Commerce   &  "Navigable"

In Escanaba & Lake Michigan Transp. Co, v. City of Chicago, 107 U.S. 678 (1883,) Justice Field stated:

"The power vested in the general government to regulate interstate and foreign commerce involves the control of the waters of the United States which are navigable in fact, so far as it may be necessary to insure their free navigation, when by themselves or their connection with other waters they form a continuous channel for commerce among the states or with foreign countries. The Daniel Ball, 10 Wall. 557. Such is the case with the Chicago river and its branches..."

Justice Lurton in U. S. v. Chandler-Dunbar Water Power Co., 229 U.S. 53 (1913) quoting Gilman v. Philadelphia, 3 Wall. 713, 724, 18 L. ed. 96, 99:

"Commerce includes navigation. The power to regulate commerce comprehends the control for that purpose, and to the extent necessary, of all the navigable waters of the United States which are accessible from a state other than those in which they lie. For this purpose they are the public property of the nation, and subject to all the requisite legislation by Congress. This necessarily includes the power to keep them open and free from any obstructions to their navigation, interposed by the states or otherwise; to remove such obstructions when they exist; and to provide, by such sanctions as they may deem proper, against the occurrence of the evil and for the punishment of offenders [admiralty law]..."

In Economy Light & Power Co. v. U S, 256 U.S. 113 (1921,) Justice Pitney stated:

"We concur in the opinion of the Circuit Court of Appeals that a river having actual navigable capacity in its natural state and capable of carrying commerce among the states is within the power of Congress to preserve for purposes of future transportation, even though it be not at present used for such commerce, and be incapable of such use according to present methods, either by reason of changed conditions or because of artificial obstructions ... Improvements in the methods of water transportation or increased cost in other methods of transportation may restore the usefulness of this stream; since it is a natural interstate waterway, it is within the power of Congress to improve it at the public expense; and it is not difficult to believe that many other streams are in like condition and require only the exertion of federal control to make them again important avenues of commerce among the states...."