Great Falls Manuf Co v. Garland

Citation31 L.Ed. 527,124 U.S. 581,8 S.Ct. 631
PartiesGREAT FALLS MANUF'G CO. v. GARLAND, Atty. Gen., et al. 1
Decision Date06 February 1888
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

[Syllabus from pages 581-582 intentionally omitted] Congress formed the purpose, many years ago, of supplying the cities of Washington and Georgetown with water from the Potomac river, at the Great Falls, in the state of Maryland. A controversy having arisen between the secretary of the interior—charged with the expenditure of public moneys appropriated for that purpose—and the Great Falls Manufacturing Company as to the compensation, if any, which the latter was entitled to receive for certain lands and water-rights at or near the Great Falls, which that company claimed, and which the officers of the government proposed to take for public use, articles of agreement were signed by that company and the secretary of the interior, on the twentieth of November, 1862, submitting the matters in dispute to the arbitrament of Benjamin R. Curtis, Joseph R. Swan, and others. The government exhibited to the arbitrators four alternative plans, with specifications, for what is called the Potomac dam of the Washington aqueduct. The majority of the arbitrators awarded and determined, February 28, 1863, that 'if the United States shall adopt and decide to execute the plan of operations designated in the specification and on the plat as Dam A, being the first plan of operations mentioned in the said specification, then the Great Falls Manufacturing Company are legally entitled to the sum of sixty-three thousand seven hundred and sixty-six dollars ($63,766) as compensation for the use and occupation by the United States of the land, water-rights and privileges claimed by the said company, and all consequential damages to the property and rights of the said company which they may legally claim by reason of the execution by the United States of the plan of operations last above mentioned. But this assessment is based upon the condition that the said company, as against the United States, may lawfully build and maintain a canal and bulk-head across and upon the land of the United States, on the Virginia shore of the Potomac, since marked on the same plat numbered 4 as belonging to the United States, so as to use the water of the pool above the Dam A, subject to the superior right of the United States to use the water for the aqueduct in the manner and to the extent shown by the aforesaid specification of the said Dam A, and its corresponding plan of operations.' This plan involved the construction of a dam from the feeder of the aqueduct, thence across the Maryland channel and Conn's island to the Virginia bank, on land belonging to the United States. The arbitrators concurred in awarding and determining that 'if the United States shall adopt and decide to execute the plan of operations designated in the specification and on the plat as 'Plan 4th,' being the fourth plan of operations named in the said specification, then the said Great Falls Manufacturing Company are legally entitled to the sum of fifteen thousand six hundred and ninety-two dollars ($15,692) as compensation for the use and occupation by the United States of the land, water-rights, and privileges claimed by the said company, and all consequential damages to the property and rights of the said company which they may legally claim by reason of the execution by the United States of the plan of operations last above mentioned.' The latter plan involved the construction or a dam of masonry from the Maryland shore to Conn's Island, and gave the United States the right to deepen the channels on the Maryland side of that island, near its head. In U. S. v. Manufacturing Co., 112 U. S. 645, 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 306, this court affirmed a judgment of the court of claims for $15,692, as compensation and damages to that company by reason of the adoption and execution by the United States of plan 4.

The present suit by the Great Falls Manufacturing Company relates to the construction of a dam across and from Conn's island to the Virginia shore, for which provision was made by an act of congress approved July 15, 1882, (22 St. 168,) entitled 'An act to increase the water supply of the city of Washington, and for other purposes.' The act provides for a survey and map of the land necessary to extend the Washington aqueduct to the high ground north of Washington, near Sixth street extended, and of the land necessary for a reservoir at that point. But it also contains the following provisions:

'The secretary of war shall cause to be made * * * a like survey and map of the land necessary for a dam across the Potomac river at the Great Falls, including the land now occupied by the dam, and the land required for the extension of said dam across Conn's island to and upon the Virginia shore; and when surveys and maps shall have been made the secretary of war and the attorney general of the United States shall proceed to acquire to and for the United States the outstanding title, if any, to said land and water-rights, and to the land on which the gate-house at Great Falls stands by condemnation: * * * and provided further, that, if it shall be necessary to resort to condemnation, the proceeding shall be as follows: When the map and survey are completed, the attorney general shall proceed to ascertain the owners or claimants of the premises embraced in the survey, and shall cause to be published, for the space of thirty days, in one or more of the daily newspapers published in the District of Columbia, a description of the entire tract or tracts of land embraced in the survey, with a notice that the same has been taken for the uses mentioned in this act, and notifying all claimants to any portion of said premises to file, within its period of publication, in the department of justice, a description of the tract or parcel claimed, and a statement of its value as estimated by the claimant. On application of the attorney general, the chief justice of the supreme court of the District of Columbia shall appoint three persons, not in the employ of the government or related to the claimants, to act as appraisers, whose duty it shall be, upon receiving from the attorney general a description of any tract or parcel the ownership of which is claimed separately, to fairly and justly value the same and report such valuation to the attorney general, who thereupon shall, upon being satisfied as to the title to the same, cause to be offered to the owner or owners the amount fixed by the appraisers as the value thereof; and if the offer be acc pted, then, upon the execution of a deed to the United States in form satisfactory to the attorney general, the secretary of war shall pay the amount to such owner or owners from the appropriation made therefor in this act. In making the valuation the appraisers shall only consider the present value of the land, without reference to its value for the uses for which it is taken under the provisions of this act. The appraisers shall each receive for their services five dollars for each day's actual service in making the said appraisements.

