Vernon J. West Et Al. v. James E. Smith

Vernon and Arlene West are the record title owners of Government Lot 3, Section 2 Township 47 North, Range 4 W.B.M., Kootenai County, Idaho, which lot abuts the westerly shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene, a navigable lake. Guy and Patricia Dumais contracted to purchase lot 3 and another lot from the Wests in May, 1970. The Dumaises plan to develop, subdivide, and sell the lots. Until 1935, a privately operated, commercial ferryboat ran between Harrison, Idaho, and Spokane Point, a designation which is located on the shoreline of lot 3. A county road, which was acquired by prescription, runs in a north-south direction near the shore of lot 3 and culminates in a widened turnaround at the point where the ferry formerly docked. The road continues along the lake shore south from the turnaround, but that portion of the road is privately owned. Since approximately 1945, a houseboat has been moored to pilings driven into the lake bed at the point where the ferryboat docked. Mr. and Mrs. James E. Smith purchased the houseboat in 1965 and have since paid personal property taxes on it and occupied it intermittently. The houseboat is connected to the shore by a catwalk two feet in width which terminates on the turnaround of the public roadway. Plaintiffs' exhibit 1, a scale drawing of the shore and the houseboat, also indicates that there is a somewhat larger floating dock structure owned by respondents interposed between the houseboat and the catwalk.