Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 1.djvu/156

 148 FEDERAL REPORTER. �railroad ties and fence posts which might run into Beef Slough, until the same should have been delivered to the owners thereof below the main raftmg boom of said company, wMch was situated near the mouth of said Beef Slough ; and whereby it was provided that said company should have the right to charge for driving from their booms, at or near the head of said slough in the Chippewa river, and for booming and delivering, as aforesaid, such logs, timber, railroad ties and fence post, at certain specified rates. �That the said Beef Slough is in fact a navigable branch of said Chippewa river, and departs from the main channel about 18 miles above the outlet of said slough into the Mis- sissippi river, flowing into the latter river about nine miles below the mouth of the main Chippewa, and is, in its greater portion, navigable for beats, barges and rafts, and a considerable portion thereof was so advantageously used before the imlawful obstruction thereof by said defendant; that, at ail times prior to the obstruction of the same by said defendant, the main and natural channel of said river flowed to the south of said Beef Islànd, and the same was the prin- cipal navigable channel of said river prior thereto, and such channel was known and called by the name of the river. �That upon the north side of said Beef Island there is a channel known as Horse Slough, which is of greater length and more circuitous than the river aforesaid, and which, prior to said obstructions being placed in the main river, while pos- sible to be navigated in seasons of high water, was not com- monly employed in navigation by either steamboats or rafts. ■ That the defendants, with the intent and design to obstruct the navigation of said slough and river, and le secure the gains and profits of toUs, have, without any authority of law, «rected, since 1870, large wood and stone piers in addition to those already in said slough, and in the main river at and near the headof said slough, and also above said Beef Slough at Eound Hill, and near the head of Horse Slough in said river, and have constracted piers and booms in connection ■therewith in such manner as to have entirely blocked up and obstructed the original and natural navigable channel of said ��� �