Austin v. Wilson Irrigation Co.
Austin v. Wilson Irrigation Co.
Opinion of the Court
This action was commenced by appellant to restrain respondents from interfering with the headgate in appellant’s lateral connecting it with the Bernard & Johnson ditch or canal, in Owyhee county.
The court found that both appellant and respondents had equal rights to enlarge the Bernard & Johnson ditch to carry their respective water as shown by their permits; that the right of either appellant or respondents to run their respective water through the Bernard & Johnson ditch, or to maintain headgates or other irrigating apparatus therein, depended upon whether the one claiming said right had done
The court denied the injunction, and from its judgment this appeal is taken.
This is not an action to determine the respective claims to the use of water between appellant and respondents. It relates solely to the right of respondents to interfere with and remove the headgate of appellant. The court found that appellant contributed work and labor which resulted to some extent in widening and enlarging the Bernard & Johnson ditch. Even if appellant did not enlarge the Bernard
It appears from one of the exhibits in the case that Johnson, one of the owners of the ditch, gave appellant a license to make use of his water right when he was not using it. In regard to this matter the court made the following finding: “That the lessee, W. S. Walker, of the E. H. Johnson ranch, was entitled to and required all the water to which said Johnson had a claim and did use the same during the irrigation season of 1917, that the right to the use of the water and interest of E. H. Johnson as shown by Plaintiff’s Exhibit ‘B’ grants no right to plaintiff and does not take from said lessee the right of the use of Johnson’s right in said ditch and the water owned by said Johnson.”
However, this was a matter between appellant, Johnson, and his lessee; one in which respondents had no concern and which furnished no justification to them for removing appellant’s headgate.
Moreover, so far as appears from the record, appellant placed her headgate in the banks of the Bernard & Johnson ditch with the consent of the original owners thereof, or at least with the consent of one of them, and of the owner of the land upon which the same was located. She was not a trespasser. It is not contended, nor does it appear, that the headgate was so located as to impede the flow of water in the ditch. The headgate was the property of appellant. Respondents have shown no right to interfere therewith.
The judgment is reversed, with costs to appellant.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- NELLIE C. AUSTIN v. WILSON IRRIGATION COMPANY, a Corporation, JOHN KEITH, CARL BACHMAN and HARRY KENNISON
- Status
- Published