Waterford Irrigation District v. Turlock Irrigation District
Waterford Irrigation District v. Turlock Irrigation District
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal by appellants from a judgment in favor of the plaintiff enjoining the defendants from interfering with the flow of sixty second-feet of water from the Tuolumne River into the canal of the Modesto Irrigation District and to restrain them from interfering in any way with the diversion of said water by plaintiff, the said sixty second-feet of water having been acquired by the plaintiff from the Sierra and San Francisco Power Company, a corporation, under a contract dated January 14, 1919.
The respondent has incorporated into its brief the written opinion of the Honorable G. W. Nicol, sitting as a judge in the trial in the county of Stanislaus, in deciding the case. Said opinion contains an accurate statement in substance of the general facts as they were, upon what we regard as sufficient evidence, found by the court and also a statement and a correct application of the principles of law pertinent to the issues as.made by the pleadings and developed by the evidence. We, therefore, approve and adopt said opinion as part of the opinion herein of this court. The opinion referred to is as follows:
“The facts material to the question involved in this case may be briefly stated as follows: The plaintiff and the Turlock Irrigation District are both irrigation districts organized and existing under and by virtue of the California Irrigation District Act. The defendant, Turlock Irrigation District, and the Modesto Irrigation District are the
“This dam was constructed by these two districts under a contract between them of date August 9, 1890. The dam was constructed at their joint expense, and is jointly owned by them in common. The Turlock District contains about 176,510 acres of land and the Modesto District 81,183 acres. The water to irrigate these lands is diverted by means of this dam into the canals of the districts. The Turlock Canal is on the south side of the river and the Modesto Canal is on the north side, and each of said districts is the exclusive owner of its own canal, diverting water from the said dam.
“It appears from the evidence that until the water in the river falls to about 500 second-feet the Modesto outlet, owing to its situation, controls the flow, but after the water falls below 500 second-feet the Turlock gates then control the flow of the water.
“The plaintiff, The Waterford Irrigation District, in order to irrigate the lands contained within its boundaries, diverts the water from the Tuolumne River at the said La Grange Dam, through the canal of the Modesto Irrigation District. The plaintiff has acquired the right to divert the natural flow of said river water for the purposes of irrigation. This right is based upon an appropriation made in 1913, and is subsequent and subject to the rights of the Modesto and Turlock Irrigation Districts.
“In 1916, the plaintiff and the Modesto Irrigation District entered into a contract by which the plaintiff paid to the Modesto District $254,000, and in consideration thereof the Modesto District agreed to enlarge its diverting canal, from the La Grange Dam to certain points specified in the agreement, so that the canal would carry at least 250 second-feet of water for plaintiff in addition to the water required by the Modesto Irrigation District, and by this agreement the said Modesto Irrigation District agrees to carry through its said canal to the said Waterford Irrigation District, the water that it is entitled to, not exceeding 250 cubic feet per second. In pursuance of this agreement the Modesto District did enlarge its canal and did carry the waters to plaintiff, as therein provided.
“The Sierra and San Francisco Power Company is the owner of a certain water right and diverting system commonly known as the La Grange Water Right and System, by which there is diverted from the Tuolumne River at a point known as Indian Bar sixty-six cubic feet of water per second. This point of diversion is thirteen or fourteen miles above the La Grange Dam, and the right to this sixty-six- second-feet is prior in time to any of the water rights of the said irrigation districts.
“In January, 1919, the plaintiff purchased from the Sierra and San Francisco Power Company the right to all of said water for the period of six months, commencing on the first day of May and extending to the thirty-first day of October in each year, less the amount of water that the company is now furnishing to the town of La Grange, and for certain other purposes, which excepted amounts of water shall not exceed in the aggregate six cubic feet per second. Under the contract with the Sierra and San Francisco Power Company the period during which the six months’ use of the said water shall run is variable, and may at the option of the Waterford Irrigation District begin on April 1st, or the fifteenth day of April, or the fifteenth day of May, or the last day of June of any year. Said period of usé to continue for six consecutive months from the date of commencement as designated.
