TATE OF NEW YORK DEPARTMENT OF STATE ENGINEER AND SURVEYOR OFFICE OF SPECIAL DEPUTY ALBANY IN YOUR REPLY PLEASE 2126148 DECISIONS RELATING TO RIPARIAN RIGHTS IN THE CIRCULAR WAR DEPARTMENT, The following opinion of the Attorney-General is published for the information and guidance of officers of the Corps of Engineers and agents of the United States employed under the Engineer Department: DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, WASHINGTON, D. C., April 5, 1904. The SECRETARY OF WAR. SIR: I have the honor to return herewith a letter addressed to the Chief of Engineers, by Capt. Wm. L. Sibert, Corps of Engineers, under date of the 21st of February, 1903, together with the blue print therein mentioned, relating to the site selected for the rebuilding of Lock and Dam No. 2, on the Monongahela River, Pennsylvania, which letter and blue print were referred to me by your Department on the 25th of said month with a request for an opinion upon the following questions suggested by the Chief of Engineers in an indorsement on said letter, namely: "1. Whether the United States can take possession of and utilize as a lock site the portion of the bed of the Monongahela River between high and low water lines, without making compensation to the riparian proprietor. 2. Whether the establishment by the Secretary of War of the harbor line at the locality affects in any way the right of the United States to occupy such property." Assuming that the contemplated use of the soil between high and low water mark as a lock site is intended for the purpose of improving the navigation of the river (which is a navigable water of the United States), I think the first question should be answered in the affirmative. Under the law of Pennsylvania the title of a riparian owner, whose land is bounded by a navigable river, extends to ordinary low-water mark, but such title is not absolute except to ordinary high-water 655141 1 |