Stein Canal Co. v. Kern Island Irrigating Canal Co.

The stream of water known in this case as the “ Old South Fork ” issues from Kern River, and from the point where the waters are diverted the stream flows as a direct stream. The waters appropriated by the defendant—the Kern Island Irrigating Canal Company — prior to August, 1874, are to be regarded as the waters of the “ Old South Fork,” and not the waters of Kern River. In August, 1874, the defendant appropriated a portion of the waters of Kern River, and conducted

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j the same by means of a canal to the Old South Fork, from which it was taken out lower down the stream, and so continued to do up to about the spring of 1878, when the waters were conveyed through the canals of the defendant, without uniting the same with the Old South Fork. All the water companies which are joined as plaintiffs, except the Goose Lake Canal Company, appropriated portions of the waters of Kern River prior to the appropriation by the defendant in August, 1874, and, so far as is shown by the record, their right to the portions of the water by them respectively appropriated is superior to that of the defendant. The right of the defendant, based upon its appropriation, is subordinate to…