?ÿAfter decades of working in a neighboring county I finally learned there are no river lots despite there being two rivers slicing through that county that merge before exiting. ?ÿIt is amazing that none of my prior projects ever involved one of those rivers. ?ÿPLSSia is loaded with river lots. Both of these rivers had been named prior to the GLO survey in 1867 and identified in the Field Notes as such. ?ÿBut, apparently neither met the definition that would require lotting. ?ÿChecked several patents where lots should have been included but they all read like: ?ÿThe Southwest Quarter of Section Such-and-such.
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Learn new stuff every day.
?ÿAfter decades of working in a neighboring county I finally learned there are no river lots despite there being two rivers slicing through that county that merge before exiting. ?ÿIt is amazing that none of my prior projects ever involved one of those rivers. ?ÿPLSSia is loaded with river lots. Both of these rivers had been named prior to the GLO survey in 1867 and identified in the Field Notes as such. ?ÿBut, apparently neither met the definition that would require lotting. ?ÿChecked several patents where lots should have been included but they all read like: ?ÿThe Southwest Quarter of Section Such-and-such.
?ÿ
Learn new stuff every day.
non-navigable so not meandered?
show me a plat please
GLO Surveyors did not make determinations of navigability. Meanders were based on width of rivers or size of lakes...
Use whatever you have to look near LAT 37.399076 LONG -95.662497
This is where the Fall River merges into the Verdigris River.
GLO Surveyors did not make determinations of navigability. Meanders were based on width of rivers or size of lakes...
Deputy might not want the river to be too large! Thus no meander.
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Looking at Kansas,?ÿ here is couple of watershed dams I designed about 1992.
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38?ø 5'9.35"N 96?ø32'10.82"W
Southfork 22 and 23.
We have one in our area which is about 11 miles long, drains a lake of about 4500 acres and runs almost parallel with the meridian. It's slow moving, clay bottom, murky,?ÿand the daily tide makes if flow both directions even though we're about 80 miles from the coast. I haven't found any meanders, and discovered?ÿ when?ÿwe used a depth finder looking for deep fishing holes it's never more than 5' deep. When I look at all the vegetation which exists now and imagine what it would have looked like over 100 years ago without cattle or land clearing, I probably would have waded it also to prevent?ÿ 3 times as much work to meander lines.
Check out the plats for T57N, R76W 6th PM. The river enters the township near the SW corner in Section 31, runs mostly north, becomes navigable for a bit in Section 31 then not, heads into Section 30, becomes navigable of a short time, heads NE through the township and along the way tiny triangles become navigable for lotting, then mostly not, finally in Section 12 it becomes navigable again for a bit and gets some?ÿlots. Downstream it goes in and out, upstream I don't think it is ever again.
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Rivers... we have those here. They are normally wide, flat, dry gravelly areas, sometimes with debris like trees, sheds, cattle carcasses (sorry, Cow), etc. Approx. 3 days a year they are raging torrents - I've heard it's best to stay away from them for a week or so after such an event, when they are return to their normal wide, flat, dry gravelly condition again. The ones referred to above seem to be something different...
Whether the plat shows the river meandered or not has no bearing on navigability (except under a few state laws that declare a river meandered by the the BLM/GLO to be navigable by statute). The choice to meander was based on the filed surveyor's judgment, the Manual (or other document) in force at the time, the judgment of the relevant Chief Cadastral Surveyor, and the special instructions. There are wild variations across the country and across time. Some surveys meandered dry washes that only flow during extreme rain events, while some do not meander rivers that have been subsequently found to navigable in fact and can obliviously float a boat of significant size.?ÿ
Whether the plat shows the river meandered or not has no bearing on navigability (except under a few state laws that declare a river meandered by the the BLM/GLO to be navigable by statute). The choice to meander was based on the filed surveyor's judgment, the Manual (or other document) in force at the time, the judgment of the relevant Chief Cadastral Surveyor, and the special instructions. There are wild variations across the country and across time. Some surveys meandered dry washes that only flow during extreme rain events, while some do not meander rivers that have been subsequently found to navigable in fact and can obliviously float a boat of significant size.?ÿ
I agree, "navigability" (in many jurisdictions) is a function of USE, not size, depth, or meandering by the GLO. There have been some recent decisions by the Utah Supreme Court that are of great interest to folks owning land in which certain rivers flow through?ÿ"their property."
Historic use to "float logs, ties, etc." down these rivers, is ENOUGH to declare these rivers as navigable, and therefore the beds thereof are State Property.?ÿ
So, as usual...it depends!
