What is considered a landmark case about Pennsylvania water rights laws unfolds tomorrow in a Huntingdon County courtroom.

Almost five years after Donald Beaver, operator of the Spring Ridge Club, turned 1.3 miles of the Little Juniata River into a members-only trout fishery, three Commonwealth agencies, including the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and a tackle shop owner will attempt to prove that Beaver is interfering with the rights of citizens to enjoy public waters. The Spring Ridge Club, which costs tens of thousands of dollars to join, is also a defendant in the lawsuit, as is Connie Espy, who owns the property in dispute, known as Espy Farm.

The case will be heard in a non-jury trial and decided by Stewart Kurtz, the sole common pleas court judge in Huntingdon County.

"The state will show that the Little Juniata is navigable -- that it is public, not private -- water, and has been for centuries," said Stan Stein, an attorney for Allan Bright, the local tackle shop owner who has joined as a plaintiff in the Commonwealth's suit and will seek damages if the Commonwealth wins. Other plaintiffs include the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

"The state will put into evidence anecdotal histories of Beaver's harassing anglers on the stream," Stein said, "and will request a court injunction against his continuing to do that."

Confrontations have occurred over the years in the section Beaver controls, with both sides -- anglers wading in from public access points and Beaver -- claiming harassment. While such testimony will be entered, in writing, at the trial, attorneys indicate it will be secondary to arguments over navigability.

"That's the real issue in this trial," said Charles Bierbach of Huntingdon and one of Beaver's lawyers, "whether to characterize the Little J as navigable in fact and, if so, what time period in history -- today or a long time ago -- should that characterization be determined. The plaintiffs want the judge to make an historical determination."

The plaintiffs are expected to argue that the state general assembly in 1794 declared the Little Juniata navigable, something it did again in 1808 and 1822, at the urging of people who had interest in specific parts of the river, including the one that became Espy Farm. But Bierbach minimizes the significance.

"A ton of legislative declarations were made back then for rivers that were never even investigated," he said. "Usually, it was at the request of property owners looking to tap into funding to build bridges or dams or make other improvements to the community.

"The legal test is whether a court ever declared navigability and that never happened on the Little Juniata. The state is asserting something brand new in this case."

DEP spokesman Kurt Knaus said legislative, or statutory, declarations are law and Beaver has ignored them, "which is why we're going to court."

"These statutory declarations put the Little J under Commonwealth authority, for us to guard and manage for all citizens. We're asking the court to once and for all validate the public's right to use the Little J, and to have Beaver stop claiming it as his own private water."

Both sides in the case will reach back to the days of the founding fathers to argue their positions on the navigability of the Little J. They will present evidence, such as records of floating logs down the river, stream flow data and deeds with chains of title dating to William Penn, and they will use local historians to analyze the evidence and put it into context.

Nancy Shedd, the former president and executive director of the Huntingdon County Historical Society, will appear for the defense, while Michael Husband, the current president of the society, and his wife Judith Heberling, will serve as expert witnesses for the plaintiffs. Husband and Heberling are professional historians of the firm Heberling Associates.

While Bierbach said that evidence from sources long dead is often open to dispute, Stein expects the historians' testimony to be pivotal to the outcome of the trial. "That's what historians do," he said. "They look at primary evidence, like bills of lading and letters and they reach conclusions. When you're dealing with history, what else do you have but these kinds of evidence?"

The state is not seeking damages, only to ensure the public's enjoyment of the Little J. "It really boils down to one thing for us," Knaus said. "One individual is denying access to millions of people to a 1.3-mile stretch that is constitutionally held in trust for the entire Commonwealth to enjoy."

If the state proves the Little Juniata's navigability, it will pave the way for Bright to seek damages from the defendants for business he claims to have lost because of Beaver's chasing non-paying anglers off the stream, Stein said. Bright owns a tackle shop just upriver of Espy Farm where Spruce Creek meets the Little Juniata.

"We'd have to calculate what Beaver's operation might have earned," Stein said. "A measure of damage could be the club's earnings or Beaver's earnings from what we consider to be false advertising. I'm sure it's a substantial amount of money given what they charge members for the use of their private waters."

Spring Ridge Club members pay for the exclusive use of a number of central Pennsylvania trout streams besides the Little Juniata, which Beaver leases or has purchased from local landowners. Some are small enough that, by Pennsylvania law, there is no question of ownership, as there is with the Little Juniata.

Each side has indicated that it would appeal an unfavorable decision.

"The case is about much more than the Little Juniata," Knaus said. "It really will be a landmark case for water rights law in Pennsylvania. A decision here by the court will be used in future cases to determine water laws and access."