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Show NEBRASKA 351 In a subsequent case the court said, "The state does not hold title to the river beds in Nebraska. * * * Such river beds are as effectually the subject of private ownership as other property, except that, in the case of navigable streams, there is an easement for public navigation."103 A Nebraska statute declares that the beds and waters of lakes that were meandered by government survey are the property of the State for the benefit of the public, but this declaration shall not be construed "as claiming title in the State of Nebraska to any lake or stream or that portion of a lake or stream, located upon lands, patents to which have been issued by the United States to private individuals or persons."104 Apparently the question of riparian rights in navigable streams has not been squarely decided by the Nebraska Supreme Court. A holding in Crawford Company v. Hathaway that has not been ques- tioned in later decisions of the court was that the riparian owner was entitled at most to only the ordinary and natural flow of the stream, or so much as necessary for his riparian uses, and could not claim, as against an appropriator, the flow of the storm or floodwaters passing down the stream in times of freshets.105 Purpose of use of water.-Late in the 19th century, the Nebraska Supreme Court expressed itself as satisfied on both reason and precedent that on a nonnavigable stream "the riparian owner has the right to use all the water which it is necessary for him to employ for any purpose" and to cut and remove the ice on the stream, provided he does not decrease the streamflow below what was required to successfully operate a lower mill.106 The right to irrigate the riparian owner's land has been acknowledged in various cases.107 Other specific uses of riparian water that appear in the cases are domestic108 and power uses, which the supreme court said was a common law right applicable to all riparian owners alike.109 103Thies v. Platt Valley Pub. Power & In. Dist., 137 Nebr. 344, 346, 289 N.W. 386 (1939). In an earlier case the court had indicated that title in the case of navigable streams is in the riparian proprietor to the thread of the stream, subject to the navigation easement. Kinkead v. Turgeon, 74 Nebr. 573, 580, 583-591, 104 N.W. 1061 (1905), 109 N.W. 744, 745-748 (1906). See also Krumwiede v. Rose, 177 Nebr. 570, 129 N.W. (2d) 491, 496 (1964); Summerville v. Scotts Bluff County, 182 Nebr. 311, 154 N.W. (2d) 517, 521 (1967). 104Nebr. Rev. Stat. §37411 (1974). 10sCrawford Co. v. Hathaway, 67 Nebr. 325, 373-374, 93 N.W. 781 (1903). 106Eidemiller Ice Co. v. Guthrie, 42 Nebr. 238, 253, 60 N.W. 717 (1894). 107 Right of reasonable use for irrigation by riparian landowners: Crawford Co. v. Hathaway, 67 Nebr. 325, 353, 93 N.W. 781 (1903); Meng v. Coffee, 67 Nebr. 500, 512-516, 93 N.W. 713 (1903); McCook In. & Water Power Co. v. Crews, 70 Nebr. 109, 118, 102 N.W. 249 (1905). See Slattery v. Harley, 58 Nebr. 575, 577, 79 N.W. 151 (1899). 108 Crawford Co. v. Hathaway, 67 Nebr. 325, 353, 371-372, 93 N.W. 781 (1903). 109Southern Nebr. Power Co. v. Taylor, 109 Nebr. 683, 686-687, 192 N.W. 317 (1923). |