David Josiah Brewer

“ Has the United States lost title to Sand island by reason of the change in the main channel? And if by accretion the north should again become the main channel, would the boundary revert to the center of that channel? In other words, does the boundary move from one channel to the other, according to which is, for the time being, the most important, the one most generally used? ”

“ Now, if Congress, in establishing the boundary between Washington and Oregon, had simply named the middle of the river, or the center of the channel, doubtless it would be ruled that the center of the main channel, varying, as it might, from year to year through the processes of accretion, was the boundary between the two states. ”

“ These considerations lead to the conclusion that when, in a great river like the Columbia, there are two substantial channels, and the proper authorities have named the center of one channel as the boundary between the states bordering on that river, the boundary, as thus prescribed, remains the boundary, subject to the changes in it which come by accretion, and is not moved to the other channel, although the latter, in the course of years, becomes the most important and properly called the main channel of the river. ”