Alonzo v. United States, 5610.

• Decision Date: 25 September 1957
• Docket Number: No. 5610.,5610.
• Citation: 249 F.2d 189
• Parties: Lupe ALONZO, Jim Alonzo, Joe Alonzo and Valentino Alonzo, Appellants, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

249 F.2d 189 (1957)

Lupe ALONZO, Jim Alonzo, Joe Alonzo and Valentino Alonzo, Appellants, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 5610.

United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit.

September 25, 1957.

Lorenzo A. Chavez and Arturo G. Ortega, Albuquerque, N. M. (R. F. Deacon Arledge, Charles Driscoll, Albuquerque, N. M., Thurman Arnold, Walton Hamilton, William D. Rogers, Washington, D. C., and Melvin L. Robins, Albuquerque, N. M., were with them on the briefs), for appellants.

Fred W. Smith, Atty., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C. (Perry W. Morton, Asst. Atty. Gen., James A. Borland, U. S. Atty., Albuquerque, N. M., and Roger P. Marquis, Atty., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., were with him on the brief), for appellee.

Santiago E. Campos, Asst. Atty. Gen., State of New Mexico (Fred M. Standley, Atty. Gen., State of New Mexico, was with him on the brief), amicus curiae.

Bryan G. Johnson, Albuquerque, N. M., Richard G. Cooper, Albuquerque, N. M., James T. Finlen, Butte, Mont., and Ralph D. Ray, New York City, filed a brief amicus curiae for Anaconda Copper Co.

Before BRATTON, Chief Judge, and PHILLIPS and BREITENSTEIN, Circuit Judges.

PHILLIPS, Circuit Judge.

On January 25, 1957, Lupe Alonzo, Jim Alonzo, Joe Alonzo, Valentino Alonzo and James Garcia commenced an action in the District Court of the Second Judicial District in and for the County of Valencia, State of New Mexico, against John Herndon, Anaconda Copper Mining Company, a corporation, the Pueblo of Laguna¹ and Clemente Lente, as governor of the Pueblo and in his individual capacity, and against Willie Creager, Joe Ross, Joe Marmon and Lee Marmon, as members of the Board of the Pueblo and in their individual capacities, seeking a writ of ejectment with respect to certain lands described in their complaint against the above-named defendants and damages for minerals alleged to have been wrongfully extracted from said lands by the above-named defendants. The state court action was numbered 8016 on the docket of the state court. Thereafter, on February 21, 1957, the United States, in its own behalf and in behalf of the Pueblo, commenced this action in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico against the four Alonzos, James Garcia, John Herndon and the Anaconda Company (formerly Anaconda Copper Mining Company), a corporation, seeking a judgment quieting the title to certain of the lands embraced in the state court action and enjoining the plaintiffs in the state court action from prosecuting such action. From an order granting a preliminary injunction the Alonzos have appealed.

In its complaint the United States alleged that the title to certain of the lands embraced in the state court action was in the Pueblo, subject to restrictions against alienation, and that the title to certain other lands embraced in the state court action was in the United States.

Subsequent to the commencement of the instant action the plaintiffs in the state court action by amendment eliminated from that action lands owned by the United States in fee simple and lands claimed by the United States to be held by it in trust for the Pueblo, so that the state court action involved only lands owned by the Pueblo in fee simple and alleged to be subject to restrictions against alienation by the United States.

In its complaint the United States alleged that the Pueblo is a nation or tribe of Indians, recognized by the Congress of the United States as a dependent Indian community; that it occupies lands owned by the Pueblo in fee simple, but subject to restrictions imposed by the Federal law against alienation without the consent of the United States.²

In its complaint the United States further alleged that prior to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 9 Stat. 922, the Pueblo possessed a good and complete title to a tract of land located in the Territory of New Mexico known as the Paguate Grant or the Paguate Purchase; that the title of the Pueblo to the lands within the Paguate Purchase was confirmed by the Act of Congress of June 21, 1860, 12 Stat. 71, as Claim No. 30 on a list of claims recommended for confirmation by the Surveyor General, pursuant to the Act of Congress of July 22, 1854, 10 Stat. 308. That such title of the Pueblo to 75,406.27 acres of such lands was further confirmed by a patent, dated September 22, 1884, from the United States to the Pueblo.

