Glenn Bothwell v. Bingham County

• Decision Date: 01 June 1915
• Docket Number: No. 266,266
• Parties: GLENN R. BOTHWELL, Plff. in Err., v. BINGHAM COUNTY, Idaho, et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

237 U.S. 642

35 S.Ct. 702

59 L.Ed. 1157

GLENN R. BOTHWELL, Plff. in Err.,

v BINGHAM COUNTY, Idaho, et al.

No. 266.

Argued May 6, 1915.

Decided June 1, 1915.

Messrs. William A. Lee, J. D. Skeen, William H. Wilkins, and Edward B. Critchlow for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from page 643 intentionally omitted] Messrs. R. W. Adair, J. H. Peterson, Attorney General of Idaho, and E. G. Davis for defendants in error.

Mr. Justice Van Devanter delivered the opinion of the court:

This was a suit to enjoin a proposed sale for taxes of 150 acres of land in Idaho acquired under the Carey act of August 18, 1894, 28 Stat. at L. 422, chap. 301, § 4, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 4685, and the amenda- tory acts of June 11, 1896, 29 Stat. at L. 434, chap. 420, and March 3, 1901, 31 Stat. at L. 1188, chap. 853, § 3, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 4687, the objection urged against the sale being that the proceedings for the acquisition of the title had not at the time of the tax assessment reached the point where the land could be taxed by the state. At a hearing upon an agreed statement of facts the defendants prevailed and the supreme court of the state affirmed the judgment. 24 Idaho, 125, 132 Pac. 972.

The tract was part of upwards of 50,000 acres of arid lands which were segregated from the public domain in July, 1899, pursuant to an agreement, sanctioned by the Carey act, whereby the state engaged to have the lands irrigated, reclaimed, and brought under cultivation, and to dispose of them only to actual settlers in tracts of not exceeding 160 acres. Originally the act required that the reclamation be accomplished within ten years after the date of the act, but the amendment of 1901 directed that the ten years be computed from the approval of the state's application for the segregation, and empowered the Secretary of the Interior, in his discretion, to prolong the period five years.

In the original act there was a provision that 'as fast as any state may furnish satisfactory proof, according to such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, that any of said lands are irrigated, reclaimed, and occupied by actual settlers, patents shall be issued to the state or its assigns for said lands so reclaimed and settled,' and the amendment of 1896 brought into the act a further provision that 'when an ample supply of water is actually furnished in a substantial ditch or canal, or by artesian wells or reservoirs, to reclaim a particular tract or tracts of such lands, then patents shall issue for the same to such state without regard to settlement or cultivation.'

Following the segregation in 1899 the state took appropriate steps to provide canals and a supply of water whereby the lands could be irrigated, reclaimed, and brought under cultivation, and before December, 1910, caused to be completed a suitable system of canals actually furnishing an ample supply of water to irrigate and reclaim 49,858.16 acres, including the tract in question. Proof of this was made to the Secretary of the Interior in the mode prescribed by existing regulations (see 26 Land Dec. 74; 37 Land Dec. 624, 631), and that officer, finding the proof sufficient, directed that the 49,858.16 acres be patented to the state. This direction was given December 21, 1910, and the patent was issued January 9, 1911.

While the canal system was in process of completion, and after water was provided for some of the lands, the plaintiff, who possessed the necessary qualifications and had acquired the requisite perpetual water right, applied to the state to make entry of the tract in question and made the prescribed preliminary payments. See Idaho Rev. Codes 1908, § 1626. The entry was allowed and the plaintiff settled upon the tract, made it his place of residence, irrigated and reclaimed it, and brought it under actual cultivation. Thereafter, on June 25, 1909, he submitted to the state due proof of what he had done,...