OCR Text |
Show 13 waters of the United States." Especial significance attaches here to the Supreme Court's classic definition in the case of The Daniel Ball:" Those rivers must be regarded as public navigable rivers in law which are navigable in fact. And they are navi- gable in fact when they are used, or are susceptible of being used, in their ordinary condition, as highways for commerce, over which trade and travel are or may be conducted in the customary modes of trade and travel on water. And they constitute navigable waters of the United States within the meaning of the acts of Con- gress, in contradistinction from the navigable waters of the States, when they form in their ordinary condition by themselves, or by uniting with other waters, a con- tinued highway over which commerce is or may be car- ried on with other States or foreign countries in the cus- tomary modes in which such commerce is conducted by water. Under that definition, since those waterways which are navigable in fact are navigable in law, actual use most clearly demonstrates navigability. If the actual navigation consists of transportation of persons or property in interstate com- merce, the waterway is a navigable water of the United States. "10 Wall. 557, 563 (U. S. 1870). In this connection, it should be noted that the only definition of navigable waters prescribed by Congress appears in the Federal Power Act. Act of June 10, 1920, § 3, 41 Stat. 1063, as amended, 16 U. S. C. 796(8). In large measure a combination of definitions appearing in opinions of the Supreme Court from time to time, the Act's definition is: " 'navigable waters' means those parts of streams or other bodies of water over which Congress has jurisdiction under its authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States, and which either in their natural or improved condition notwithstanding inter- ruptions between the navigable parts of such streams or waters by falls, shallows, or rapids compelling land carriage, are used or suitable for use for the transportation of persons or property in interstate or foreign com- merce, including therein all such interrupting falls, shallows, or rapids, to- gether with such other parts of streams as shall have been authorized by Congress for improvement by the United States or shall have been recom- mended to Congress for such improvement after investigation under its authority." |