Salt Lake City v. Utah & Salt Lake Canal Co.

137 P. 638, 43 Utah 591, 1913 Utah LEXIS 99
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 12, 1913
DocketNo. 2495
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 137 P. 638 (Salt Lake City v. Utah & Salt Lake Canal 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. Utah & Salt Lake Canal Co., 137 P. 638, 43 Utah 591, 1913 Utah LEXIS 99 (Utah 1913).

Opinions

McCARTY, 0. J.

Oil July 19, 1901, a decree was entered in the district -court of Salt Lake County in an action brought to quiet the title to the waters of the Jordan River. That decree, among -other things, provides that “the persons and corporations, parties to this suit, shall respectively construct or cause to be constructed at their own cost, and under the direction and supervision of the commissioner appointed by the court, proper appliances for the correct measurement of the waters .awarded to them respectively, and thereafter shall maintain -and keep in place dams, headgates, flumes, canals, penstocks, and other means by which said water is diverted, conveyed, •or used in a good state of repair, together with appliances for the measurement of such water, to the end that no unnecessary loss from seepage or leakage shall occur, and that the water shall be economically applied to the uses for which it is awarded.” The decree further provides that the court .shall retain “original jurisdiction in this case and the subject-matter thereof and of the parties thereto . . . for the purpose of all necessary supplementary orders and decrees which may be required to make effectual the rights awarded and preserved by this decree.” The decree also provides that, “for the purpose of carrying into effect this decree according to its true intent and purpose, J. Lews on Smith, Jr., is hereby appointed as a commissioner ... to superintend and direct the measurement and division of all the water distributed by this decree in accordance therewith, to direct, supervise, and inspect all means and appliances for the diversion, conveyance, and use of the same, and to report from time to time to the court any violation of the provisions of this decree.” The case was appealed to this court, and the decree affirmed. 24 Utah, 249, 67 Pac. 672, 61 L. R. A. 648.

In the year 1892 the Utah & Salt Lake Canal Company, the East Jordan Irrigation Company, and the South Jordan Uanal Company constructed a dam across the head of the Jordan River, the outlet of Utah Lake, for the purpose of .holding back the flow of the waters of the lake, and regulat[596]*596ing the volume of discharge therof, and hi connection therewith installed a pumping plant at the point where the lake-empties into the Jordan River. ‘This pumping plant consisted of four pumps, each of which was and is capable of pumping one hundred cubic feet of water per second of time. The commissioner, during the latter part of the year 1901, made certain improvements at the impounding dam of the Jordan River, and installed a weir at a point in the river near the-power plant in what is known as the Jordan Narrows, and on the 13th day of January, 1902, by consent of all the parties,, the court made a supplemental decree affirming the report of the commissioner relating to such improvements, and -assessed the costs thereof in different amounts against each of the parties to the original decree. In the year 1902, Salt Lake City acquired a one-fourth interest in the pumps mentioned and the lands upon which they -are located. In January, 1904, a contract was entered into between Salt Lake City, South Jordan Canal Company, East Jordan Irrigation Company, Utah & Salt Lake Canal Company, and the North Jordan Irrigation Company, all parties to this proceeding, by the terms of which the North Jordan Irrigation Company became the owner of a one-fifth interest in the pumping plant and the lands upon which it is situated and adjacent thereto. That contract, among other things, provided that:

“It is hereby expressly understood and agreed by the parties to this contract that from this day (January 26, 1904) the parties hereto are to be co-owners each of an undivided one-fifth interest in said pumping plant. Nothing in this contract contained shall in any manner bind any party hereto to any specific expenditure in the future in relation to said pumping plant save only the cost of maintenance and operation at its present capacity without the consent of said party. It is expressly further understood and agreed between the-parties hereto that this contract or instrument is made solely with reference to the pumping plant and property connected therewith as hereinbefore described, and is not intended and shall not be construed to in any way alter, change, or modify [597]*597the existing water rights or privileges of the parties hereto.” The pumping plant referred to was enlarged from time to time by the installation of additional pumps to meet the requirements and demands of Salt lake City and the irrigation companies mentioned for an increased supply of water, and supplemental decrees were made and entered by the court to meet the changed conditions, and for the carrying into effect of the provisions of the original decree under such changed conditions.

The relative locations of the respective points of diversion of the waters of Jordan River by the several canal companies are, approximately, as follows: Ten miles from the source of the Jordan River is the intake of the East Jordan Irrigation Company. At the same point, and on the other side of the stream, is the intake of the Utah & Salt Lake Canal Company and the Telluride Power Company, hereinafter referred to as the Power Company. A mile farther down the river is the joint intake of Salt Lake City and the South Jordan Canal Company. A mile below the latter location is the power plant of the Power Company, at which place the waters utilized by it are required to be returned to the stream or canals. Eight miles below the last'location is the intake of the Gardner Mill Race.

On November 17, 1910, the following motion was filed in the cause by the Utah & Salt Lake Canal Company:

“Comes now the Utah & Salt Lake Canal Company, and respectfully represents to the court that it is advised by J. Fewson Smith, Jr., the commissioner of this court, that' certain improvements are necessary in the Jordan River in order that the waters thereof, to which the respective parties to this action are entitled, may be properly and economically distributed. Wherefore, the said Utah & Salt Lake Canal Company moves the court that an order of this court issue directed to J. Fewson Smith, Jr., the said commissioner, and to each and all the parties to appear before this court, at a time fixed in said order, and that then a hearing be had, and that at the conclusion thereof the character of such improvements necessary, if any, be determined, fixed, and es-[598]*598tablisbed by order of this court, and that the proportionate part of the expenses of such improvements to be paid by each ■of the parties to this action be fixed and determined, and that a proper order be made as to the manner, and form, and time of payment thereof.”

No petition or pleading other than the foregoing motion was presented to the court or filed in the cause to invoke the action of the court in regard to the subject-matter of the motion. On January 10, 1911, the matter came on for heart-ing, and counsel for the East Jordan Irrigation Company interposed an objection to the taking of testimony, which, so far as material here, was as follows:

“The East Jordan Irrigation Company desires to interpose a formal objection on the ground there is no issue before the court upon which testimony may be taken; upon the further ground there is no pleading in the case, original or otherwise, which justifies the proposed procedure.”

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Bluebook (online)
137 P. 638, 43 Utah 591, 1913 Utah LEXIS 99, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/salt-lake-city-v-utah-salt-lake-canal-co-utah-1913.