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thereby fall upon the appellant, but any inconvenience or damage that might be caused by such reasonable use of the stream by respondent would be damnum absque injuria. (Small v. Harrington, 10 Ida. 499, 79 Pac. 461.)

The question of the reasonable use of a navigable stream, and to what extent the same may be obstructed by persons in exercising such reasonable use, is very fully discussed in Davis v. Winslow, 51 Me. 264, 81 Am. Dec. 573, which is a leading case upon this question. In that case, after reviewing numerous authorities, the court said:

"The general doctrine to be deduced from the authorities collated in reference to the use of navigable rivers or public streams as public highways is, that each person has an equal right to their reasonable use. What constitutes reasonable use depends upon the circumstances of each particular case; and no positive rule of law can be laid down to define and regulate such use, with entire precision, so various are the subjects and occasions for it, and so diversified the relations of parties therein interested. In determining the question of reasonable use, regard must be had to the subject matter of the use, the occasion and manner of its application, its object, extent, necessity and duration and the established usage of the country. The size of the stream, also, the fall of water, its volume, velocity, and prospective rise or fall, are important elements to be taken into the account. The same promptness and efficiency would not be expected of the owner of logs thrown promiscuously into the stream, in respect to their management, as would be required of a ship-master in navigating his ship. Every person has an undoubted right to use a public highway, whether upon the land or water, for all legitimate purposes of travel and transportation; and if, in doing so, while in the exercise of ordinary care, he necessarily and unavoidably impede or obstruct another temporarily, he does not thereby become a wrongdoer, his acts are not illegal, and he creates no nuisance for which an action can be maintained."

Appellant makes particular objection to that part of finding No. 12, in which the court states: "That said receiving booms and sorting works of the defendant are placed far out

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in Lake Coeur d'Alene, far beyond the sorting works of the plaintiff, and do not interfere with the plaintiff's sorting works or other works, or the use there in any manner whatever." This entire finding does not relate to the sheer boom in front of appellant's sorting works, but only to the storage booms and sorting works of respondent located a considerable distance away from appellant's land and sorting works, and we think it is sustained by the evidence.

Counsel for appellant in their brief, at page 28, say that, "Finding No. 13 is to the effect that the works, of defendant and respondent do not form a hindrance to navigation; that it can handle all the sawlogs coming down the river without permitting the same to jam, but that plaintiff's and appellant's works are insufficient to handle the logs that come down the river. This is against the weight of testimony that has been introduced touching this matter." There does appear to be some conflict in the testimony of the witnesses upon this point, but, as heretofore stated, this court will not undertake to weigh the proof to ascertain which side has the preponderance, and where there is a substantial conflict in the evidence it will not disturb the findings of the trial court, and, as the record shows at least a substantial conflict upon the main question involved in this finding, we are not disposed to disturb the same. Furthermore, in the judgment or decree in this case, the lower court makes this statement which we think is worthy of consideration by this court in considering the weight of the evidence upon which the various findings herein have been based, to wit: "Oral and documentary evidence was introduced, and thereupon the court personally inspected the booms, sorting works and premises in controversy in this action, and thereupon, upon said testimony and review and personal inspection of said premises so made by the court, the court made and caused to be filed herein its findings of fact and conclusions of law." But even if the booms and sorting works of respondent do in fact to some extent form a hindrance to the free navigation of the river at times, we think that might be considered only an incident to the reasonable use of this public waterway by respondent for floating and securing its logs.

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In Gerrish v. Brown, 51 Me. 256, 81 Am. Dec. 569, the court says: "For such purpose, and as incident to the reasonable use of the river for running and securing logs, parties may use temporary sheer, or guide, booms to direct the logs or lumber into proper places, in which to detain them for use."

