OCR Text |
Show ( yater water ) fowl . In their 147 pursuit by canoe and ( flat-bottomed flatbottomed flat-bottonied flatbottonied ) ducking boats the water may ( bc be ) navigated . That is not commerce and , , , proves nothing . The same test would ( con- con ) vert every pond and swamp capable of ( float- float ) ing a boat into a navigable stream or lake . This bay is not a highway , never has been , ( and and- and ) never can be . At the common law the ( term terin ) ( "navigable" navigable ) had a technical meaning and was ( applied -ipplied ipplied ) to all streams or bodies , . oi water in ( which whieh ) the tide ebbed and flowed . _ - / ( -All All ) such ( waters ivaters ) were public . That ( defini defini- defini ) tion is not applicable in this country , and all waters are held navigable ( in ill ) law , and ( sub- sub ) ject to a public use , which are by their ( char- char ) acter capable of use as highways , for ( pur- pur ) poses ( usefal useful ) to trade or agriculture . It is the capability of being navigated for useful purposes ( which ivhieh ) is the test . See appendix , page 228 , for boats operated on the waters in question . In the case of Gulf & L Railway ( Company Compaiiy ) of Texas ( v Y ) . Davis , 26 F . ( 2d ) 930 , the court had under consideration the navigability of a stream known as Mud Bayou . In arriving at the ( con- con ) ( clusion elusion ) that the bayou was nonnavigable , the court said : The application of this point of view to this case ( makes niakes ) its solution easy . There has not been , and is not now , any commerce on Mud Bayou . No stretch of the most vivid ( imagination iniagination ) can envision conditions under ( which wldch ) it ( will -vidll vidll ) be in its natural state an aid to commerce . |