Hohl v. Iowa Central Railway Co.

143 N.W. 850, 162 Iowa 66
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedNovember 12, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 143 N.W. 850 (Hohl v. Iowa Central Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hohl v. Iowa Central Railway Co., 143 N.W. 850, 162 Iowa 66 (iowa 1913).

Opinion

Withrow, J.

I. The statement of the case which was included in the written opinion filed by the trial court fairly presents the issues and questions involved, and we adopt it here. The plaintiff is the riparian owner of land on the Des Moines river opposite the town of Eddyville. The track of the defendant railway company crosses plaintiff’s land on a trestle constituting the approach to a bridge by which it crosses the river. A public highway also crosses plaintiff’s land at an angle with the railway, and leads to a wagon bridge over the river, the highway crossing the railroad rigid; of way under the trestle. There is no access from the highway to the water’s edge, except over a private way on plaintiff’s land or down the right of way along the said trestle. In the river below ordinary high-water mark, along a portion of plaintiff’s land, there is a sand bar from which the defendant Keller, prior to the issuing of the temporary injunction herein, had been taking sand. When the stage • of water permitted he used a sand pump operated on a boat, and at low water hauled the sand with wagons along the right of way to the [68]*68highway and thence over the bridge, to the side tracks of the defendant railway company in Eddyville, where it was loaded on ears and shipped over its road. This action is brought to restrain the defendant Keller from taking sand from the bar, and to restrain both the defendants from using, or permitting to be used, the right of way for hauling sand from the bar. In his petition the plaintiff pleaded his ownership of the land, which he claimed was to low-water mark; that along the shore are extensive sand banks of value, and there is no public access to the same over his land, and that he has been accustomed to sell sand above low-water mark on said stream for his private advantage, as the same belongs to him; and the defendants are arranging to construct a right of way fence on each side of the railway through plaintiff’s land to the bank of the river, so as to make a private road or passageway to the sand banks, for the purpose of removing the sand therefrom, and converting it to the use of the defendants. For a considerable distance from the bank of the river the railroad runs on a trestle at a high elevation, and there is ample space to afford the use of the land beneath by plaintiff’s stock and vehicles to pass under it. It is further pleaded that the right of way deed under which the defendant railroad company is occupying said land granted no rights beyond those of constructing, maintaining, and operating a railway across plaintiff’s land, and that said defendants have not the right to permit it to be used by its co-defendant Keller, for use in the removal of sand. The foregoing sufficiently states the claim of right upon which plaintiff relies. The answers deny that the plaintiff is the owner of the sand, the removal of which is sought to be restrained, or that he has any right or interest therein other than is common to the public, and further state that prior to the time the defendant Keller commenced to use the right of way for the purpose named, plaintiff compelled him to pay a rate per ton for the privilege of hauling sand across plaintiff’s land, and that this suit has been instituted only for the purpose of levying tribute [69]*69upon the defendant Keller. Defendant Keller pleads that he has at no time taken sand from above high-water mark, nor does he intend to do so, nor to remove any sand necessary to support the banks of the land. It is further pleaded that the use to which the right of way of the railroad is being put is reasonably within the contemplation of the use and operation of a railway. The action was tried to the court, and a decree was entered against plaintiff, from which he appeals.

Whatever may be the motive of appellant in prosecuting this action, his rights must be determined by the rules applicable alike to all, where there is an alleged invasion of right. If that is being done from which it may be found that he suffers injury in his private ownership and control, the assertion of right to be protected against such may not be ignored or denied because it also has the effect of creating conditions which he may reasonably control to the exclusion of others. We first turn to the facts, for upon them as to one branch of the case must rest the conclusions we shall reach as to the legal and equitable rights of the parties.

1. Navigable Waters: riparian rights: extent of ownership: accretion The place from which the sand has been and is sought to be removed by the defendant Keller is shown by the evidence to be a sand bar lying off the main bank which is the boundary of appellant’s land, between which and the bank there is a connecting bed or body of sand which in times of low stage of water is uncovered. No effort has ever been made towards cultivating the land between the sand bar and the main land until about the time of the commencement of this action, when the appellant sowed it to oats, but with poor results. The evidence shows that it is not adapted to agriculture. On the sand bank in question there is a growth of willows covering a small part. The testimony of one witness upon the subject as to the relation of the sand bar to Hohl’sland may be taken as fairly summing up all the testimony on that question: “About two-thirds of the bar in front of his farm is above ordinary low-water mark. I believe there is a [70]*70portion of it above ordinary high-water mark, if it was not hauled away.” Another witness testified, in substance*, that in times of dry seasons there is not much water on the bar. Others, that the bar has been substantially the same for more than fifty years, and unaffected in growth and height by accretion, nor permanently diminished by the removal of sand for commercial purposes, as it is replaced by succeeding high water. The evidence. shows that the bank which constitutes the apparent boundary of appellant’s land is about four feet high. Other parts of appellant’s lands above the bar have been subjected to loss from washing, with accretions below, but no substantial change has been noticed in the sand bar. Without in more detail setting out the evidence, which is aided by many photographic views, we reach the conclusion of fact that the sand bar is not a part of appellant’s land. His right is to hold to ordinary high-water mark, and this would be measured at the bank of the stream. Beyond question between the point so found at the river bank and the bar there is an intervening body of sand which is in times of ordinary high water a part of the bed of the river, and at such times a portion, if not all, of the sand bar bears the same relation to the stream. The Des Moines river being recognized in the law as a navigable stream, as fully decisive of the proposition that appellant owns only to ordinary high-water mark, and not to low-water mark, as claimed by him in his petition, we cite, Steele v. Sanchez, 72 Iowa, 65; Bennett v. Starch Co., 103 Iowa, 207; McManus v. Carmichael, 3 Iowa, 1; Musser v. Hershey, 42 Iowa, 356; Park Commissioners v. Ice Co., 130 Iowa, 607.

While the ownership of the riparian proprietor extends only to ordinary high-water mark, the law recognizes that beyond that he has certain qualified rights incident to his ownership, which will be protected; and it is upon this principle that the contention of appellant is rested as to this .branch of the case. Among these qualified rights is that of accretion. Kraut v. Crawford, 18 Iowa, 549; Municipality v. [71]*71Cotton Press, 18 La. 122 (36 Am. Dec. 624); St. Clair v.

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Bluebook (online)
143 N.W. 850, 162 Iowa 66, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hohl-v-iowa-central-railway-co-iowa-1913.