Bingenheimer v. Diamond Iron Min. Co.

• Decision Date: 25 July 1952
• Docket Number: No. 35767,35767
• Citation: 54 N.W.2d 912,237 Minn. 332
• Parties: BINGENHEIMER et al. v. DIAMOND IRON MINING CO. et al.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 912

54 N.W.2d 912

237 Minn. 332

BINGENHEIMER et al. v. DIAMOND IRON MINING CO. et al.

No. 35767.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

July 25, 1952.

Appeal from Taxation of Costs

Sept. 5, 1952.

SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.

1. The navigability of a lake for the purpose of fixing ownership of the bed thereof must be determined as of the state's admission to the Union and under the federal decisions with reference thereto.

2. States organized, as was Minnesota, in the public domain, became vested upon admission to the Union with title to the beds of all waters then navigable and not previously granted by the United States, subject, of course, to the paramount power of the United States over such waters by virtue of its power to regulate commerce.

3. The fact that ponds were not meandered by the United States survey does not establish that the waterway was not in fact navigable at the time of the survey, since surveying officers have no power to settle questions of navigability.

4. Under federal decisions, streams or lakes which are navigable in fact are regarded as navigable in law. They are navigable in fact when they are used, or are susceptible of use, in their ordinary and natural condition, as highways for commerce. Ordinary and natural conditions refer to volume of water, the gradients, and the regularity of flow. A waterway otherwise suitable for navigation is not barred from that classification merely because artificial aids must make the highway suitable for use before commercial navigation may be undertaken.

5. Under the facts in this case and the decisions of the United States Supreme Court, the lake or pond in question was not navigable at the time Minnesota was admitted to the Union; therefore, ownership of the lake bed is not in the state.

H. P. Clarke, W. H. Crago, Jr., Donald D. Harries, Duluth, James F. Murphy, Grand Rapids, for appellants.

J. A. A. Burnquist, Atty. Gen., Victor J. Michaelson, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., G. L. Ware, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., for State of Minnesota.

Ben Grussendorf, County Atty., Grand Rapids, for respondent.

W. K. Montague, Nye Montague, Sullivan, Atmore & McMillan, Duluth, amici curiae.

MAGNEY, Justice.

The applicants ¹ in this proceeding to register title ² to the SE 1/4 of NE 1/4 of section two, township 55 north, range 25 west of the fourth principal meridian, in Itasca county, Minnesota, appeal from the decree of registration adjudging that they are owners in fee simple of the tract described, excepting the land underlying a body of water located on the tract and known as Pond A, lying and being below the ordinary low-water mark of the pond on May 11, 1858 (elevation 1310.5, sea-level datum).

In the registration proceeding the state was made a party defendant. It filed an answer (all other defendants being in default) claiming an interest in two parcels, described by metes and bounds, as parts of the bed of certain claimed navigable public lakes known as Chain Lakes; hence, that said parcels are owned by the state in its sovereign capacity for the benefit of the public.

The district court on August 24, 1950, held that the bodies of water located on the land (identified in these proceedings as Ponds A, B, and C) were not navigable at the date of admission of the state of Minnesota to the Union, and that title to the entire 40-acre tract was conveyed by the state to the Taylor's Falls & Lake Superior Railroad Company, and by subsequent conveyances to the applicants. Motions for amended findings and conclusions or a new trial were made both by the state and by applicants, and on December 3, 1951, the district court filed amended findings and conclusions. In these amended findings, the district court held that one of the ponds, identified as Pond A, was navigable at the time of admission of the state to the Union, that the title acquired by virtue of the navigability of the pond has not been conveyed by the state, and that the state is not barred by the doctrine of estoppel or the statute of limitations from asserting its title.

A decree pursuant to the terms of the amended findings, registering title to the tract in question, but excepting from the registration the lands underlying Pond A, was entered December 17, 1951. An amended decree was entered January 14, 1952. The applicants seek reversal of the decree insofar as it limits registration of title in them to less than a full 40 acres, and they seek modification of the decree by removal of the exception. The sufficiency of the evidence to support the findings of fact is not challenged.

The applicants make four principal assertions which, if sustained on this review, would require a modification of the decree:

(1) Pond A was not navigable at the time of the admission of the state of Minnesota to the Union on May 11, 1858.

(2) Even if Pond A was navigable at that time, title to the entire 40-acre tract was conveyed by the state to the Taylor's Falls & Lake Superior Railroad Company pursuant to Sp.L.1875, c. 51, and by mesne conveyances to the applicants.

(3) In any case, the state is estopped to deny that title to the bed of Pond A was conveyed by the state to the remote grantors of the applicants.

(4) The state is barred from asserting a claim to the land underlying Pond A by the statute of limitations. ³

Three bodies of water, sometimes called Chain Lakes but in these proceedings called Ponds A, B, and C, are located in part on the subdivision of land sought to be registered. Ponds B and C lie to the south of Pond A. The ponds are located in a horsehoe-shaped catchment basin of 1.15 square miles. A high ridge extends along the north, east, and south sides of the ponds, reaching a crest about a mile distant from the ponds. To the west, a swampy and marshy area extends for some distance in a northwesterly direction. The level of the outflow or control point or natural outlet of Ponds B and C at the time of admission of the state to the Union was in the southwest corner of Pond C, where it drains in the direction of Prairie River, a navigable tributary of the Mississippi River; in a state of nature at that time, a channel extended from said control point in the direction of Prairie River, less than a mile away, and certain portions thereof were well defined. Such control point in 1858 was at 1311.8, sea-level datum. The mouth of the run-out in the state of nature was 20 feet wide.

For a better understanding of the features of the area in question as they exist today, exhibit AAA, a sketch thereof, is shown herewith.

The district court found that on May 11, 1948, the water level of Pond A was 1305, sea-level datum. Pond A has a present area of approximately 25 acres, with a maximum depth of 20.5 feet. Ponds B and C are located in a marshy area with slightly sloping ground, so that the area of ponds B and C varies greatly with changes in the water level, but they are shallow at all probable levels of water. In times of high water, Ponds B and C would be joined as one body of water.

The trial court found, and the evidence amply supports the finding, that Pond A was of sufficient area and depth in 1858 to float logs. But it does not necessarily follow that the pond was navigable from the fact that it would float logs. Navigable waters are waters which are used or usable as highways of commerce. It is quite apparent that no practical commercial purpose would have been or would be served by rafting or driving logs from one shore to the other in this small pond or lake.

Evidence was introduced to show that large pine trees, more than 100 years old, stand around Pond A above an elevation of 1313, but that no large trees stand below that elevation, nor are there stumps of large trees. There are at present birch trees of a maximum age of 40 years growing below elevation 1313. Upon the basis of this and other evidence, particularly the various surveys made of the area in early years, the trial court found, and the finding is not attacked by the applicants, that on May 11, 1858, when Minnesota became a state, the water level of Pond A was elevation 1313. It was also found that the water remained at that level for a sufficient time to prevent growth of trees until about 40 years ago, when, by reason of removal of timber from the area, the construction of a railroad along the west side of the lakes and of an off-take ditch from the outlet of Pond C, the water level of the ponds was lowered substantially. The off-take ditch constructed by the railway company had a cut 7.5 feet in the first 100 feet southwest of Pond C. It had its point of beginning within the bed of Pond C. The ditch tapered in depth to a point where the grade of the bottom of the ditch coincided with the natural ground. It would seem that this ditch lowered the point of outflow 7 1/2 feet. The lower level has been maintained since that time.

NOTE: OPINION CONTAINS TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE

The trial court also found that the water remained at elevation 1313 during the spring runoff and during times of unusually heavy precipitation. Ordinary low-water mark was at elevation 1310.5. At elevation 1313, approximately 155 acres were submerged by the increased size of Ponds B and C; Ponds B and C at that elevation were one body of water, with a channel connecting them to Pond A, which at this water level covered between 35 and 40 acres. Water at that control point to the channel leading to the Prairie River was 1.2 feet deep.

Evidence still exists of old logging roads extending from the ridges and hills to the east, west, and south of the ponds toward Pond A and terminating at the pond, but there is no evidence of any logging roads leading from the ponds toward the Prairie River. The evidence also shows that the property had been drilled and that roads would be used for carrying drills, equipment, and ore and possibly for the construction and maintenance of camps. Before the area was logged, there were approximately 10,000,000...