Salt Lake City v. East Jordan Irrigation Co.

121 P. 592, 40 Utah 126, 1911 Utah LEXIS 87
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 26, 1911
DocketNo. 2202
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 121 P. 592 (Salt Lake City v. East Jordan Irrigation Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Salt Lake City v. East Jordan Irrigation Co., 121 P. 592, 40 Utah 126, 1911 Utah LEXIS 87 (Utah 1911).

Opinions

FRICK, C. J.

This proceeding was instituted by appellant, a municipal corporation, against respondent, a corporation organized for the purpose of distributing water for irrigation and other beneficial purposes, to condemn, or, rather, to obtain the right to enlarge an irrigating canal, owned by respondent. The proceeding is based on Cbmp. Laws Dtah 1907, section 1288x22, which reads as follows:

“When any person, corporation, or association desires to convey water for-irrigation or for any other beneficial purpose, and' there is a canal or ditch already constructed that can be enlarged to convey the required quantity of water, then such person, corporation, or association, or the owner or owners of the land through which a new canal or ditch would have to be constructed to convey the quantity of water necessary, shall have the right to enlarge said canal or ditch already constructed, by compensating the owner of the canal or ditch to be enlarged, for the damage, if any, caused by said enlargement; provided, that said enlargement shall be done at any time from the 1st day of October to the 1st day of March, or at any other time that may be agreed upon with the owner of said canal or ditch.”

A great mass of evidence was adduced at the trial and is preserved in a bill of exceptions, much of which, however, we deem entirely immaterial.

The controlling facts, briefly stated, are in substance as follows:

[131]*131Tbe respondent owns and uses, and for more than thirty years has owned and used, an irrigating canal, the head or intake of which is in Jordan River near its source, which is in the north end of Utah Lake. The canal thence extends in a northerly direction a distance of about nineteen miles through Salt Lake valley to what is known as Little Cottonwood Creek. The capacity of the canal is 170 cubic feet of water per second, and has been and is used to convey that amount of water from the Jordan River to landowners for irrigation and domestic purposes. The landowners aforesaid axe stockholders of respondent, which is a corporation of this state having a capital stock of $200,000 divided into 8000 shares of the par value of twenty-five dollars each. The appellant owns 1600 shares, one-fifth of the capital stock aforesaid, and the other four-fifths is owned by about 375 stockholders who axe the landowners aforesaid and the water users under the canal. Appellant is also the owner of a canal, which, for convenience, will hereafter be called city canal, which was constructed at about the time when respondent’s canal was constructed. The head or intake of the city canal is likewise in the Jordan River, but at a point considerably farther down said stream, so that the intake of the city canal is fifty feet lower in elevation than the intake of respondent’s canal. The city canal is about twenty-nine miles in length, and was constructed to convey water from its intake in Jordan River to the inhabitants of Salt Lake City for irrigation, sprinkling streets, and other purposes, not including culinary use, since the water is not potable. If the water as conveyed through the city canal can be conveyed to Salt Lake City through respondent’s canal when enlarged and extended as contemplated, then the water conveyed therein could be delivered to the city inhabitants at an elevation of eighty feet higher than this can be done from the city canal, the elevation of which is too low to make it possible to deliver water through it to a large number of the 93,000 inhabitants of Salt Lake City. The principal object of appellant in seeking to obtain the right to enlarge respondent’s canal from its present capacity of 170 [132]*132■to 320 cubic feet per second and to construct an extension thereto is to enable it to make an exchange of the unpotable for potable water, and to meet the needs and requirements of a large number of the inhabitants aforesaid for a better water supply. It also appears that respondent’s canal is constructed “along the highest possible contour grade at which it was possible to divert water by gravity from Jordan Eiiverthat the canal is constructed over some ravines and gulches and through some ridges and uneven surfaces, so that in constructing it fills and cuts were necessary, and its original cost of construction amounted to about $300,000, and through which water is supplied to irrigate and cultivate about 16,000 acres of land, all of which by the use of water conveyed as aforesaid has been redeemed from a barren state; that to supply the needs of the water users along the canal many headgates or diverting appliances are necessary to divert the water from the main canal into lateral ditches for distribution; that many of these diverting appliances are used all the year, while others are used only during the irrigating season, or about one-half of the year. The canal is constructed through practically worthless land, the title to which, except a small portion, is not in respondent. It was also shown that-, while the carrying capacity of respondent’s canal is only 170 cubic feet of water per second at its narrowest points, yet that at numerous places throughout its length its capacity is much in excess thereof by reason of the irregularity of its banks. The evidence also shows that respondent for a distance of about one and one-half miles OAvns the land upon which its canal is located, and that the land is of very little, if of any, value, that the remaining portions of the canal were constructed on public domain over which respondent "obtained the right to construct and has the right to maintain it, and that the title to no part of said land is in respondent.

Before entering upon the trial, the court found that the use appellant proposed to make of respondent’s canal was a public use; that the proposed enlargement of the canal was necessary, and upon such findings, and in connection with [133]*133tbe judgment for damages, tbe court entered a decree in conformity witb tbe statutes of tbis state awarding appellant tbe right to enter upon and enlarge tbe canal. Tbe case in so far as damages were concerned was tried to a jury. Tbe jury under tbe instructions of tbe court found that by tbe enlargement of tbe canal, for tbe reasons wbicb will hereafter more fully appear, respondent would suffer or sustain damages in tbe sum of $75,000. Tbe court entered judgment upon tbe verdict, and tbe appellant has appealed from tbe judgment for damages, while respondent has also taken a cross-appeal from that portion of tbe judgment or decree declaring tbe public use and necessity of tbe enlargement of tbe canal, and also challenges appellant’s right to make said enlargement under tbe statute we have quoted, tbe validity of wbicb is assailed. Respondent on its cross-appeal also insists that tbe court’s rulings and instructions witb respect to tbe measure of damages are erroneous.

Tbe theory upon wbicb tbe question of damages was tried and submitted by tbe court is perhaps best reflected from six special findings which were submitted for answer and were answered by tbe jury. We shall not state those questions and answers in tbe order in wbicb they were submitted and answered,- but in tbe interest of clearness we shall place those wbicb are in favor of appellant in one group and those .in favor of respondent in another group.

Those in the first group are as follows:

“(I) Will the enlargement of the East Jordan canal, in the manner proposed by the plaintiff, impair or damage said canal as a means of diverting, conveying, and delivering water for irrigation purposes by the defendant?” Answer: "Not”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
121 P. 592, 40 Utah 126, 1911 Utah LEXIS 87, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/salt-lake-city-v-east-jordan-irrigation-co-utah-1911.