## Facts

- The Attorney General of Illinois filed an information alleging that private shore owners in Evanston unlawfully encroached on Lake Michigan’s submerged lands by erecting and maintaining piers and related structures.
- The disputed area lay along the Lake Michigan shoreline east of the 1839 federal survey boundary for a fractional quarter section near what is now Main Street in Evanston.
- Wesley L. Knox owned upland property bordering Lake Michigan and claimed that the contested land formed as additions to his shoreline.
- Artificial piers constructed by third parties to the north and south created conditions that altered currents and caused sand to accumulate gradually in front of Knox’s property.
- The defendants admitted the presence of piers and artificial structures but asserted title on the ground that the land consisted of natural accretions to their riparian property.
- Knox filed a cross-bill seeking a decree confirming riparian title to the newly formed land and associated riparian rights.
- After extensive evidence, the circuit court found the land was formed by natural accretion caused by artificial structures not erected by the defendants and entered a decree quieting title in the riparian owners and rejecting the state’s claim.

## Issues

1. Whether a riparian owner acquires title to land formed by gradual, natural accretion when the accretion was induced by artificial structures constructed by third parties.
2. Whether the State of Illinois, as sovereign owner and trustee of Lake Michigan’s submerged lands, retains title to such newly formed shore land.
3. Whether confirming private title to accretions in these circumstances is consistent with Illinois public trust obligations in navigable waters.

## Decision

- The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court’s decree.
- The court treated the trial court’s finding as established that the disputed tract was formed by natural, gradual accretion, though influenced by nearby artificial piers.
- The court held that the accreted land became the property of Knox and the other riparian owners claiming under him.
- The court rejected the state’s claim of title, leaving the riparian owners entitled to the associated riparian rights appurtenant to their respective upland parcels.

## Legal Principles

- Title of a riparian owner extends to land added by natural accretion—gradual and imperceptible in the legal sense—even if the accretion is induced by artificial structures built by others.
- A riparian owner does not lose accretions merely because third-party works altered currents, so long as the owner did not create the causative obstruction and the addition is not direct artificial filling by the owner.
- State ownership and public trust authority over submerged lands do not preclude private ownership of shore land formed by natural accretion adjoining riparian property.
- Appellate review defers to supported trial-court fact findings on the character and manner of land formation when applying accretion rules.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed that gradual accretions along Lake Michigan’s shore belong to the adjoining riparian owners even when induced by third-party structures, and it held that the state had no title to the accreted land under the public trust doctrine on the established facts.


Brundage v. Knox, 279 Ill. 450, 117 N.E. 123 (Ill. 1917)