'Any person or corporation having any estate or interest in any of the lands embraced in said survey and map, who shall for any reason not have been tendered payment therefor as above provided, or who shall have declined to accept the amount tendered therefor, and any person who, by reason of the taking of said land or by the construction of the works hereinafter directed to be constructed, shall be directly injured in any property right, may, at any time within one year from the publication of notice by the attorney general as above provided, file a petition in the court of claims of the United States, setting forth his right or title and the amount claimed by him as damages for the property taken or injury sustained; and the said court shall hear and adjudicate such claims in the same manner as other claims against the United States are now by law directed to be heard and adjudicated therein: provided, that the court shall make such special rules in respect to such cases as shall secure their hearing and adjudication with the least possible delay.

'Judgments in favor of such claimants shall be paid as other judgments of said court are now directed to be paid; and any claimant to whom a tender shall have been made, as hereinbefore authorized, and who shall have declined to accept the same, shall, unless he recover an amount greater than that so tendered, be taxed with the entire cost of the proceeding. All claims for value or damages on account of ownership of any interest in said premises, or on account of injury to a property right by the construction of said works, shall, unless a petition for the recovery thereof be filed within one year from the date of the first publication of notice by the attorney general as above directed, be forever barred: provided, that owners or claimants laboring under any of the disabilities defined in the statute of limitations of the District of Columbia may file a petition at any time within one year from the removal of the disability. Upon the publication of the notice as above directed, the secretary of war may take possession of the premises embraced in the survey and map, and proceed with the constructions herein authorized; and, upon payment being made therefor, or, without payment, upon the expiration of the times above limited without the filing of a petition, an absolute title to the premises shall vest in the United States.

'Sec. 2. That the secretary of war be, and is hereby, authorized and directed to complete the dam at Great Falls to the level of one hundred and forty-eight feet above tide, and extend the same at that level across Conn's island to the Virginia shore; and that he raise the embankment between the Potomac river and the Chesapeake & Ohio canal above the dam, so as to protect the canal from the increased flooding which the completion of the dam will...

To continue reading

Request your trial
60 cases
  • Rank v. Krug
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of California
    • April 13, 1950
    ...pleaded. F.R.C.P. 8(c). The facts in this case are clearly distinguishable from the facts in Great Falls Mfg. Co. v. Attorney General, 1888, 124 U.S. 581, 8 S.Ct. 631, 31 L.Ed. 527 where, after judgment for a completed damage under an authorized taking for a public use, an injunction was so......
  • Ramirez de Arellano v. Weinberger, 83-1950
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit
    • February 23, 1984
    ...gave rise to compensable taking although no specific act of Congress directed the appropriation); Great Falls Mfg. Co. v. Attorney General, 124 U.S. 581, 8 S.Ct. 631, 31 L.Ed. 527 (1888) (where Secretary of War took lands not within a survey even though Congress had authorized taking only o......
  • State ex rel. Wausau St. Ry. Co. v. Bancroft
    • United States
    • Wisconsin Supreme Court
    • January 30, 1912
    ...Sup. Ct. 173, 35 L. Ed. 1004;U. S. v. Great Falls Mfg. Co., 112 U. S. 645, 5 Sup. Ct. 306, 28 L. Ed. 846;Great Falls Mfg. Co. v. Atty. Gen., 124 U. S. 581, 8 Sup. Ct. 631, 31 L. Ed. 527;U. S. v. Rio Grande Dam, etc., Co., 174 U. S. 690, 19 Sup. Ct. 770, 43 L. Ed. 1136;State v. Railroad Comm......
  • Frost v. Corporation Commission State Oklahoma
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • February 18, 1929
    ...it. Hurley v. Commission of Fisheries, 257 U. S. 223, 225, 42 S. Ct. 83, 88 L. Ed. 206. Compare Great Falls Mfg. Co. v. Atty. General, 124 U. S. 581, 598, 599, 8 S. Ct. 631, 31 L. Ed. 527; Wall v. Parrot Silver & Copper Co., 244 U. S. 407, 411, 412, 37 S. Ct. 609, 61 L. Ed. 1229; St. Louis ......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
1 books & journal articles

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT