History Of Blue Springs

[worley76]

Reading through this thread I am very pleased to see that everyone out there has a good grasp of our rights as users of a public, navigable waterway.  Anytime, and I reiterate, anytime we are within the ordinary high water mark we are perfectly legal.   Stand up for your right to be there.  Now the spring branch brings about some gray area in riparian rights.  (Oh by the way, I have a background in Land Surveying)  The issue with all this is the definition of a navigable waterway.  Most states, including Missouri, considers any river or stream navigable when it can be used in trade or some form of commerce.  The Niangua itself falls under this, making it a public water way and allowing all public users to freely use the river between the ordinary high water mark.  If a stream is deemed non navigable by intermittent flow  then the adjacent landowner owns the stream bed, or in the case of different land owners on each side, the property line would be to the thread, or center line, of the stream. So if you step on the stream bed you are trespassing.   I believe the spring branch would probably fall under a non navigable stream since in reality the possibilities of using it for commerce are nil.

Now with all that said, if there is water enough in any tributary stream to float up without getting out or touching the bottom its really hard to say that you would be technically trespassing since you accessed it from the navigable water and didn't touch any land. Remember, they own the land including the stream bed, but not the water. (Theres that gray area).    If I could paddle up to the spring without touching any form of land I might consider it. 

Don't take me wrong here, I'm not saying to take off up to the spring the next time you see you can paddle up to it but just keep this in mind if you are ever told that that spring can only be experienced by the landowner.  Riparian rights cause endless issues for landowners, surveyors, the courts, and everyday people that are harassed by paranoid folks that feel their money has given them the right to everything..

Niangua River Ranch...... If your reading this, feel free to DM me since you obviously don't like to speak in public and remember, we all own the river, not just you.

[oneshot]

Well the owner of Niangua River Ranch came in pissing everyone off from the start. Still hasn't learned about people, even his neighbors.

oneshot

[fishinwrench]

The folks from NRR are only concerned with making money, and the folks using the river have never effected that one iota, so I don't see what their problem is.   Are they afraid that someone in a canoe will steal a cow?  Not likely.