Heckman Ranches, Inc. v. State, By and Through Dept. of Public Lands
| Decision Date | 04 January 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 12316,12316 |
| Citation | 589 P.2d 540,99 Idaho 793 |
| Parties | HECKMAN RANCHES, INC. and Heckman Cattle Co., corporations, Plaintiffs- Appellants, v. STATE of Idaho, a Commonwealth, By and Through the DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC LANDS and the State Board of Land Commissioners, Gordon C. Trombley, State Land Commissioner, Defendants-Respondents. |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
W. C. MacGregor, Jr., William J. Dee, Grangeville, for plaintiffs-appellants.
Wayne L. Kidwell, Atty. Gen., Ursula I. Kettlewell, Asst. Atty. Gen., Boise, for defendants-respondents.
This is an action to quiet title to land near Whitebird, Idaho. The disputed area encompasses approximately 12 acres of land located between the mainstream and the eastern survey meander line of the Salmon River, and includes a secondary or overflow channel of the river. (See annexed exhibit). The primary issue on appeal is the location of the natural or ordinary high water mark of the Salmon River in relation to the disputed area. The district court established the natural or ordinary high water mark of the river, and quieted title accordingly and ordered the plaintiffs to fence the property. The judgment of the district court is affirmed in part and reversed in part.
Lands along both sides of the Salmon River were surveyed in 1893 and the course of the river was meandered by meander lines drawn by the original government surveyor in 1893. The eastern meander line along the disputed portion of the river, however, is a significant distance from the mainstream of the river and approximates the eastern bank of the secondary or overflow channel. This overflow channel is east of the mainstream and with the mainstream encircles the land in dispute. When the channel is filled with water from the mainstream during spring runoff, the higher ground above the channel appears as an "island." The controlling government survey of this portion of the river was made in June, 1893, during spring high water runoff. The surveyor described the disputed area as an unsurveyed "island" within the mainstream of the Salmon River.
In 1968 defendants-respondents State of Idaho and the State Board of Land Commissioners entered into a riverbed lease with the State Department of Highways for the removal of sand and gravel from the bed of the Salmon River. Pursuant to this lease, rip-rap materials were removed from the disputed area in 1974.
Plaintiffs-appellants Heckman Ranches Inc. and Heckman Ranches Co. initiated the present action on March 7, 1974, to recover damages for removing the rip-rap materials and to quiet title to the disputed property. 1 Appellant Heckman Ranches Inc. owns three fractional lots on the eastern side of the Salmon River adjacent to the disputed property that were created as a result of the meandered survey of the eastern bank of the river. Appellants utilize the disputed area as a heifer calving ground during the early spring before high water runoff. Appellants allege that the boundary line of their lots extends westward beyond the meander line to the "natural or ordinary high water mark" of the Salmon River, which they allege is near the mainstream of the river.
The district court entered its memorandum opinion, findings of fact, conclusions of law and a decree establishing the natural or ordinary high water mark of the Salmon River and quieting title to the property. The district court's findings and conclusions are summarized in relevant part as follows: the Salmon River is a navigable river; the "island" area was in existence in 1890 when Idaho was admitted to statehood; whenever the flow of the Salmon River at the Whitebird stream gauging station exceeds 39,300 cubic feet per second, water flows in the secondary channel through the "island" area; based on waterflow measurements at the Whitebird stream gauging station for the past 15 years, water flows in the secondary channel an average of 31.7 days per year; the area noted as an "island" by the surveyor in 1893 is not an island as legally defined because water does not continuously flow in the secondary channel; the "island" area was not included in the land patent conveying appellants' three fractional lots; the natural or ordinary high water mark is depicted by Plaintiff's Exhibit No. 22, Defendant's Exhibit No. 51 and Exhibit (B) of the district court; the natural or ordinary high water mark of the river is above the secondary channel and encircles the "island" area; the disputed lands are below the natural or ordinary high water mark of the Salmon River; appellants' northwestern boundary line coincides with the established natural or ordinary high water mark; respondent State of Idaho owns the land in the bed of the Salmon River extending to the natural or ordinary high water marks as established by the district court; and appellants shall be required either to fence the boundary of their property to prevent the continued trespass of their cattle on state owned property or to acquire a lease authorizing their continued occupancy of the property.
On appeal from the judgment of the district court, appellants present thirty-seven assignments of error involving three main issues: (1) the location of the natural or ordinary high water mark of the Salmon River; (2) appellants' title by adverse possession; and (3) appellants' duty to "fence-in" their cattle. Because of their complexity, each principal issue is addressed separately below.
