CHANNEL

This term refers rather to the bed in which the main stream of a river flows than to the deep water of the stream as followed in navigation. Bridge Co. v. Dubuque County, 55 Iowa, 558, 8 N. W. 443. See The Oliver (D. C.) 22 Fed. 849; Iowa v. Illinois, 147 U. S. 1, 13 Sup. Ct. 239, 37 L. Ed. 55; Cessill v. State, 40 Ark. 504. The “main channel” of a river is that bed of the river over which the principal volume of router flows. Many great rivers discharge themselves into the sea through more than one channel. They all, however, have a main channel, through which the principal volume of water passes. Packet Co. v. Bridge Co. (C. C.) 31 Fed. Rep. 757. Natural channel. The channel of a stream as determined by the natural conformation of the country through which it flows; that is, the bed over which the waters of the stream flow when not in any manner diverted or interfered with by man. See Larrabee v. Cloverdale, 131 Cal. 96, 63 Pac. 143.