Ayer

This action was brought to determine the respective rights of the parties to a certain water ditch taking water from Slate Creek, in Nevada County, known as the Texas Ditch, and to determine their respective rights to the waters flowing in said ditch.

The complaint alleges that the plaintiff and his predecessors in interest have been the owners of the ditch for more than forty years, and during all that time have been in open, notorious, continuous, and adverse possession of both ditch and water, and during said forty years have paid all taxes levied and assessed on said ditch and water right, “said ditch having its head in Slate Creek where said creek is crossed by a manzanita flume, and extending thence to the Texas mine, a distance of one mile, more or less, together with the first right to divert 175 inches of water of said Slate Creek at the head of said ditch and carry the same by ditch and flume to the Texas mine and intermediate points.”

The complaint alleges that the defendants have wrongfully and unlawfully conspired to interfere with plaintiff’s ditch and water rights, and have at divers times entered upon said ditch and trespassed upon the same. In specifying the…