" Meander lines" established by government survey are survey lines drawn along the banks of navigable streams for the purposes of defining the sinuosities of the banks of the stream, and as the means of ascertaining the price to be paid by the purchaser to the government for meandered fractional lots. Smith v. Long, 76 Idaho 265, 281 P.2d 483 (1955); Younie v. Sheek, 44 Idaho 767, 260 P. 419 (1927); Stroup v. Matthews, 44 Idaho 134, 255 P. 406 (1927); A. B. Moss & Bro. v. Ramey, 25 Idaho 1, 136 P. 608 (1913); Ulbright v. Baslington, 20 Idaho 539, 119 P. 292 (1911); Scott v. Lattig, 227 U.S. 229, 33 S.Ct. 242, 57 L.Ed. 490 (1912) (Rev'g 17 Idaho 506, 107 P. 47 (1910)); Johnson v. Johnson, 14 Idaho 561, 95 P. 499 (1908); Johnson v. Hurst, 10 Idaho 308, 77 P. 784 (1904). Ordinarily, meander lines established by surveys of public lands bordering on navigable rivers or streams are not boundary lines, rather the river or stream forms the boundary line. Smith v. Long, supra ; Younie v. Sheek, supra; Stroup v. Matthews, supra; Johnson v. Hurst, supra. To this general rule is added an exception for special circumstances that show an intent to limit the grant of a land patent to the meander line only. United States v. Lane, 260 U.S. 662, 43 S.Ct. 236, 67 L.Ed. 448 (1923); Producers Oil Co. v. Hanzen, 238 U.S. 325, 35 S.Ct. 755, 59 L.Ed. 1330 (1915); Niles v. Cedar Point Club, 175 U.S. 300, 20 S.Ct. 124, 44 L.Ed. 171 (1889); Ritter v. Morton, 513 F.2d 942 (9th Cir. 1975), Cert. denied, 423 U.S. 947, 96 S.Ct. 362, 46 L.Ed.2d 281 (1975); United States v. 100 Acres of Land, etc., Marin Cty., Cal., 468 F.2d 1261 (9th Cir. 1972), Cert. denied, 414 U.S. 822, 94 S.Ct. 119, 38 L.Ed.2d 54 (1973). It is settled law in this state that title to the bed of a navigable river or stream between the natural or ordinary high water marks is held by the state. Driesbach v. Lynch, 71 Idaho 501, 234 P.2d 446 (1951); Gasman v. Wilcox, 54 Idaho 700, 35 P.2d 265 (1934); Raide v. Dollar, 34 Idaho 682, 203 P. 469 (1921); Northern Pacific Ry. v. Hirzel, 29 Idaho 438, 161 P. 854 (1916); Callahan v. Price, 26 Idaho 745, 146 P. 732 (1915).
The term "Natural or ordinary high water mark " of a stream or river is defined by I.C. § 58-104(9) as "the line which the water impresses on the soil by covering it for sufficient periods to deprive the soil of its vegetation and destroy its value for agricultural purposes." It is also settled law in this state that title to islands that existed within a navigable stream at the time Idaho was admitted to statehood do not pass to patentees of land by the sale of border lots by the United States. Callahan v. Price, supra; A. B. Moss & Bro. v. Ramey, supra; Scott v. Lattig, 227 U.S. 229, 33 S.Ct. 242, 57 L.Ed. 490 (1912) (Rev'g 17 Idaho 506, 107 P. 47 (1910)).
" Islands " in turn refer to bodies of land entirely and customarily surrounded by water; they do not include lands that are surrounded by a channel filled with water when the river is in flood stage, but dry during the remainder of the year. Smith v. Long, supra; Younie v. Sheek, supra.
Appellants assign error to the district court's demarcation of the natural or ordinary high water mark along the disputed portion of the Salmon River, arguing that the district court erred: by referring to the high land encircled by the secondary channel as an "island"; in finding that the eastern survey meander line of the Salmon River runs along the eastern bank of the secondary channel in close proximity of the line which respondents contend is the natural or ordinary high water mark of the river; in finding that the land between the meander line and the mainstream of the river was intended to be excluded from the lands conveyed by federal land patent; and in finding that the disputed lands were not suitable for agricultural purposes.
If competent and substantial evidence supports the district court's delineation of the natural or ordinary high water mark of the disputed portion of the river, appellants' related assignments of error must fail because the district court held that the northwestern boundary of appellants' property Coincided with the natural or ordinary high water mark established by the court. In other words, regardless of where the meander line is located, what the intention of the federal government was in conveying appellants' three fractional lots and whether the disputed land is an island or merely high land, the location of the natural or ordinary high...
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