Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 1.djvu/170

 162 FEDERAL REPORTER �or branch of the said river, as heretofore, for the holding, assorting or rafting of logs therein." Again, in the same vol- ume, page 158, attaahed to an appropriation of $10,000 for completing and protecting wing dams and jetties then in course of construction upon the Chippewa river, in and near its mouth, is this provision: "That nothing herein shall be construed, nor shall any expenditure of this appropriation be made, so as to afiect existing legal or equitable rights in or upon the said Chippewa river or its branches, whether such rights arise under the laws of the United States or the state of Wiseonsin." �The authority of congress under the constitution is the highest that can be exercised on this subject, and should be decisive. But if there were needed any further authority to show the lawfulness of the use of the Chippewa river by the public for: the purpose of floating logs to the markets of the world, and to show the authority of the state, in the absence of congressional legislation, to authorize the improvement of the river by the building of dams, piers and booms, to facilitate that interest, we havo it in the decision of the supreme court in the case of Pound v. Turck, already referred to, which says : "There are within the state of Wiseonsin, and perliaj)3 other states, many small streams navigable for a short distance from their mouthsin one of the great rivers of the country, by steamboats, but whose greatest value in water carriage is as oatlets to saw logs, sawed lumber, coal, sait, etc. In order to develop their greatest utility in that regard it is often es- sential that such structures as dams, booms, piers, etc., should be used, which are substanfcial obstructions to general navi- gation, and more or lesa so to rafts and barges. But to the legislature of the state may be most appropriately confided the authority to authorize these structures where their use will do more good than harm, and to impose such regulations and limitations in their construction and use as will best reconcile and accommodate the interests of ail concerned in the matter." In the light of these precedents and statutory authorities, in connection with an extensive and uninterrupted usago ioeval with the existence of the state, we do not hesitate to hold ��� �