[porkchops 4 mahound]

The traditional American definition of a "navigable water" was that a water was considered "navigable" if a man could pull an empty canoe along it's course at some time of the year.

Please note the specific terminology of the definition, "a man", "an EMPTY canoe", and "at some time of the year" which indicates even seasonal waters and therefore their courses can be considered "navigable".

[TKDietz]

"The traditional American definition of a "navigable water" was that a water was considered "navigable" if a man could pull an empty canoe along it's course at some time of the year."

I've done a lot of whitewater canoeing and personally I have to say I've never seen a Coast Guard cutter on any of the little mountain streams and rivers I canoe on. Where that law does come into play though are in lawsuits where people try to stop folks from canoeing on "navigable" waterways that cut through their property. I knew a crazy old man who took his case like that all the way to our state Supreme Court. He owned land on both sides of a small river and was always pointing guns at people in canoes and threatening to shoot them if they didn't hurry up and get past his land. It happened to me twice when I was paddling down that river. I kind of felt sorry for the old guy because people were starting to vandalize his property and he swears they even killed some of his cattle. I don't know if that ever happened or not but his antics sure won him a lot of enemies. I didn't care much for having a gun pointed at me either but I got a little more understanding for his point of view when I met him and talked to him about his concerns later.