In Finding No. 14, the court found that there were no sufficient receiving works in the Coeur d'Alene river to handle the logs that annually came down said river without jamming the river and interfering with navigation, and also that during the spring of 1912 the Cameron Lumber Co. had its sorting works at the mouth of the river along the banks thereof, extending a short distance into the lake, and that said sorting works had jacks or openings on each side thereof for the purpose of attaching bag booms in which logs belonging to different companies and individuals were placed when said sorting works were operated; that during the season of 1912 these sorting works had six of such openings on the north side of the river and these openings were not protected or closed by any sheer booms or jack poles, or any means of preventing sawlogs from floating into the same; that logs floating into these openings from the north side would be, by the force of the current and wind, driven into and through said sorting works into the main waters of Lake Coeur d'Alene beyond, and that by reason of said openings so negligently and carelessly maintained in said sorting works, the logs belonging to the defendant and others became entangled, and were by the force of the current driven through said works and out into Lake Coeur d'Alene beyond. This finding seems to be sustained by substantial evidence. The appellant at said time was not attempting to use its works in any manner whatever, and it refused to keep its jacks closed so that others could have the reasonable use of the river in floating their logs.

In regard to the sheer boom placed along the south side of the river parallel to appellant's sorting works, it was the intention of the respondent, as shown by the record, to only temporarily maintain this boom for the purpose of protecting its logs from being lost by going through said openings in the works of appellant and out into the lake. The evidence shows

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that the boom placed by respondent on the north side of the river in front of lot 4 was only for a short time attached to some brush or a tree until other arrangements for maintaining it for the purposes then required could be made. Thereafter it was attached to a cluster of piling situated in the river near the south side of the same. This south bank of the river along lot 4 of the land of appellant is low, and during high water was almost entirely submerged thereby, and along this low bank of the river a large quantity of underbrush or shrubbery is growing into which logs coming down the river are carried by force of the current and lodged or lost if not by some means protected from doing so. The record also shows that lot 4 is a low, swampy piece of land through which runs a canal or ditch, known as Howell's ditch, and when the water is high this ditch fills with water and backs out across lot 4, and the evidence shows that said sheer boom was only placed there to prevent logs from going out through said ditch and brush over this swampy land and lodging there or being lost. At that time the appellant was not using this land for any purpose, and the piling to which this sheer boom along the north side of the river was attached did not constitute any part of appellant's works and had not been driven in the river by it, but was placed there by the Northern Pacific Railroad Co. some years before for the purpose of marking the channel of the river. Under such circumstances and conditions as confronted the respondent at the time it placed and maintained said sheer boom in the river, if it had not been permitted to do so, the right to use the river for the purpose of floating logs would have been of no practical benefit to it.

In Powell v. Springston Lumber Co., 12 Ida. 723, 88 Pac. 97, on this question of maintaining a boom on the river in connection with floating and handling logs by parties engaged in that business, the court said: "The construction and use of booms is a necessary adjunct to the floating of logs, without them it would frequently be impossible to handle the logs where wanted for use. The right to float logs down a stream carries with it the necessary resultant right of employing some reasonable means for intercepting them at their destina

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tion." Without reviewing at length the authorities presented by the briefs of counsel in this case on the subject, we think the doctrine of this court as to the right of obstructing the river by parties engaged in using the same for any legitimate purpose is very clearly stated in Small v. Harrington, supra, as follows:

"The rule governing cases of this character is that all parties interested in the free use of a navigable stream are subject to conditions that may exist in each particular case. No one has the right to arbitrarily obstruct a stream to the detriment or injury of his neighbor; each one is entitled to the free and reasonable use of the navigable streams of this state, and may place such reasonable obstructions on the stream so long as they serve a useful and beneficial purpose and leave a reasonable use to others interested. . . . . If an obstruction merely impairs or renders more difficult the navigation without destroying it, an individual has no rightful cause for complaint, because he has no right to insist on the best possible accommodation."

There are some other objections urged by appellant to the findings of fact and conclusions of the lower court, but we have carefully examined them in connection with the evidence and do not think it would serve any useful purpose in disposing of this case for us to comment upon them, as our views upon the main questions presented by this appeal have been expressed already by what we have said in deciding the points which we have now considered and passed upon. Having reached the conclusion that there is no reversible error presented in this case, the judgment of the lower court is, therefore, affirmed. Costs awarded to the respondent.

Sullivan, C. J., and Budge, J., concur.