139 Marshall v. Guion Martin v. Waddell O'Fallon v. Daggett Oswego Falls Bridge v. Fish Magnolia v. Marshall 78, 167, 260, 310 Ott v. Soulard v. Vultee May v. Baskin Mayor, &c. v. Rice v. Whitney of Mobile v. Eslava 125, 159, 161, 244 | People v. Broadway Wharf Co. 282 INTRODUCTION. I. THE law of Navigable Rivers must be a subject of great importance to the student of American jurisprudence. It opens not only a wide and extensive field of investigation, but also, particularly in the great valley of the Mississippi, at present and hereafter, must affect interests of transcendent importance. Our continent is intersected by vast rivers, stretching far inland, and far above the ebb and flow of the tide; by rivers bounding numerous States in their course to the ocean, and bearing the rich commerce of half the continent on their expansive waters. "It is a continent," as has been well said, "which, by distinction from all others, may be called the continent of waters, -a continent covered by mighty rivers and majestic lakes." The law in relation to these great highways, it is the purpose of this work to discuss. It is a subject of no ordinary moment, and hitherto has not received that attention which the magnitude of the subject deserves. II. The usually received law of England, measuring the navigability or non-navigability of a river by the daily flow and reflow of the tide, however correct as a test in that island, cannot be a correct test when applied to the rivers of America. That navigability in fact, is the foundation of navigability in law, and that this view is in accordance with the English Common Law, correctly understood, the author will aim to establish; and, this principle established, deduce important corollaries as to the ownership of the bed of such actually |