Opinion ID: 112480
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Southeastern Denwill and Horseshoe Shoal

Text: Elba Island is downstream from the city of Savannah and upstream from Jones and Oyster Bed Islands. Denwill is a plantation on the South Carolina side of the river; it is opposite Elba but extends eastward beyond that island. Horseshoe Shoal is slightly downstream from there. See App. D of 2 Rep. Prior to the performance of work in the area by the Army Corps of Engineers, the navigation channel north of Elba was a broad expanse which, in the Corps' estimation, was excessively wide. In the 1880's, the Corps undertook to improve the navigation channel by restricting the river's width. This was effected by the construction of a training wall north of Elba Island during 1891-1895, by sedimentation that took place, and by deposits of dredge material behind the wall. Land in the area of southeastern Denwill formed initially as marsh islands adjacent to the wall and then grew to be connected to the South Carolina shore. Similar changes took place at Horseshoe Shoal, an area that now connects Jones Island and Oyster Bed Island. The Special Master recommended that the additions to Denwill and Horseshoe Shoal be awarded to Georgia. South Carolina takes exception to this. Referring to App. D of 2 Rep., South Carolina asserts: Approximately 1 mile of riverfront land on the South Carolina side of the river would be placed in Georgia. S. C. Exceptions 6. It emphasizes that the additions to Denwill took more than 40 years to form, that is, between the time the first diversion wing-dam structures were built, and 1924 when the old bed appeared above water. Id., at 7. The training wall, two miles long, was permeable, and permitted sedimentation behind it before the dredging and filling occurred. South Carolina observes that the Special Master nowhere specifically states that the process in fact was avulsive, but it asserts, pointing to several references by the Master to avulsive procedures, that it is clear that he considered the process to be avulsive. Id., at 9. South Carolina also notes that all those activities worked to the benefit of the city of Savannah, and that Georgia's port was the only beneficiary of the dredging. Brief in Rebuttal for South Carolina 5. Georgia, in its turn, notes the Corps' relocation of the northern bank of the river at southeastern Denwill over a half mile south of its original location. See App. C of 1 Rep. It asserts that the land in dispute did not form as gradual accretion from the South Carolina shore toward the river but, instead, rose in the river immediately behind the training wall and was the result of the construction of the wall and the deposit of dredge spoil behind it. South Carolina's exception as to Horseshoe Shoal is like its Denwill exception. It asserts that, as was the case with Denwill, training works and dredging by the Corps led to sedimentation and filling. As a result, the Shoal is now a long isthmus of high ground connecting Jones Island and Oyster Bed Island. It was formed in the same way, and over a comparable period, as the additional land on Denwill. S. C. Exceptions 13-14. The major training work in this area, too, was between 1890 and 1894. Wing dams were placed and then hydraulic fill. But even before large-scale dredging and filling began, the area was close to becoming a dry elevation solely as a result of the 30 years of sedimentation caused by training works. Id., at 14-15. General rules concerning the formation of riparian land are well developed and are simply expressed and well accepted. When the bed is changed by the natural and gradual processes known as erosion and accretion, the boundary follows the varying course of the stream. But if the stream leaves its old bed and forms a new one by the process known as avulsion, the result works no change of boundary. Arkansas v. Tennessee, 246 U. S. 158, 173 (1918). Sometimes, the problem is to distinguish between the two. Here we have a situation where interference in the river's flow was not caused by either of the adjoining States, but by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. It is generally held, of course, that one cannot extend one's own property into the water by landfilling or purposefully causing accretion. See, e. g., Seacoast Real Estate Co. v. American Timber Co., 92 N. J. Eq. 219, 221, 113 A. 489, 490 (1920). We conclude, not without some difficulty, that Georgia has the better of the argument as to these two areas. It is true, of course, that avulsive action ordinarily calls to mind something somewhat sudden or, at least, of short duration, whereas accretion has as its essence the gradual deposit of material over a period by action of water flow. This is so even though it may have been caused partly or wholly by placed obstructions. See County of St. Clair v. Lovingston, 23 Wall. 46 (1874). Some of the changes here were caused gradually by the deposit of sediment by river waters. Others were caused by the deposit of fill through the use of a hydraulic-pipeline dredge employed by the Corps pursuant to the paramount right of the United States Government to improve navigation. See South Carolina v. Georgia, 93 U. S. 4 (1876). The rapidity of some aspects of the dredging and other processes led the Special Master to conclude that the changes in the Savannah River were primarily avulsive in nature. Although the question is close, on balance, we think this particular record as to this particular river supports the recommendation made by the Master. We therefore overrule South Carolina's exceptions as to southeastern Denwill and Horseshoe Shoal.