That by the Act of June 7, 1924, 43 Stat. 636, 25 U.S.C.A. § 331 note, referred to as the Pueblo Lands Board Act, Congress created the Pueblo Lands Board and authorized it to investigate, determine and report "the lands within the exterior boundaries of any land granted or confirmed to the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico by any authority of the United States of America, or any prior sovereignty, or acquired by said Indians as a community by purchase or otherwise, title to which the said board shall find not to have been extinguished in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and the board shall not include in their report any claims of non-Indian claimants who, in the opinion of said board after investigation, hold and occupy such claims of which they have had adverse possession, in accordance with the provisions of section 4 of this Act." § 2.

That such Board investigated the claim of the Pueblo to the lands included in the Paguate Purchase and found there was a conflict between the Paguate Purchase and the Cubero Grant of 1833 as to a portion of the Paguate Purchase, as described in the patent of September 22, 1884, and further found that the title of the claimants to the Cubero Grant was superior to the claim of the Pueblo, as to the conflicting portion, and that such finding had the effect of extinguishing the claim of the Pueblo to such portion of the Paguate Purchase, amounting to 10,601.86 acres. That the Board further found there was a conflict between the Paguate Purchase and lands claimed by the owners of the Cebolleta Grant and certain private land claimants, and that the Board found that the claim of the Pueblo was superior to the title of such adverse claimants. That the Board further found there was a conflict between the Paguate Purchase and the lands claimed by the owners of the Baca Grant of 1769, and that the claim of the Pueblo was superior to the title of such adverse claimants. And that the Board determined that, except for the 10,601.86 acres found to be a part of the Cubero Grant, the Pueblo had a superior title to all of the lands within the Paguate Purchase described in the patent.

That pursuant to § 3 of the Pueblo Lands Board Act an action was instituted by the United States in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico to quiet title of the Pueblo to the lands involved in the conflicts between the Paguate Purchase and the Cebolleta and Baca Grants, entitled United States v. Armijo, et al., No. 2080.

That on July 20, 1931, upon stipulation of the parties a final decree was entered in No. 2080, which quieted the title against the United States and the Pueblo in favor of the owners of the Cebolleta Grant and 72 private claimants to 10,698.93 acres and quieted title in the Pueblo to 14,615.76 acres involved in the conflict.

That on November 7, 1931, a decree was entered in No. 2080, quieting the title against the United States and the Pueblo in favor of the claimants under the Baca Grant to 2,527.29 acres and quieting the title in the Pueblo to 3,853.63 acres involved in the conflict between the Paguate Purchase and the Baca Grant.

That the Pueblo is the owner, entitled to the exclusive possession of 51,578.19 acres of the original Paguate Purchase, being the area embraced in such purchase, less the 10,601.86 acres found by the Pueblo Lands Board to be a part of the Cubero Grant, 10,698.93 acres adjudged to the owners of the Cebolleta Grant and private claimants and 2,527.29 acres adjudged to the owners of the Baca Grant in No. 2080.³

That the Pueblo granted to the Anaconda Company a permit to prospect for uranium and other minerals associated therewith, covering the lands owned by the Pueblo in the Paguate Purchase. That such permit was dated October 18, 1951, and was approved by the Department of Interior on November 6, 1951.

That the Pueblo, on March 27, 1952, granted to the Anaconda Company a mining lease for the extraction of uranium and other minerals associated therewith from 799.09 acres of lands embraced in the Paguate Purchase;⁴ that such lease was approved by the Department of Interior on May 7, 1952, and remains in full force and effect.

That prior to the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and at all times since, the Pueblo has been and now is the owner in fee simple, subject to the restrictions on alienability imposed by the United States, of such 51,578.19 acres of the original Paguate Purchase and that during all of such time the Pueblo has been and now is in open, notorious, actual, exclusive, continuous and adverse possession of such lands. That the Alonzos and Garcia are claiming some individual right, title, or interest apart from their rights as members of the Pueblo, in such 51,578.19 acres of land, adverse to the Pueblo, which constitutes a cloud upon the title of the Pueblo.

That the Pueblo is the owner of 2,174.332 acres of land acquired by purchase from the Board of Trustees of the Cebolleta Grant, which were conveyed to it by deed from such Board of Trustees to the Pueblo dated April 16, 1937. That such lands so purchased are a portion of the lands awarded to the Board of Trustees of the Cebolleta Grant by the judgment of July 20, 1931.

That the Pueblo is the owner of 2,519.028 acres acquired by purchase from Cruz Baca and Tiburcia Baca, his wife, which were conveyed by the Bacas to the Pueblo by deed dated December 9, 1936. That the last-mentioned lands are the identical lands awarded to the claimants under the Baca Grant by the judgment of November 7, 1931.

That the Pueblo is the owner of 480 acres of land...