City of San Pedro v. S. Pacific R.R. Co.

In March, 1887, the Southern Pacific Railroad Company made selection of aright of way over certain public lands of the state, for the location and construction thereon of tracks, and other works necessary in the extension of its Wilmington Branch, and on the 7th of April, 1887, the surveyor general, under the provisions of section 478, of the Code of Civil Procedure, issued to it a permit to use the same. The lands over which the right of way was so selected are located in Wilmington bay, within the corporate limits of the plaintiff, and a portion thereof are tide lands—that is, lands between the lines of high and low water—while another portion is continually covered by the waters of the bay. In December, 1891, by virtue of the permit thus granted by the surveyor general, the defendants commenced to drive piles from the extremity of the wharf theretofore constructed by the railroad company, and had driven them for the length of about six hundred and sixty feet, when the plaintiff brought the present action to enjoin and restrain them from further prosecuting their work. The grounds upon which the plaintiff bases its right to the relief sought are that the lands upon which the…