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Show ELEMENTS OF WATERCOURSE 35 The flows were characteristic of those of many draws in western South Dakota.52 However, the court chose to rest its rejection of the concept of a definite stream chiefly on its interpretation of the water sources as imperma- nent. (See "Source of Supply," below.) Channel The channel is a definite element of a watercourse-an indispensable one. Although some divergence appears in the holdings with respect to character of the channel, western courts are in substantial agreement that a channel must exist. General Features The channel must be definite-usually, but not in all cases necessarily, with well-defined bed and banks or sides. Any groove in the earth's surface through which water flows is, of course, from a physical standpoint, a channel for passage of the water; but the requirements of a watercourse made by many-but not all-courts are that the channel bear the unmistakable impress of the action of running water, that it be more than just a grassy swale or wide depression. This means, in effect, that the channel must have been created by the flow of the water itself, or enlarged by it, or otherwise so altered by the action of the water as to make it appear to an observer that water has been accustomed to run there with some frequency. The erosive action of water flowing along a depression naturally leaves a bed and banks; hence the frequent criterion that the channel of a watercourse have a bed and banks. These matters are discussed in some detail under subsequent topics. The appearance of the channel is important,53 as well as its local reputation as a named "creek," or other watercourse.54 Length of the channel may be of some importance in borderline cases, but more as an aid in reaching a conclusion than as an independent criterion. It is not of itself a determining factor if the requirements of a watercourse are otherwise satisfied, for a watercourse may attain all its necessary elements at a particular point and then flow for a very short distance to its termination.55 In any event, the channel need not continue indefinitely, for the water must have an outlet somewhere. (See "Other Factors-Termination of the Watercourse," below.) In a case decided by the Oregon Supreme Court in 1959, the evidence clearly established the fact that water flowed from two springs throughout the "In Benson v. Cook, 47 S. Dak. 611, 616, 201 N. W. 526 (1924), the court remarked that the presence of a meandering depression in the channel of Ash Coulee, worn by the action of running water, with bed and banks down which the water ran when there was water to run, was true of practically every other coulee or dry draw in the land. "Gibbs v. Williams, 25 Kans. 214, 220-221 (1881). "Geddis v.Parrish, 1 Wash. 587, 588-589, 21 Pac. 314 (1889). ss The watercourse that was held to exist in the much cited case of Rait v. Furrow, 74 Kans. 101, 109, 85 Pac. 934 (1906), was apparently of very short length. This did not influence the decision. |