Noah Haynes Swayne

“ If the land of the riparian proprietor was bounded by the Mississippi River, his right to the possession and enjoyment of the alluvion is not affected, whether the stream be navigable or not. By the common law, alluvion is the addition made to land by the washing of the sea, a navigable river, or other stream, whenever the increase is so gradual that it cannot be perceived in any one moment of time. ”

“ The counsel for the county argue that a grant is not carried to the centre of a stream, but stops at the bank, if the grantor describes the line as upon the margin, or at the edge or shore, and that these terms become monuments, and that they indicate an intention to stop at the edge or margin of the river. This may be good law, and not affect the rights of the defendants. They do not claim the bed of the stream, and the river does not run over the land in dispute at ordinary stages of water. ”

“ The United States, [41] it was said: 'The question is well settled at common law that the person whose land is bounded by a stream of water which changes its course gradually by alluvial formations, shall still hold the same boundary, including the accumulated soil. No other rule can be applied on just principles. Every proprietor whose land is thus bounded is subject to loss by the same means which may add to his territory, and as he is without remedy for his loss in this way he cannot be held accountable for his gain.'
To the same effect are Saulet v. ”

“ If then the Mississippi is a navigable river, as to riparian rights, the accretions belong to the sovereign, and Congress had an undoubted right to grant them to the county of St. Clair.
Every position taken by the opposing counsel is so well answered in the opinion of Thornton, J., delivering the unanimous judgment of the court below, and every position which we would desire to enforce is so well there presented, that we do little but offer to this court his ideas in his own language. ”

“ Before 1852 a charter for a railroad had been granted by the State, which resulted in the construction of a road from Terre Haute, in the State of Indiana, to Illinoistown. Prior to the grant made by the United States in 1870, a number of railroad tracks had been constructed upon the ground formed by accretion, and an elevator erected, and dykes for the use of wagons, and a large expenditure of money made by the ferry company for the preservation of the banks recently made. ”

“ We are of the opinion that the United States never had any title to the premises in controversy, and that nothing passed by the several acts of Congress and of the legislature of Illinois, relied upon by the plaintiff in error. ”

“ At the time of the resolve of Congress, June 20th, 1788, no American resided there. The principal settlements were at the Kaskaskies, Prairie des Rochers, and Cahokia, the latter opposite Carondelet, and a little below St. Louis, though there were others, such as Fort Chartres, Prairie du Pont, and Cantine, the latter extending nearest to Wood River. Now, these donations, one hundred acres, were limited to exactly the quantity fixed by the law. It would have been most unjust to give one militia man one hundred acres, and to another, by possible accretion, one thousand acres. ”

“ The principle applies alike to streams that do, and to those that do not overflow their banks, and where dykes and other defences are, and where they are not, necessary to keep the water within its proper limits [44]
In England the rule which is applied to gradual accretions on the shores of fresh waters is applied also to such accretions on the shores of the sea. [45]
We may well hold that the adjudications of this court to which we have referred are decisive of the case before us. They are binding upon us as authority. ”

“ In the light of the facts such is our construction of the calls of the survey, and we give them that effect.
The calls of survey No. 786, as respects this subject, are: 'Thence N. 85° W. 174 poles, to a post on the bank of the Mississippi River, from which . . .; thence N. 5° E. up the Mississippi River and binding therewith (passing the southwesterly corner of Nicholas Jarrot's survey, No. 579, claim No. 99, at 6 poles) , 551 poles and 10 links, to a post northwesterly corner of Nicholas Jarrot's survey, No. ___, claim No. 100, from which a sycamore 36 inches diameter bears S. 21° W. 29 links ”