Erickson v. Crookston Waterworks, Power & Light Co.

117 N.W. 435, 105 Minn. 182, 1908 Minn. LEXIS 496
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJuly 31, 1908
DocketNos. 15,583-(159)
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 117 N.W. 435 (Erickson v. Crookston Waterworks, Power & Light Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Erickson v. Crookston Waterworks, Power & Light Co., 117 N.W. 435, 105 Minn. 182, 1908 Minn. LEXIS 496 (Mich. 1908).

Opinion

LEWIS, J.

Upon the former trial the cause was disposed of in the court below by granting appellant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings. It [184]*184was held (100 Minn. 481, 111 N. W. 391, 8 L. R. A. [N. S.] 1250) that appellant had no vested right to deprive respondent of the natural use of his artesian well by the use of artificial force in pumping the basin of supply to a low level, indirectly compelling him to purchase from appellant water which had been contaminated by intermingling it with river water. The cause, having been remanded, came on for trial upon the merits, and a clear comprehension of the case requires a full statement of the facts as found by the trial court.

Respondent was the owner of certain lots in Sampson’s Woodland addition to Crookston, upon which were located his residence, barns, and other structures suitable for live stock, of which he owned a considerable number. About six years before the commencement of this action he caused to be constructed upon his premises an artesian well one hundred seventy five feet deep, incased in a two-inch pipe, through which artesian water flowed to the surface in sufficient quantities for all domestic uses. Appellant is a corporation organized in 1885 for the purpose of constructing, maintaining, and operating a system of waterworks in the city of Crookston to supply the inhabitants thereof with water. From 1885 to 1899 appellant continued to operate and maintain its system of works for such purposes, supplying the inhabitants with water carried from the Red Rake river through mains, pipes, and hydrants. About the year 1899 the company extended its intake pipe further up the river to avoid contaminated water, and also constructed a filtration plant for the purpose of purifying the water. The filtration plant proved to be a failure, on account of impure substances in the sand, and appellant then, began operations to secure artesian water.

In addition to the facts above stated the court found as follows:

“7. That the artesian well water secured in the city of Crookston and vicinity is artesian water secured' from underground artesian strata of sand and gravel into which the water percolates, and that these strata lie at different elevations in different localities. That underneath the surface in and about said city there are four water-bearing strata of, sand and gravel from which artesian wells have been obtained: .
“First, a stratum seventy to'eighty feet below the surface, which is in two narrow streaks and does not furnish much water.
[185]*185“Second, a stratum one .hundred forty feet to one hundred eighty feet below the surface, which extends over the north part of the city and is more than two-thirds of a mile wide.
“Third, a stratum one hundred seventy five feet to two hundred twenty five feet below the surface, which extends over that south part of the city and is more than a mile wide.
“Fourth, a stratum about three hundred twenty five feet below the surface, about which the evidence discloses little. That the above-named strata, numbered Second, third, and fourth, probably have an outcropping in the higher land eight or ten miles east or soiitheast of the city of Crookston, where the water supply is replenished by the rainfall. That they lie between hardpan and clay, impervious to water above and below, and carry water through gravel, or sand and gravel, so that, by boring through the upper stratum or strata, wells commonly known as ‘artesian wells’ can be obtained in a great many places and water derived from them; and that at the time said pumping commenced in said Bessie street well there were more than fifty, artesian wells in said city.
“8. That there is nothing upon the surface of the ground- by which it can be determined whether at any particular place a flow of water can be obtained by boring, or as to the depth to which boring would be necessary in order to procure a flow of water, and the only means of determining whether artesian water can be got and the strata from which it is obtained is from the positions and flows of the wells already made, or the failures to get water; but after a fair number of such wells have been bored in any locality it can be known with a large degree of certainty, but not with absolute certainty, whether or not artesian water can be obtained at any point in such locality in the city of Crookston and1 vicinity and the depth required to get it.
“9. The waters of the Red Lake river are unwholesome and unfit for drinking and culinary purposes and other domestic purposes, and they are unsafe for drinking and culinary purposes. The waters from any of the artesian wells in Crookston and vicinity, including those of plaintiff and defendant, are pure and wholesome for all purposes, including drinking purposes, culinary purposes, and for all household purposes, and may be safely used for all such purposes [186]*186and for general use. The waters of the Red Lake river, besides being generally unfit for domestic uses, are, particularly at certain times of the year, also affected by organic substances which color and make the waters still more impure and objectionable for domestic purposes.
“10. The said defendant at some time prior to the year 1899 became the owner and secured the possession thereof and has ever since been in possession of lot nine of block three and lot three of block seven of Clement’s addition to Crookston, Minnesota, and a certain lot in block three of C. M. Loring’s addition to Crookston, Minnesota that at the time the said lots in Clement’s addition to Crookston, Minnesota, became the property of said defendant, there was situated thereon an artesian well, known as the ‘Bessie street well,’ which said well was bored to the depth of about two hundred fifteen feet and had a two-inch pipe therein. During the summer of 1902 said defendant bored a new well upon the site of the Bessie street well,, which well had a ten-inch pipe therein and was two hundred fifteen feet deep, and after such enlargement flowed about twenty eight thousand gallons of water per day above the surface of the ground. In the spring of 1903 the defendant bored in lot three of C. M. Loring’s addition an eight-inch well, which was one hundred seventy feet deep, near the present site of the steam power house, which well is known as the ‘Steam Power House well.’
“11. Immediately after it became known to said defendant that the plan of purifying the water of Red Lake river by means of filtration plant was not feasible, and that said method was a failure, said defendant formulated a plan to furnish to its customers, the citizens of Crookston and the public, through the water system of said defendant, artesian water for all purposes, which artesian water said defendant planned to procure from the Bessie street well and the Steam Power House well, and such other wells as should be necessary in order to supply the defendant’s entire system with artesian water, and for that purpose the Bessie street well was enlarged to a ten-inch pipe and the Steam Power Plouse well was bored with an eight-inch pipe. Tests were made for about three weeks of each of these wells by continuous pumping, and these tests showed that there could be secured from said wells enough water to supply two hundred forty thousand gallons of water each day of twenty four [187]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
117 N.W. 435, 105 Minn. 182, 1908 Minn. LEXIS 496, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/erickson-v-crookston-waterworks-power-light-co-minn-1908.