Opinion of the Court. each separate use of any particular property may be charged is sometimes fixed by the statute which gives authority for the creation of the property; sometimes determined by what it is reasonably worth; and sometimes, if it is purely private property, devoted only to private uses, the matter rests arbitrarily with the will of the owner. In this case, it being property devoted to a public use, the amount of compensation was subject to the determination of the State of Pennsylvania, the State which authorized the creation of the property. The prices which may be exacted under this legislative grant of authority are the tolls, and these tolls, in the nature of the case, must enter into and largely determine the matter of value. In the case of Montgomery County v. Bridge Company, 110 Penn. St. 54, 58, in which the condemnation of a bridge belonging to the bridge company was sought, the court said: "The bridge structure, the stone, iron and wood, was but a portion of the property owned by the bridge company, and taken by the county. There were the franchises of the company, including the right to take toll, and these were as effectually taken as was the bridge itself. Hence, to measure the damages by the mere cost of building the bridge would be to deprive the company of any compensation for the destruction of its franchises. The latter can no more be taken without compensation than can its tangible corporeal property. Their value necessarily depends upon their productiveness. If they yield no money in return over expenditures, they would possess little, if any, present value. If, however, they yield a revenue over and above expenses, they possess a present value, the amount of which depends, in a measure, upon the excess of revenue. Hence it is manifest that the income from the bridge was a necessary and proper subject of inquiry before the jury." So, before this property can be taken away from its owners, the whole value must be paid; and that value depends largely upon the productiveness of the property, the franchise to take tolls. That, in the absence of Congressional action, the State of Pennsylvania had the power, either acting itself or through a corporation which it chartered, to improve the navigation of the river by means of locks and dams, and also to authorize Opinion of the Court. the exaction of tolls for the use of such improvements, are matters upon which there can be no dispute, in view of the many decisions of this court. Those very closely in point are Willson v. Blackbird Creek Marsh Co., 2 Pet. 245; Pound v. Turck, 95 U. S. 459; Huse v. Glover, 119 U. S. 543; Sands v. Manistee River Improvement Co., 123 U. S. 288. In the first of these cases it appeared that the Marsh Company was incorporated by an act of the general assembly of Delaware, and authorized to construct a dam across Blackbird Creek, a navigable stream within the territorial limits of the State; that, in pursuance of such authority, it did construct such dam, by which the navigation of the stream was obstructed; Willson, with others, were the owners of a sloop, regularly licensed according to the laws of the United States, which sloop broke and injured the dam. On being sued for this injury, the owners pleaded that the dam was wrongfully erected, obstructing the navigation of the stream, and that the sloop could not, without breaking through the dam, pass over and along the stream, and that in order to remove the said obstructions it did the injury complained of. A demurrer to this plea was sustained, and in due course the case came to this court. The opinion was delivered by Chief Justice Marshall, sustaining the ruling, and holding that the dam, in the absence of legislation by Congress, was rightfully there, having been authorized by the legislature of the State in which the stream was situated. In it the Chief Justice said (p. 252): "If Congress had passed any act which bore upon the case, any act in execution of the power to regulate commerce, the object of which was to control state legislation over those small navigable creeks into which the tide flows, and which abound throughout the lower country of the middle and southern States, we should feel not much difficulty in saying that a state law coming in conflict with such act would be void. But Congress has passed no such act. The repugnancy of the law of Delaware to the Constitution is placed entirely on its repugnancy to the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States; a power which has not been so exercised as to affect the question. We do Opinion of the Court. not think that the act empowering the Blackbird Creek Marsh Company to place a dam across the creek, can, under all the circumstances of the case, be considered as repugnant to the power to regulate commerce in its dormant state, or as being in conflict with any law passed on the subject." In the case of Pound v. Turck, it appeared that a dam and boom had been placed in the Chippewa River, under authority of the legislature of Wisconsin. The fact that the plaintiff suffered injury therefrom was established, and the defence was that they were rightfully there. Mr. Justice Miller, speaking for the court, on page 464, uses this language: "There are within the State of Wisconsin, and perhaps other States, many small streams navigable for a short distance from their mouths in one of the great rivers of the country, by steamboats, but whose greatest value in water carriage is as outlets to saw-logs, sawed lumber, coal, salt, etc. In order to develop their greatest utility in that regard, it is often essential that such structures as dams, booms, piers, etc., should be used, which are substantial obstructions to general