Juneau Ferry & Navigation Co. v. Alaska S. S. Co.

This was a suit for an injunction, brought by the appellant to restrain the appellee from driving piles in front of a strip of water front at Juneau, Alaska, of which the complainant alleged it was possessed and had used as a landing place for its own and other vessels, and on which it had erected “a cradle or landing and tying-up place for small vessels, and the necessary piling” for those purposes. The defendant to the suit put in issue those averments, and as an affirmative defense alleged that the strip of land described in the bill lies wholly below high-water mark, and abuts on upland of which the defendant and its grantors had long been in possession, and of which the defendant was at the time of the commencement of the suit the owner and actually possessed, and that the purpose of the defendant was the building of “a wharf and suitable warehouses and approaches from said upland over said prem *60 ises (described in the bill), and out to the deep waters of Gastineaux channel, suitable for the accommodation of ocean-going craft, and to the benefit of commerce and shipping.”

Evidence having been given on behalf of the respective parties, the case was submitted to the court…