Opinion ID: 1761356
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: In Payne v. Hall, 192 Iowa 780, 783, 185 N.W. 912, 914, this appears:

Text: Meander lines are not boundary lines, but are only lines of survey, to determine the area included in irregular tracts bordering on navigable streams or lakes. Riparian owners along the banks of the Missouri River in Iowa hold title to the land to high-water mark, regardless of whether or not the same coincides with the meander line. McManus v. Carmichael, 3 Iowa 1; Houghton v. Railroad Co., 47 Iowa 370; Holman v. Hodges, 112 Iowa 714, 84 N.W. 950, 58 L.R.A. 673. The state of Iowa owns the title to the bed of the Missouri River from high-water mark to the center or thread of the stream. Iowa v. Illinois, 147 U.S. 1, 13 S.Ct. 239, 37 L.Ed. 55; Hardin v. Jordan, 140 U.S. 371, 11 S.Ct. 808, 35 L.Ed. 428; Holman v. Hodges, supra. If, by a slow and gradual process of erosion, the river washes away its banks and changes its course, the title of the state to the bed of the stream follows the course of the river in forming the new channel. If there is some avulsion of the stream, whereby it suddenly changes its channel in such a way as to cut off a body of land which still remains in such a condition that it can be identified, then the boundary lines of riparian property owners are not changed by such sudden avulsion or cut-off. Kitteridge v. Ritter, 172 Iowa 55, 151 N.W. 1097. Where lands are overflowed and submerged, and within a reasonable time the waters retire and the land reappears, the title of the owner is not disturbed, and the proprietorship remains in the original owner. Mulry v. Norton, 100 N.Y. 424, 3 N.E. 581; St. Louis v. Rutz, 138 U.S. 226, 11 S.Ct. 337, 34 L.Ed. 941; Ocean City Ass'n. v. Shriver, 64 N.J.Law, 550, 46 A. 690, 51 L.R.A. 425. This rule has also been recognized where lands are removed by erosion, and are restored by accretion after the river recedes. Allard v. Curran, 41 S.D. 73, 168 N.W. 761. See also Dartmouth College v. Rose, supra, 257 Iowa loc. cit. 535, 133 N.W.2d 687.