey suit was fled
ForecIose on Mortgage
The trouble between the Garvey com
pany and the Huntington company be-
gan to brew about six or seven years
ago. At that time Shorb mortga ged his
property to the Farmers and Mer-
chants bank. which later 'foreclosed and
the Huntington company took up the
property and with it the wells.
When they examined the three artes-
ian wells they discovered that the wa
ter had decreased in all the wells and
that the Garvey company had installed
pumps so as to force out the necessary
thirty inches allowed them according to
the contract The Huntingdon com1
pany denied the right of the Garvey
company to maintain the pumps in the
well after the property had been sold to
another company than the Shorbs and
Garvey was ordered to remove the
pumps. Such action would have almost
meant financial ruin to the neighbor-
hood because the water supply would
have been cut off. Garvey answered
with suit for injunction to restrain
the Huntingdon company from interfer-
ing with the pumps and Judge Wilbur
yesterday settled the question of the
ownership of the water by holding that
the Garvey company by virtue of it's
old contract was entitled to the thirty
inches Of water, A petition for $4,000
damages filed by the Garvey company
because of the loss of part of the water
has not yet been settled.