Source: https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1130235
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 11:17:48+00:00

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66 CHARACTERISTICS OF WATERCOURSE takes on the characteristics of a definite stream, is a nice question upon which the authorities are not in harmony."230 As indicated under "Source of Supply-Definiteness and Permanence," above, the expressed views of the South Dakota court on this matter are not in harmony with those generally accepted in the West. "Nevertheless surface waters may, without artificial aid, converge so as to form a defined channel and if they would naturally flow therein it would be construed to be a natural watercourse from the point at which the channel begins to take form."231 A statement of principle that has found considerable favor is to the effect that diffused surface water becomes a natural watercourse at the point where it begins to form a reasonably well-defined channel, with bed and banks, or sides and current, although the stream itself may be very small and the water may not flow continuously.232 Even when further complicated by the building of an insignificant flow up to a point at which it becomes legally acceptable as the stream component of a watercourse, the same principles apply.233 The precise point at which the flow of diffused surface water ceases to be such and becomes that of a watercourse is often difficult to determine as a matter of fact, because the transition may be a gradual one. The question is often one of fact, to be determined by a jury or by the court.234 But from the point of beginning, wherever fixed, the law of watercourses applies. "While this dividing point may be difficult to determine physically, its meaning in law is definite."235 Termination of the Watercourse Not only does a watercourse necessarily have a definite beginning somewhere-it likewise necessarily terminates somewhere. However, the char- acter or place of discharge of the water does not determine the classification of a watercourse and therefore is not properly one of its elements. In general. -Some definitions of a watercourse state that it usually discharges water into some other stream or body of water (see "Some particulars," below). That is generally true. Most of the larger western streams belong to systems which eventually discharge into the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Ocean, or bays or gulfs opening to the Pacific Ocean. However, the 230 Terry v. Heppner, 59 S. Dak. 317, 319, 239 N. W. 759 (1931). 231 Week v. Los Angeles County Flood Control Dist., 80 Cal. App. (2d) 182, 196, 181 Pac. (2d) 935 (1947). 232 International & G. N. R.R. v. Reagan, 121 Tex. 233, 242, 49 S. W. (2d) 414 (1932), quoting from 27 Ruling Case Law 1066, §6; Alexander v. Muenscher, 7 Wash. (2d) 557, 560, 110 Pac. (2d) 625 (1941); Mogle v. Moore, 16 Cal. (2d) 1,9, 104 Pac. (2d) 785 (1940). 233Popham v.Holloron, 84 Mont. 442, 447-453,275 Pac. 1099 (1929);Binning v. Miller, 55 Wyo. 451, 465, 474-476, 102 Pac. (2d) 54 (1940). 23ACostello v.Bowen, 80 Cal. App. (2d) 621, 627, 182 Pac. (2d) 615 (1947). 23S Harding, S. T., "Water Rights for Irrigation," p. 9 (1936).

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