OCR Text |
Show is , shifts irregularly 83 from one side of the bed to the other , and not infrequently separates into two or three parts . Boats with a sufficient draft to be of any service can ascend and descend only during periods of high water . These periods are intermittent , of irregular and short duration , and confined to a few months of the year . Lanesport , Arkansas , which is near the Oklahoma boundary , has been the usual head of navigation ; but for several years ( be- be ) fore railroads were extended into that section boats of light draft carried merchandise up the river to the mouth of the Kiamitia and other points in that vicinity and took out cotton and other products on the return trip . This occurred only in periods of high water and was accomplished under difficulties . In very exceptional instances boats went to the mouth of the Washita , where some had to await the high waters of the next season before they could return . When the railroads were constructed this high water of flood ( naviga naviga- naviga ) tion ceased . That was between 1875 and 1880 . In ( Brewer-Elliott BrewerElliott ) Oil and Gas Company v . United States 260 U . S . 77 , 86 , involving the Arkansas River this Court accepted the facts found by the Circuit Court of Appeals and by the District Court . ( See 270 Fed . 100 , 103 ; 249 Fed . 609 , 623 . ) It will be observed that in the report of the District ( Court's Courts ) opinion ( 249 Fed . 623 ) the summary of the testimony of certain witnesses was omitted from the printed report for the purpose of reducing the length of the I |