The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1907-11-27
PASS Deep WATER LAW


| "'""~ " p"i' W NV ulst CONSTITUTION
OF Illinois, aud we can understood
the Importance attached to It's proyis.
ions with respect to navigation by
reference to the fact that Nathaniel
rope, the territorial delegate to con.
eress when our state was admitted to
the union. succeeded in having the
northern boundary line Of the state
shifted sixty miles northward to its
present location, in order. among 9TH
or reasons, that a great transconti-
mental waterway might be developed
within the confines of a single state.
IN this connection, attention may be
called, also. to the practice of the
office of the surveyors general of the
federal government. The instructions
always have been gwen by the Off
Gals heads of this department to sur
vey0rs. IN regard to streams, reqnir-
ed them To meander both banks Of
streams that were navgable or capa-
BILE of being made so, such meander
being held to indicate reservation
OF the streams for public uses. The
Des PLANES river was thus meander-
cd, about 1921, up TO the township
line IN the village of Lyons, which
affords evidence Of the navigable uses
otwhich the stream was at that time
put. In fact, 1t is susceptible to proof
that both the Illinois and Des PLANES
rivers were subjected to the servi-
tude of navigation from the earliest
times and long prior to any sales of
lands uDon the banks Thereof
The Kankakee river has been de-
clared navigable stream by the state
government and its Improvement was
at one time undertaken. The cree
ton OF a dam in the Fox river, in |
Henry County. required an ait of con-
gress. an dthe Des PLANES river was
always esteemed far more import. |
ant factor in the internal water sys.
ten OF the country and it's actual navi i
gable uses have always teen farI
greater than those of either of the |
streams mentioned
1t required legislative action. both /
by the state of New York and the |
Province OF Ontario, to authorize the |
requirement of private rights to the
Niagara river from some point above
Bridge to the head of the
rapids leading to the rails. fhe water
power rights both in New York and
Ontario are special legislative grants
and at Rock Island, in our own state,
the water power rights are cont ,riie,I
BY the federal government in SON
junction with a private corporation.
AS matter of fact. in many IN,
stances. federal legislation anI ekec,-
tive action are of such a character
as TO rest upon the assumption tnat
the easement of navigability attaches
TO streams which may be rendered
navigable by improvements To be eff
fected in the future, and congress- has
moneys for the i'm
of a great number az such
rivers which We're far less ilayigabls
II a state of nature. than is The Des
FLAMES. In times of high water II
I'm informed by the secretary of the
Internal Improvement commission, IL
would be possible for large river !
teamer to ascend the Des Plaines u
ever to the CITY of Joliet did the
ridges and dam at Marseilles permit "
even under present conditions, the q
water supply in the stream is suffi- G
lent to give navigable depth OF I
hree feet or more Up to point sew 7
nteen miles above Utica and with t
hannel Improvement, the stream t
ould be made available for the use Il
+ craft notable upon the Hennepin
anal to Brandon's bridge, within five o
niles of the present terminus of the a
anitary canal, +
II appears. therefore. that the Des s
laines river is a navigable stream, j
$ that term is used in acts of con. a
ress appropriating money for the i'm b
rovement of nayigable waterways. a
There are still other and abundant a
vidences of the early navigation of o
ne Des PLANES, and the governor W
ties at length declarations and ac {
ons by state and federal govern Il
tents and courts to bear out the as.
triton. io
In view of the foregoing, 1t is not
1ly competent for the legislature to W
eclare. or (which more accords with CO
le fact) TO recognize by statutory en-. 81
,tment the navigability of the lower IL
es PLANES but 1t is of the greatest "
IN do en- I'm viau of tho Dl