Order of reference of the Supreme Court of the United States [electronic resource] : in the case of the State of Pennsylvania, complainant, against the Wheeling & Belmont Bridge Company and others, defendants : with the proofs taken before R. Hyde Walworth, commissioner : together with his report and the report of the engineer appointed by him to take the measurement of the bridge across the Ohio River at Wheeling, its appendages and appurtenances, and the localities in connection therewith : pursuant to the directions contained in the order of reference.

The State of Pennsylvania sued the Wheeling & Belmont Bridge Company for the construction of a bridge that the state considered a nuisance and an obstruction to the free flow of water traffic.