Bateman v. Southern Oregon Co.

• Decision Date: 05 October 1914
• Docket Number: 2392.
• Citation: 217 F. 933
• Parties: BATEMAN et al. v. SOUTHERN OREGON CO. et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

217 F. 933

BATEMAN et al. v. SOUTHERN OREGON CO. et al.

No. 2392.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

October 5, 1914

'Sec 6. And be it further enacted, that the United States Surveyor General for the district of Oregon shall cause said lands, so granted, to be surveyed at the earliest practicable period after said state shall have enacted the necessary legislation to carry this act into effect.'

On October 22, 1870, the Legislature of the state of Oregon passed the following act, entitled 'An act donating certain lands to the coos Bay Wagon Road Company':

'Sec 2. There is also hereby granted and pledged to said company all moneys, lands, rights, privileges and immunities which may hereafter be granted to this state to aid in the construction of such road for the purposes, and upon the conditions and limitations mentioned in said act of Congress, or which may be mentioned in any further grants of money or lands to aid in constructing such road.

'Sec. 3. Inasmuch as there is no law upon this subject at the present time, this act shall be in force from and after its passage.'

Laws Or. 1870, pp. 40-42.

Suit in equity by the appellants for an interpretation and construction of an act of Congress, entitled 'An act granting lands to the state of Oregon to aid in the construction of a military wagon road from the navigable waters of Coos Bay to Roseburg, in said state,' approved March 3, 1869 (15 Stat.p. 340), and various acts supplemental thereto; that the court finally and for all purposes wind up and settle the trust described in the complaint, fully ascertaining and definitely settling and adjusting the rights of all parties interested therein; for an injunction restraining logging operations on certain lands situated in the state of Oregon; and for the appointment of a receiver to collect and account for all moneys received by the appellees by reason thereof.

On March 3, 1869, Congress passed an act, entitled 'An act granting lands to the state of Oregon to aid in the construction of a military wagon road from the navigable waters of Coos Bay to Roseburg in said state. ' The act provided as follows:

'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that there be, and hereby is, granted to the state of Oregon, to aid in the construction of a military wagon road from the navigable waters of Coos Bay to Roseburg, alternate sections of public lands, designated by odd numbers, to the extent of three sections of width on each side of said road: Provided, that the lands hereby granted shall be exclusively applied to the construction of said road and to no other purpose, and shall be disposed of only as the work progresses: Provided, further, that the grant of lands hereby made shall be upon the condition that the lands shall be sold to any one person only in quantities not greater than one quarter section, and for a price not exceeding two dollars and fifty cents per acre: And provided further, that any and all lands heretofore reserved to the United States, or otherwise appropriated by act of Congress or other competent authority, be, and the same are hereby, reserved from the operation of this act, except so far as it may be necessary to locate the route of said road through the same, in which case the right of way to the width of one hundred feet is granted: And provided further, that the grant hereby made shall not embrace any mineral lands of the United States, or any lands to which homestead or pre-emption rights have attached.

'Whereas, the Congress of the United States, at the session beginning on the 7th day of December, 1868, passed an act donating lands to the state of Oregon: * * *

'Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the state of Oregon:

'Section 1. That there is hereby granted to the Coos Bay Wagon Road Company all lands, rights of way, rights, privileges and immunities heretofore granted or pledged to this state by the act of Congress in this act heretofore cited, for the purpose of aiding said company in constructing the road mentioned and described in said act of Congress, upon the conditions and limitations therein prescribed.

On June 18, 1874, Congress passed the following act, entitled 'An act to authorize the issuance of patents for lands granted to the state of Oregon in certain cases':

'Whereas, certain lands have heretofore, by act of Congress, been granted to the state of Oregon to aid in the construction of certain military wagon roads in said state, and there exists no law providing for the issuing of formal patents for said lands:

'Therefore, be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that in all cases when the roads in aid of the construction of which said lands were granted are shown by the certificate of the Governor of the state of Oregon, as in said acts provided, to have been constructed and completed, patents for said lands shall issue in due form to the state of Oregon as fast as the same shall, under said grants, be selected and certified, unless the state of Oregon shall by public act have transferred its interests in said lands to any corporation or corporations, in which case the patents shall issue from the General Land Office to such corporation or corporations upon their payment of the necessary expenses thereof: Provided, that this shall not be construed to revive any land grant already expired nor to create any new rights of any kind except to provide for issuing patents for lands to which the state is already entitled.' 18 Stats. p. 80, c. 305.

On February 12, 1875, the United States of America, pursuant to the act of Congress of June 18, 1874, above set forth, duly issued to the Coos Bay Wagon Road Company a patent covering and embracing 42,496.93 acres of the lands granted to the state of Oregon by the act of March 3, 1869; on March 18, 1876, a second patent was issued to the Wagon Road Company covering and embracing 1,080 acres of the lands; on November 8, 1876, a third patent was issued to the Wagon Road Company covering and embracing 61,111.53 acres of the lands; and on February 17, 1877, a fourth patent was issued to the Wagon Road Company covering and embracing 431.65 acres of such lands. The four patents thus issued by the United States to the Wagon Road Company covered, in the aggregate, 105,120.11 acres, and embraced all of the lands granted to the state of Oregon by the act of Congress of March 3, 1869 On May 31, 1875, the Wagon Road Company granted to one John Miller, alias Ambrose Woodroof, all of the lands embraced in the patent first above referred to, with the exception of certain parcels thereof aggregating 6,963.34 acres, which prior to that time had been conveyed to other parties. Subsequently Miller conveyed the lands to Collis P. Huntington, Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford, and Mark Hopkins. On March 27, 1883, Crocker acquired all of the right, title, and interest of Huntington, Stanford, and Hopkins in the lands. On December 20, 1883, Crocker conveyed the lands to one W. H. Besse. On January 7, 1884, the Wagon Road Company conveyed to Besse all the lands embraced in the second, third, and fourth patents hereinabove referred to. On December 29, 1883, Besse conveyed the lands embraced in the first patent to one Gray, and the latter, on January 5, 1884, conveyed the lands to the Oregon Southern Improvement Company. On June 4, 1884, Besse conveyed to the last-named company direct all of the lands covered by the second, third, and fourth patents. On January 1, 1884, the Oregon Southern Improvement Company executed and delivered to the Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Company, as trustee, a certain mortgage or deed of trust covering all of the lands for which patents had been issued to the Wagon Road Company pursuant to the act of Congress of June 18, 1874, to secure the payment of certain bonds to be thereafter issued by the Oregon Southern Improvement Company. On December 28, 1886, William D. Rotch and Edward D. Mantell (who had succeeded the Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Company as trustees under the deed of trust or mortgage), instituted suit in the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Oregon against the Oregon Southern Improvement Company to foreclose the mortgage or deed of trust. Such proceedings were thereafter had in the suit that on June 23, 1887, pursuant to an order of the court, one George H. Durham, as master thereof, sold to William J. Rotch and William S. Crapo all of the properties of the Oregon Southern Improvement Company, including the lands which that company had acquired by mesne and by direct conveyances from the Coos Bay Wagon Road Company, as hereinabove set forth; and on November 16, 1887, a deed was duly executed and delivered by the master to the grantees, conveying to the latter all of the right, title, and interest of the Oregon Southern Improvement Company in and to such lands. On December 14, 1887, Rotch and Crapo conveyed the lands to the Southern Oregon Company, one of the defendants herein, and the latter company now holds the legal title thereto and is in possession thereof.

It is alleged in the complaint filed by the plaintiffs that the act of Congress of March 3, 1869, granted all of the lands embraced therein to the state of Oregon in trust for the purposes therein set forth; that the state of Oregon, by virtue of accepting the grant of the lands from the United States, became and has ever since remained a cotrustee with the defendant Southern Oregon Company of all of the lands that the true title to all of the lands is now in the state of Oregon, except such fraudulent and pretentious right as the defendant Southern Oregon Company...