“In accordance with the agreement, the Sierra and San Francisco Power Company was in June, 1919, notified to turn into the Tuolumne River for the plaintiff sixty second-feet of water and plaintiff also notified the Turlock and Modesto Districts thereof. The Turlock District immediately notified the plaintiff and the Modesto District that it would not permit the water to be delivered to the Waterford Irrigation District through or by means of the La
“As before stated, the La Grange Dam was built by the Modesto and Turlock Districts and is owned and' held by them as tenants in common. The law is well settled that one joint owner or tenant in common cannot create an easement in the common estate against his cotenant. (Pfeiffer v. Regents of University, 74 Cal. 156, [15 Pac. 622].) In Southern Inv. Co. v. Postal Telegraph Cable Co., 156 N. C. 259, [Ann. Cas. 1913A, 224, 72 S. E. 361], it was held that when a telegraph company and a railroad company having become tenants in common for a period of years of poles along the railroad right of way for the purpose of a telegraph system, to serve both the public and the railroad, the telegraph company could not, in the absence of specific provision in their contract conferring the power, and without permission of its cotenant, the railroad company, give a telephone company the right to place wires thereon for telephone purposes. That the telegraph company had no right to grant to another, in furtherance of a disconnected and separate business the privilege of affixing two telephone wires to these poles, and of imposing this additional burden upon the owners. (Palmer v. Palmer, 150 N. Y. 139, [55 Am. St. Rep. 653, 44 N. E. 966]; Charleston etc. R. R. Co. v. Leech, 33 S. C. 175, [26 Am. St. Rep. 667, 11 S. E. 631].) A tenant in common of property has the right to dispose of its own undivided share, but such owner cannot sell the whole property, nor any portion thereof, except his own; and if he undertakes to dispose of any larger interest his co-owners are not bound thereby. (Tuttle v. Campbell, 74 Mich. 652, [16 Am. St. Rep. 652, 42 N. W. 384].) One tenant in common may by either lease or license confer upon another person the right to occupy and use the property of the cotenancy as fully as such lessor or licensor himself might have used or occupied it, if such lease or license had not been granted. (Lee Chuck v. Quan Wo Chung & Co., 91 Cal. 593, 598, [28 Pac. 45].)
“The fact that the plaintiff diverts this sixty second-feet of water at the La Grange Dam and conveys the same through the Modesto Canal, and that owing to the low state of the water in the river during the end of the dry season the Turlock District has to adjust its gates, so as to allow this water to enter the Modesto Canal, casts no more of a burden on the Turlock Irrigation District than would have been cast upon it if the plaintiff had no contract with the Modesto District, but diverted its waters below the dam. Assuming that the plaintiff had no agreement with the Modesto District and had its own separate independent canal, which diverted the water from the river, below the La Grange Dam, then the Turlock Irrigation District would be required to adjust its gates, so as to allow this sixt3 second-feet of water to flow down the stream to the plaintiff, and in my opinion the fact that the plaintiff, under a contract, is using the Modesto Canal to carry this water, does not render the case any different from what it would be if the plaintiff’s point of diversion was below the La Grange Dam. Or, suppose that the Modesto Irrigation District had purchased this water from the Sierra and San Francisco Power Company, instead of the plaintiff, and suppose that there was no contract between the Modesto and Turlock Districts as to their respective interests in any after acquired water rights, could it be claimed that the Modesto Irrigation District would not in that case be entitled to have the gates of the Turlock District so adjusted as to allow this water to flow into the Modesto Canal?
There is nothing to be added to what is said in the above opinion of the learned trial judge. It disposes of the points in the case correctly. The reasoning by which the conclusion is reached is sound. These further observations, however, may, with no impropriety, be suggested: That it does not appear from the evidence that the water rights of the Turlock District have been or will be interfered with or in the least impaired by the arrangement entered into between the Waterford and the Modesto Districts. Indeed, there is no claim made by the appellant that such a result has followed or will ensue from the use of the Modesto District’s canal to carry the plaintiff’s sixty second-feet of water to it. To the contrary, the written notice to the Waterford District and the Modesto District, protesting against the carrying out of the agreement between the two last-named districts, is based entirely upon the proposition that the Turlock District is entitled to be compensated for the use of the La Grange Dam by the plaintiff, stating that it objects to the use of the dam for the purpose of diverting the water of plaintiff and so delivering said water to it unless satisfactory arrangements for compensation therefor to the defendant were made. Moreover, the record discloses that, if any burden growing out of the agreement between the plaintiff and the Modesto District has at all been imposed upon the Turlock, it is a “burden” which merely involves a little extra inconvenience and some extra expense due to the necessity for a more frequent regulation or adjustment of the radial gates whereby the water is diverted into the Turlock’s Canal. But, even as to this, there appears to be such a conflict in the testimony as to render immune from successful attack the court’s finding that no such burden is added to the Turlock District by the act of the Modesto District in allowing the sixty second-feet of water belonging to the plaintiff to flow to the latter through the Modesto Canal. But, after all, the fact is, as the court below has found, and as is shown in the written opinion, there is nothing in the agreement between the plaintiff and the Modesto District which authorizes a greater
It may further be added that the policy of the state with respect to the waters flowing in non-navigable streams, or even in navigable streams where the use of the waters thereof for purposes other than for navigation may be had without material interference with the navigability of such streams, is that such waters shall be so utilized as to produce the greatest amount of good to the industries of the state that they are capable of. It is, of course, an obvious proposition that the development of the state’s resources— its agricultural, horticultural, stock-raising, power, and other like industries—depends largely upon the fullest use of the water supply of the state. As an essential corollary of this
For the reasons stated in the written opinion of the trial judge, the judgment is affirmed.
Prewett, P. J., pro tem., and Burnett, J., concurred.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.