in the court below a decree was entered in favor of complainants.

Emerson bayou is an inlet of the waters of Saginaw river. The river at this point runs nearly north; and this bayou, starting from the river, extends south a short distance from and nearly parallel to the river, a distance of over 4,000 feet. The land between the bayou and the river is known as the "middle ground." The average width of this inlet is 350 feet. Soundings were taken and testified to, which showed that, in front of the lots in question here, there was a depth of nine feet of water or over in the deepest places; and, at the time they were made, the water in the bayou was 2.25 feet above the low-water mark as established by the city of East Saginaw, which would leave a depth in low water of 6.75 feet. North of these premises there is still a greater depth of water, extending to the mouth of the bayou.

There is no doubt, from the testimony, that the Emerson bayou is navigable for vessels of light draft, nor that it has been navigated with steam-vessels for a great many years. Such navigation has not been general, but only as occasion required, but sufficient to demonstrate its navigable character.

The James Riley reservation consists of 640 acres of land reserved to James Riley in the Cass treaty with the Chippewa Indians, made at Saginaw, September 24, 1819, and which took effect March 25, 1820. By this treaty the Chippewa Nation of Indians ceded to the United States a large quantity of land; but by article 3 of the treaty certain reservations were made for the use of each of certain persons mentioned, and their heirs. That to James Riley was in the following language:

"For the use of James Riley, the son of Me-naw-cum-e-goqua, a Chippewa woman, six hundred and forty acres, beginning on the east side of the Saginaw river, nearly opposite to Campeau's trading-house, and running up the river for quantity.'

The reservation was afterwards surveyed by the United States government. In making such survey the surveyor, as shown by the field-notes, did not commence at the point indicated in the treaty, and thence go up the river for quantity, but did commence at the point in the United States survey where the section line between sections 25 and 36 intersects the river; thence running east 115 chains, to the town line; and thence north, on the town line, 62 chains; and thence west, 72 chains and 46 links, to Saginaw river; and thence up stream, with the course of the river, to the place of beginning. The field-notes indicate that the town and section lines were surveyed before the reservation was. No mention is made in the field-notes of the bayou. The south line did not touch it, and the north line crossed the bayou about 600 feet south of its intersection with Saginaw river. The premises in question are indicated on the diagram found on page 461 as lots 45, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, north half of lot 52, and lot 53.

It is claimed that the portion of the bayou included in the reservation was the private property of James Riley, and was confirmed to him by the United States; that the title passed to him of the bayou as land, and that Hoyt succeeded to the title. This claim may be conceded. In 1867, Jesse Hoyt, being the owner, platted the reservation into lots and streets, and upon this plat he designated the waters in question as "bayou." His dedication, indorsed upon the map, reads as follows:

"A plat of a subdivision of the James Riley reservation in town 12 north, of range 4 east, in Saginaw county, Michigan, to be known as Hoyt's Subdivision of the James Riley Reserve.' The portions with shaded boundaries on the map have been sold by the proprietor to the parties whose names are marked on the lots. The lots sold and bounded on the water are sold only as far as the shaded portion extends, except where bounded on the main river. The figures indicating distance denote the distance in feet and hundredths of a foot, and the courses of the several streets are as stated - on the plat."

The plat was executed on the eleventh and recorded on the twelfth day of April, 1867. None of the lots in question here are shaded. Those touching the bayou in question, which were shaded and marked "deeded," are numbered 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 19.

If, in platting this land, the proprietor bounded his lots upon the bayou, and has conveyed the lots so bounded without reserve, it is a legal deduction that all the riparian rights incident to the ownership of the shore passed to his grantees. Richardson v. Prentiss, 48 Mich. 88; Pere Marquette Boom Co. v. Adams, 44 Id. 404; Lorman v. Benson, 8 Id. 18; Rice v. Ruddiman, 10 Id. 125; Watson v. Peters, 26 Id. 517; Fletcher v. Thunder Bay River Boom Co., 51 Id. 277; Webber v. Pere Marquette Boom Co., 62 Id. 627.

The fact that the proprietor was the owner of the soil under the water when he platted would make no difference in the application of the principle, and the only question is whether the proprietor in this instance did, by the plat which he made, and according to which he sold the lots to the complainants, bound such lots by the bayou as the western line of the lots. It is claimed by counsel for defendants that when Mr. Hoyt made the plat, bounding the lots on one side by Washington street and on the other by the bayou, giving the length of the line extending from Washington street to the bayou edge on each side of every city lot, as is the eastern line which separates it from Washington street,the eastern boundary line of said lot,-and there being nothing on the plat which shows a dedication or intention to dedicate the bayou to public use, shows an intent to restrict the lots to the dimensions given on the plat, and to retain the bayou for his own use; and they claim that this position is strengthened by the language in the dedication with reference to the property sold and indicated by the shaded lines.

It was said by Mr. Justice COOLEY, in delivering the opinion of the Court in Watson v. Peters, supra, that—

"The owner of city lots bounded on navigable streams, like the owner of any other lands thus bounded, may limit his conveyance thereof within specific limits, if he shall so choose, but, when he conveys with the water as a boundary, it will never be presumed that he reserves to himself propri etary rights in front of the land conveyed, which he may grant to others for private occupation, or so occupy himself as to cut off his grantee from the privileges and conveniences which appertain to the shore of navigable water."

The same claim was also made in that case as in this, that a conveyance made of a lot and block conveyed nothing outside these definite boundaries, any more than it would if in the conveyance the lines were specifically described by stakes, courses, distances, and quantities; but it was held, as above stated, that, if there was no reservation, riparian rights would attach to lots bounded by navigable waters or natural water-courses. Mr. Justice COOLEY also, in that connection,

said:

"If, on the face of the plat by reference to which the defendant bought, there was anything which distinctly indicated an intent on the part of the proprietors to make this case exceptional, and to reserve to themselves any rights in front of the water lots marked on it, after they should have been sold, the case would be different."

I do not see anything upon the face of this plat, or in the language of the dedication, which indicates an intention of reserving the bayou as private property, or restricting purchasers of lots to the margin of the water. The fact that the length of the lines of the lots bordering on the bayou are given in feet and decimals of a foot does not indicate an intention to limit the lot to the length of the line specified. We must apply to this dedication by plat the same rules of construction that we would in conveyances from one individual to another; and the rule is well established that courses and distances must give way to natural boundaries. Here the natural boundary is laid down upon the plat, and is marked "Bayou." The lots as platted run from Washing