What rights do riparians, their licensees, and the public have to use the small lakes and streams of the West when the beds are privately owned? This is the question which this Article attempts to answer. However, to do this, an analysis had to be made of which lake and stream beds were privately owned. Thus, the Article covers both the questions of title to beds and rights of surface use. This Article represents the first time that an effort has been made to systematically and comprehensively survey the lake and stream surface use cases of the Western part of the Nation, or of any large section of the Nation, and to critically compare and evaluate these cases