The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1909-07-15
Judge BuFneII OF Oshkosh Hands
Down Decision in Long Goa
tested Camp Lake Case
VICTORY FOR GETTING BROS
Court Holds That Level Of the Lake
Can Net be fnterfered With
and Orders Rebuilding of
Blown Up Dam

The long contested ease Of Robert
Runyard ct al VS.. The Getting Bros.
Ice Company, which has occupied a
place on the calendar of the Circuit
Court for the past three years and
winch has been the cause of many bit
ter struggles in the town of Salem,
some OF them OF most sensational
nature, was decided when Judge
George M. Burnell Of Oshkosh, fled
his opinion in the case with the clerk
Of the Circuit Court. The decision is
for the defendant in the action and in
his decision the court holds that no
power can be given to lower the level
of any navigable lake SO long as there
is protest against such an action.
The decision gives the defendants
the right to have the dam which was
blown out in 1906 restored and to re
cover the costs of the action. In his
opinion the court goes over every point
IN the case as brought out in the five
days, hearing in the Circuit Court dur
ing the March term He takes up at
length the history of the ditch dug by
the farmers of Salem in 1874 for the
purpose of draining the marsh lands
adjoining the banks of Camp Lake and
reviews further the action taken later
IN the cleaning out of the ditch by
which the water in the lake was lower
ed to the extent of three feet and
which left the ice houses of the Getting
Brothers high and dry In referring
to the blowing up Of the dam the
court holds that it was blown up at
the instance of the plaintiffs in the
action He holds that the proceedings
under which the ditch was originally
dug were not held in keeping with the
provisions Of the statute and that for
this reason the ditch never had cause
for existence. The plaintiffs in the
action had sought to establish the rioht
to maintain the ditch by the fact that
it had been in actual use for twenty
years, but the court Ield that there was
no evidence OF such actual use for
more than ten years after it had been
built until 1901 when it was. dug out.
He held that the evidence showed that
when the ditch was originally dug it
did not lower the water of the lake to
an appreciative extent, but that the
real damage was done to the holders
of lake shore property when the ditch
was cleaned out in 1901.
There is a long discussion of the
riparian rights of property owners on
navigable lakes. and the opinion of the
court will be of greatest interest to
people holding such property. It de-
clares that even if a portion of the
property owners along the lakes decide
to the dig such bitches they may not
be dug if they interfere with the
riparian rights of any other property
owner along the lake and that the fact
that such property owner was a petit
toner for the ditch in 1874 would not
preclude his objecting to the action Of
the plaintiffs in the action in cleaning
out the ditch. He holds that the level
of the lake must be maintained and
that any appreciable change in such
a level must be held as damage to
the man claiming riparian rights Under
the law. Many cases are cited to IN
hold the findings of the court and they
all seem to agree that the level of the
lake must be maintained.
The defendants in the action under
the decision of the court will be en-
powered to rebuild the concrete dam
in the ditch to such a height as will
maintain the normal level of the lake
and the court holds that the farmers
seeking a chance to drain their swamp
lands may arrange to drain them into
the lake, but they may not dig any
ditch that will have the effect of tax
ing the water out of the lake.
There is little. doubt but that the
case will be taken to the Supreme Court
as it has been held from the first that
the fight was really fight between
the Getting Brothers Ice Company and
one of the big trust companies and that
the destruction of the dam was brought
about on different occasions for the
purpose of forcing the abandonment of
the large ice houses owned by the de-
PENDANT on Camp Lake.