OCR Text |
Show 8 Mr. Blackmar: It is 258 U. S., 578. In that case the Court called attention to a decision of Judge Hook of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and cited that decision with approval. Possibly something that Judge Hook said concerning the law means more roan attorney coming from the Eighth Circuit than it does here but we think that Judge Hook knew what the law was out there. " To meet the test of navigability as understood in the American law, a watercourse should be susceptible of use for purposes of commerce, of possess a capacity for valuable floatage in the transportation to market of the products of the country through which it runs. It should be of practical usefulness to the public as a public highway in its natural state, without the aid of artifi-cial means. A theoretical or potential navigability, or one that is temporary, precarious and unprofitable, is not sufficient." ( Harrison V. Fibe, 148 Fed. Rep. 781, 784.) That case has been cited in quite a number of other cases, and also by the Supreme Court of the United States. So, with those decisions upon the question of what is navigable and what is non- navigable, I proceed to the statement of what the evidence in this case on behalf of the Government 1969 |