Silver Creek Navigation & Improvement Co. v. Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad
Silver Creek Navigation & Improvement Co. v. Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The demurrer in this ease should have been overruled. The bill states a perfect cause of action. The legislature of the state had authorized and empowered the Silver Creek Navigation Company “to remove all obstructions from, and deepen and widen the channel of Silver creek, in the county of Yazoo; to cut and remove timber, logs, trees, and other obstructions on the banks or in the bed of said creek, which in any way interfered with the navigation thereof; and to build and construct all necessary locks and dams so as to make said stream, or any portion thereof, suitable and fit for the purpose of navigation, whether by steamboats or other water craft; and in consideration of the time, labor, and money to be expended by them in improving the said stream aforesaid, said corporation shall have the sole and exclusive right to use and navigate said stream, or such part thereof as it may improve, for the period of fifty years, .and to charge tolls or freight for all persons or
Reversed and remanded, with sixty days’ leave to answer after mandate is filed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Silver Creek Navigation & Improvement Company v. Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Company
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Navigable Waters. Obstructions. Equitable remedies. Pleadings. A bill in equity to compel the removal of obstructions to the navigation of a stream created by a railroad company is not demurrable if it show that complainant has a special statutory exclusive right for a term of years to navigate the stream and that the defendant has constructed railroad bridges across it in such a way as to needlessly obstruct navigation and had thereby interfered with complainant’s enjoyment of its exclusive right.