264 U.S. 206 (1924), 195, United States v. State Investment Company
| Citation | 264 U.S. 206, 44 S.Ct. 289, 68 L.Ed. 639 |
| Party Name | United States v. State Investment Company |
| Case Date | February 18, 1924 |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Page 206
Argued January 25, 1924
APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
Syllabus
1. The questions where the line run by a survey lies upon the ground, and whether a particular tract lies on one side of it or the other, are questions of fact upon which this Court will accept the concurrent findings of the district court and circuit court of appeals unless clear error is shown. P. 211.
2. The general rule is that, in matters of boundary, calls for natural objects and fixed monuments control those for distances, and calls for courses prevail over those for distances. Id.
3. After a tract of land has been surveyed and patented by the United States, its boundary cannot be affected, to the prejudice of the owner, by surveys and rulings of the Land Department. P. 212.
285 F. 128 affirmed.
Page 207
Appeal from a decree of the circuit court of appeals affirming a decree of the district court for the defendants in a suit by the United States to quiet title to land.
Page 208
SANFORD, J., lead opinion
MR. JUSTICE SANFORD delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is a suit in equity brought by the United States in the Federal District Court for New Mexico to quiet title
Page 209
to a large strip of land claimed as part of the public lands. The defendants claim title under the "Mora Grant," which was segregated from the public domain by a patent issued in 1876. The United States does not challenge the validity of the grant, and admits that the west boundary of the grant is the east line of the public lands. The sole question is whether the strip of land in dispute lies within the limits of the grant.1 This depends entirely upon the location of the west boundary of the grant.
The Mora Grant was originally a community grant made by the Republic of Mexico in 1835. The west boundary was described as "the Estillero." After the cession to the United States by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the claim under this grant was confirmed by Congress by the Act of June 21, 1860, c. 167, 12 Stat. 71. The grant was surveyed in 1861 by Thomas Means, a Deputy United States Surveyor, under instructions of the United States Surveyor General for New Mexico. The patent, after setting forth the descriptive notes of Means' survey, authenticated by the Surveyor General, granted to the patentees "the tract of land embraced and described in the foregoing survey" covering an area of more than 800,000 acres.2
The survey describes the west boundary as a line more than thirty-three miles long, running south from the northwest corner, a point "inaccessible in the mountain, and not set," passing successively at given distances, a large stone marked W.B.M.G. and EO., with given bearings to aspen and pine trees marked W.B.M.G., and Estillero and a stone marked W.B.M.G.; a trail to Picuris; the Pueblo River, and a large stone at the foot of a high mountain, marked W.B.M.G., and ending at a large stone on the bank of the Sapello River marked [44 S.Ct. 290] S.W.C.M.G.
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The defendants contend that the west boundary as surveyed by Means is a north and south line passing through "the Estillero," and now established by stones marked by Means and by the natural objects called for in the survey. The government contends that it is located more than three miles farther east, as established by a survey made for the government by one Compton in 1909.
The district judge, in an opinion reviewing the evidence, found that "the Estillero," at which Means was instructed to establish the west boundary of the grant, is a place in the valley of the Pueblo River; that no monuments were found on or near the so-called Compton line, and that the west boundary
being established from the evidence on the ground -- that is, natural objects -- the Estillero, the trail to Picuris, and Pueblo River, and the permanent monuments, stone marked EO on one side...
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