Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1913-06-28


had shifted gradually cutting away
ground from the inside Of the bend
on Halsey's land and depositing the
soil on the outside Of the bend on
his land. The differences between
the men were taken to court and 1t
was ruled that the boundaries Of the
farms remained those OF the original
channel. the sudden change not A.
fecting the title of either party. They
had formerly held to the thread Of
the old stream and now their boun-
dairy was the line that had marked
the thread Of the old channel.
Thus p distinction Is drawn be-
tween gradual and sudden changes.
Sudden shifting Of streams does not
work changea In the boundaries Of
property, whereas the gradual shift
ing means q shifting Of boundaries.
Thus to amount to accretion which
will give title to the owner against
whose property the. new soil 10 depos-
tied the process must be impercep-
tible. The rule laid down by the law
to determine whether q change has
been imperceptible ID that to be i'm
perceptible 1t must be SO gradual
that observers cannot see the pro-
cess going on. and II they cannot it
Is perceptible even though observa-
lions at considerable intervals dis
close that change has taken place.
In the case Of property bordering
on non-navigable stream or small
lake the owner takes title to the
center OF the body of water. In the
case Of q stream the thread S0f the
stream-the center Of the main chan
nel-is the boundary Of tract
granted with the stream as boun-
dairy. In such cases the owner Of
land adjoining the water owns land
under the water as we'll. OF course,
land may be granted merely to the
high water mark, the rights to the
land under water being reserved, but
this is unusual. The owner 70 land
bordering on stream who also owns
the land under water may extend his
property by filling In so long as he
does not interfere with the course Of
the stream, or interfere with any
rights OF the public or OF private
parties. II an island appears in q
body of water it becomes the property
Of the person who owned the Land
under the water upon which It was
formed. II the owner OF the land ad.
Joining a stream owns to the center
Of the stream, islands forming on
his side of the stream become his
property. Islands forming in the CEN
ter Of the stream are divided accord
ing to the old boundary line.
o05CD nave dAincA WucI0 lbIduO8
and other lands have been submerg-
ed and have subsequently reappear-
ed. In such instances the former own
er regains his possession and title.
1t Is stated above that land owners
own to the center Of non-navigable
waters. In the case Of navigable
water the public generally speaking,
holds the title to the bed. Thus
islands forming in navigable streams
would belong to the state and the
state may resist all extensions OF the
property adjoining the navigable wat
er past the nomal edge OF the stream
or lake.
The courts have no little difficulty
In determining whether waters are
navigable or not and the various
states are in conflict. The old En-
glish rule was that waters in which
the tide ebbed and flowed were nav
lSaDle, and waters not affected by
tides were not navigable. whether
they were used by large boats for
purposes of commerce or not. This
rule has been adopted in many Of
the American states. In England
where the large rivers are affected
by the tides the rule fitted fairly
well with the facts. but In some
states which follow the rules, there
are no tidal waters and 10 all wat.
ers in the state are ruled az non
navigable In law though they are nsv.|
igable in fact. Many states rule all
rivers navigable in law which are
navigable in fact.
But In the great majority of cases
the owner OF property adjoining al
stream OF ordinary size. or small
lake, has title Of all the land under
the water to the thread Of the stream
or the center Of the lake.
No Substitute Could do This