navigation, and more or less so to rafts and barges. But to the legislature of the State may be most appropriately confided the authority to authorize these structures where their use will do more good than harm, and to impose such regulations and limitations in their construction and use as will best reconcile and accommodate the interest of all concerned in the matter. And since the doctrine we have deduced from the cases recognizes the right of Congress to interfere and control the matter whenever it may deem it necessary to do so, the exercise of this limited power may all the more safely be confided to the local legislature." Huse v. Glover comes even nearer to this case. The State of Illinois, at an expense of several hundred thousand dollars, constructed locks and dams on the Illinois River for the purpose of improving its navigation, and prescribed rates of toll to be paid by those using the improvements. A bill was filed to enjoin the exaction of toll on vessels of complainant passing through the improved waters of the river. After referring to the clause in the ordinance for the government of the Northwest Territory, which provided that the navigable waters Opinion of the Court should be common highways, forever free, without any tax or duty, Mr. Justice Field, for the court, on page 548, said: "The exaction of tolls for passage through the locks is as compensation for the use of artificial facilities constructed, not as an impost upon the navigation of the stream. The provision of the clause that the navigable streams should be highways without any tax, impost or duty, has reference to their navigation in their natu.al state. It did not contemplate that such navigation might not be improved by artificial means, by the removal of obstructions, or by the making of dams for deepening the waters, or by as rning into the rivers waters from other streams to increase their depth. For outlays caused by such works the State may exact reasonable tolis. They are like charges for the use of wharves and docks constructed to facilitate the landing of persons and freight, and the taking them on board, or for the repair of vessels. The State is interested in the domestic as well as in the in erstate and foreign commerce conducted on the Illinois River, and to increase its facilities, and thus augment its growth, it has full power. It is only when, in the judgment of Congress, its action is deemed to encroach upon the navigation of the river as a means of interstate and foreign commerce, that that body may interfere and control or supersede it. If, in the opinion of the State, greater benefit would result to her commerce by the improvements made, than by leaving the river in its natural state, and on that point the State must necessarily determine for itself, it may authorize them, although increased inconvenience and expense may thereby result to the business of individuals. How the highways of a State, whether on land or by water, shall be best improved for the public good is a matter for state determination, subject always to the right of Congress to interpose in the cases mentioned." - And in the last of these cases, where the Manistee River was improved under authority of the legislature of the State of Michigan, and tolls exacted for the use of the improved water way, we find this in the opinion, on page 295: "The internal commerce of the State - that is, the commerce which is wholly confined within its limits is as much under its con Opinion of the Court. trol as foreign or interstate commerce is under the control of the general government; and, to encourage the growth of this commerce and render it safe, the States may provide for the removal of obstructions from their rivers and harbors, and deepen their channels, and improve them in other ways, if, as is said in County of Mobile v. Kimball, the free navigation of those waters, as permitted under the laws of the United States, is not impaired, or any system for the improvement of their navigation provided by the general government is not defeated. 102 U. S. 691, 699. And to meet the cost of such improvements, the States may levy a general tax or lay a toll upon all who use the rivers and harbors as improved. The improvements are, in that respect, like wharves and docks constructed to facilitate commerce in loading and unloading vessels. Huse v. Glover, 119 U. S. 543, 548. Regulations of tolls or charges in such cases are mere matters of administration, under the entire control of the State." Kindred to these are the cases of Gilman v. Philadelphia, 3 Wall. 713; Transportation Company v. Chicago, 99 U. S. 635; Escanaba Company v. Chicago, 107 U. S. 678; Cardwell v. American Bridge Co., 113 U. S. 205 ; and Willamette Bridge Company v. Hatch, 125 U. S. 1, 12, in which the power of a State, in the absence of Congressional action, to obstruct navigation by the construction of bridges across navigable streams, was sustained. And, also, the cases of Packet Co. v. Keokuk, 95 U. S. 80, and Transportation Co. v. Parkersburg, 107 U. S. 691, in which the power of a State, under like circumstances to improve the border of streams by wharves and exact wharfage therefor, was affirmed. While in a matter of this kind it is needless to look for authorities beyond the decisions of this court, yet the cases of Kellogg v. Union Company, 12 Connecticut, 6, and Thames Bank v. Lovell, 18 Connecticut, 500, may be referred to as containing very satisfactory discussions of this question. We quote from the opinion in the latter case, page 511: "These acts, improving rivers, constructing roads, etc., will never be complained of, as interfering with the rights and powers of Congress. The tolls alone are the subject of com |