OCR Text |
Show freight destined to any 203 other State than Louisiana , or , indeed , destined for any market in Louisiana , was ever , much less habitually , carried through it . " At page 632 the Court says : ( "While While ) therefore , it may not be easy for a ( court couit ) to define the size and character of a stream which would place it within the category of ( 'navi navi 'navi- navi ) gable waters of the United States / or to define what traffic shall constitute ( 'commerce commerce ) among the States , ' so as to make such questions sheer ( matters imatters ) of law , yet , in construing the legislation involved in the case before us , we may be permitted to see that it was not the intention of Congress to interfere with or ( pre pre- pre ) vent the exercise by the State of Louisiana of its power to reclaim swamp and overflowed lands by regulating and controlling the current of small streams not used habitually as arteries of interstate commerce . " After quoting from instructions wherein the trial court charged the jury that if Red Pass was navigable and ( con- con ) nected with waters that permitted a journey to another State it was ( "navigable navigable ) waters of the United States , " the Court says at page 633 : ( "If If ) these instructions were correct , then there is scarcely a creek or stream in the entire country which is not a navigable water of the United States . Nearly all the streams on which a skiff or small lugger can ( float noat ) discharge themselves into other streams or waters flowing into , a river which traverses more than one State , and the mere capacity to pass in a boat of any size , however small , from one stream or rivulet to another , the jury is informed , is ( suf suf- suf ) ficient to constitute a navigable water of the United States / ' At page 634 the Court says : ( "A A ) few fishermen testified that they occasionally went through this pass with small vessels , carrying oysters for planting , and one or two cargoes of willows and timber were spoken of . None of these ( witnesses svitnesses ) pretended to have carried produce or ( oysters aysters ) ( out oitt ) of the Stvte . " |