Sanchez

This is an appeal by the defendant from a judgment in favor of the plaintiff in the sum of $6,000 for the death of the infant son of plaintiff, who was drowned in a syphon at the bottom of an irrigation ditch belonging to the defendant. The defendant owned certain irrigation canals and ditches in Contra Costa County. One of its canals was approximately ten miles long and crossed under various roads. In one place it was necessary for this canal to cross a wide arroyo or stream known as Marsh Creek. To cross this creek it was necessary to construct a syphon from the canal on the one side of the creek to the canal on the other side. This syphon ran from the bottom of the irrigation main canal downward under Marsh Creek and came up into the irrigation main canal upon the other side of Marsh Creek. The opening of this syphon in the end of the canal was four feet in diameter and was unguarded. The defendant company had constructed, within a short distance of the place of the accident, several small houses in which employees of the company, with their families, resided. The roadway leading to these houses ran alongside the side of the canal and along the edge of Marsh Creek, there being…