Stults v. Huntington Water-Works Co.

71 N.E. 172, 33 Ind. App. 242, 1904 Ind. App. LEXIS 194
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 24, 1904
DocketNo. 4,726
StatusPublished

This text of 71 N.E. 172 (Stults v. Huntington Water-Works Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stults v. Huntington Water-Works Co., 71 N.E. 172, 33 Ind. App. 242, 1904 Ind. App. LEXIS 194 (Ind. Ct. App. 1904).

Opinion

Black, C. J.

The appellant sued the appellees, the Huntington Water-Works Company and the city of Huntington. In the original complaint, filed August 14, 1895, the appellant sought the recovery of damages for the alleged diversion of water of the Wabash river from his mill, offering and consenting that the decree herein might confirm the title of the water-works company to the right to divert the Water from the river appropriated by it upon the payment of the value thereof, and demanded judgment for $3,000, which was alleged to to be the value of the title and right in fee to divert the water from the river.

A supplemental complaint was filed September 21, 1901, alleging the removal of the obstruction and the intake pipes alleged in the original complaint to have been placed in the river, and that the appellees, within a year after the filing of the original complaint, had surrendered to the appellant the physical possession, occupancy, and use of the Water of the stream, and had not since that time diverted or attempted to divert the water from the channel, but alleging that they still insisted that they had the right to enter upon the channel, construct such works as they might deem necessary, and locate intake pipes, and that such claim is [244]*244a cloud on appellant’s title, and injures the sale of his riparian rights; the prayer of the supplemental complaint being that the appellees be forever enjoined from constructing works to be used for the diversion of water from the river, and from diverting such water from its natural course, and that the appellant’s title to the use and enjoyment of the uninterrupted flow of the stream be quieted. Answers and replies were filed, but the only question presented to us w'as raised by the appellant’s exceptions to conclusions of law stated by the court upon the facts set forth in a special finding.

The facts were found substantially as follows: In the year 1876, David P. Clark was the owner in fee simple and in possession of the mill, mill site, and the dam appurtenant thereto, described in the complaint, and continued in such ownership, use, and occupancy until April, 1891, when he died intestate, and the property descended to his heirs at law, who, August 6, 1892, sold, and by warranty deed conveyed, all his property to the appellant, and placed him in possession thereof, and he owned, held, and occupied the property under such conveyance until 1897, when he conveyed one-half thereof to one Ered Dorsch hy deed of general warranty, and the appellant and his grantee had continued to hold the same as tenants in common up to the date of the finding. The appellant and his grantors for more than thirty years had owned and used the water-power created by the dam mentioned in the complaint continuously, except as complained of in this action, and the same was necessary to provide power for running the mill. In 1890, the Huntington Water-Works Company, a corporation, was organized, and acquired, by condemnation, land about one-half mile east of the mill on the north bank of the river, fronting on the river about two thousand feet, and within the back flow of the appellant’s mill-dam, and erected a water plant, composed of machinery and wells, for the purpose of furnishing water for the use of the in[245]*245habitants of 4he city of Huntington. Clark was not a party to these condemnation proceedings. The water-works company, September 1, 1890, sold and turned over the property to the city by conveyance to the board of waterworks trustees, and by the discontinuance and abolition of the water-works trustees by the legislature the city became vested of the property. The appellant, by virtue of his ownership of the "mill and land described in the complaint, was entitled to the use of the water for the purpose of propelling his mill, and “the defendant, by virtue of her ownership of the land abutting on the Wabash river above the land and mill of the plaintiff, who had constructed a water-works plant for the purpose of furnishing water to the city of Huntington and the public for domestic uses and also for the extinguishing of fires, cleansing of sewers, and to the Erie railroad for washing engine boilers, and furnishing motive power to printing establishments, and such other commercial uses as are customary in cities of ordinary size and population, Was also entitled to and did use the water from the said Wabash river.” After the organization of the water-works company it obtained some two thousand feet frontage on the river, a half mile above the mill, and established a water-works plant on this ground, and had operated the same ever since, the plant costing some $50,000, in boiler, engines, and pumping apparatus, and the operation thereof being at a large expense; and the city, ever since acquiring the same, had been furnishing water to its citizens for domestic purposes, and for the protection of the public in extinguishing fires, cleansing sewers, sprinkling streets, and other public uses.

After the water-works company had acquired the land above mentioned, and before it had expended any money, the company, by its president, duly authorized to do so, had a conference with Clark, then the owner of the mill and mill site, from whose heirs the appellant derived his title, and informed Clark that it would be necessary to draw [246]*246water from the Wabash river at the point where the Works were located; whereupon, at that time, Clark consented for the water-works company to do so, but he afterward refused to give his consent in writing, and frequently thereafter he saw that such water was being taken from the river at that point, about one-half mile from his mill, and made no objection thereto. Upon the strength and authority of the condemnation, the water-works company expended large sums of money upon said grounds by constructing a power-house and pumping-station and placing its engines, boilers, and pumping apparatus thereon, “which at this time amounted to $50,000, all of which was done with the knowledge of said Clark, knowing that water was being drawn from the Whbash river.” The appellant owned the mill and mill site for a year without making any objection to the taking of water from the Wabash river, knowing that water was then being taken from the river for domestic purposes at that point. During the summer and fall of some years the supply of water is greatly reduced by reason of dry weather, and the stream shrinks to such an extent that there is not sufficient Water to afford power to run appellant’s entire mill, but at such times, when the water is permitted to flow unobstructed to appellant’s dam, sufficient power is furnished to run a part of the mill eight to ten hours per day.

August 14, 1893, the appellant filed in the court below his complaint against the city of Huntington, appellee, and Jacob Speaker, Samuel Buchanan, Adam Penfield, William Ewing, and Thomas C. Ewing, alleging that he was the owner of the property described in his complaint herein, and describing the dam and the water power created thereby, and alleging that he was in the use and enjoyment thereof for the purpose of supplying power to his mill, and that the entire flow therein was necessary to supply sufficient power to his mill, and that the defendants for fifteen months prior thereto had wrongfully and continuously, over his objections and protests, diverted a [247]

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Bluebook (online)
71 N.E. 172, 33 Ind. App. 242, 1904 Ind. App. LEXIS 194, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stults-v-huntington-water-works-co-indctapp-1904.