Jacobson v. Wis., M. & P. R. Co.

• Decision Date: 15 April 1898
• Parties: JACOBSON v WISCONSIN, M. & P. R. CO. ET AL.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

71 Minn. 519

74 N.W. 893

JACOBSONvWISCONSIN, M. & P. R. CO. ET AL.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

April 15, 1898.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

1. Where the putting in of a connecting switch at the crossing of two railroads to facilitate the transfer of cars from one road to the other will benefit both state and interstate traffic, held, there is concurrent jurisdiction in the state and federal authorities to order the putting in of such connection. Held, it sufficiently appears that there is in this case such necessity for the connection in question, arising from the benefit which will accrue to state traffic alone, that the state railroad and warehouse commission were warranted in ordering the connection to be made. But held, further, on the appeal from the order of the commission, the burden was on the appellant railroad companies to show a want of such necessity, and they failed to maintain that burden.

2. Held, chapter 10, Gen. Laws 1887, as amended by chapter 91, Laws 1895, does not, at least as applied to the present case, contravene either the federal constitution or the constitution of this state in conferring upon the commission power to require the making of such a connection, the transfer and interchange of loaded cars, and the making of joint rates for through shipments when a part of the haul is on one and part on the other of the two connecting railroads.

Appeal from district court, Yellow Medicine county; Gorham Powers, Judge.

Application by Jacob F. Jacobson to the railroad and warehouse commission to compel the Wisconsin, Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company and the Willmar & Sioux Falls Railroad Company to make a connection at a crossing of their roads. An order to that effect was granted, and on appeal affirmed in the district court. Defendants appeal. Affirmed.

Albert E. Clarke, W. F. Booth, and M. D. Grover, for appellant Wisconsin, M. & P. R. Co.

H. W. Childs, Atty. Gen., and Geo. B. Edgerton, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.

CANTY, J.

The Willmar & Sioux Falls Railroad extends from Willmar, in this state, in a southwesterly direction, to Sioux Falls, in South Dakota, and is crossed nearly at right angles by the Wisconsin, Minnesota & Pacific Railroad, near Hanley Falls, in this state. The former railroad is a part of the Great Northern system of railroads, and the latter is operated in connection with the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway, and as a part of the same. The crossing near Hanley Falls is a grade crossing, and there has never been any switch connecting the two railroads at that point. Chapter 10, Gen. Laws 1887, as amended by chapter 91, Laws 1895, provides: “Sec. 3. (A) That all common carriers subject to the provisions of this act shall provide at all points of connection, crossing or intersection at grade where it is practicable and necessary for the interest of traffic, ample facilities by track connections for transferring any cars used in the regular business of their respective lines of road from their lines or tracks to those of any other common carrier whose lines or track may connect with, cross or intersect their own, and shall provide equal and reasonable facilities for the interchange of cars and traffic between their respective lines, and for the receiving, forwarding and delivering of passengers, property and cars to and from their several lines and those of other common carriers connecting therewith.” The act further provides that, on the application of any person interested, the state railroad and warehouse commission shall order connections to be made at such crossings, and this is conceded by appellants. The commission did so order in this case after notice, and a hearing had in the manner provided by the statute. Both railroad companies appealed to the district court from the order. On a hearing had in the district court, the order was affirmed, and the connection ordered to be made by a curved switch, 778.6 feet long, and particularly described, just as the commission had ordered. From the judgment of the district court entered thereon, both railroad companies appeal to this court. The Wisconsin, Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company has appeared and filed a brief, but the other appellant has not argued the case or filed any brief.

The connecting switch will, at the middle of the same, extend outside of the right of way of each and either railroad, and it will be necessary to condemn at that place a narrow strip of land, a few hundred feet long, for the use of the switch. One of the lines of the Great Northern System extends from Duluth, southwest to Willmar. Another extends from St. Paul and Minneapolis, west to Willmar. These two lines pass through large areas of wood land, the timber on which is available for fuel and fence posts. Southwest of Willmar, and for many miles in all directions around Hanley Falls, the country is mostly prairie. Timber is scarce, and great quantities of cordwood and fence posts are brought down on the Willmar & Sioux Falls Railroad from said timbered regions, and distributed along that road. Timber is not as plentiful along the Minneapolis & St. Louis System. For that reason cordwood and fence posts are much dearer at the stations on the Wisconsin, Minnesota & Pacific Railroad, east and west of Hanley Falls, than such wood is at that station and the stations north and south of it on the Willmar & Sioux Falls Railroad. For this reason it is for the benefit of the people in the territory tributary to the Wisconsin, Minnesota & Pacific Railroad, but not tributary to Hanley Falls, that this connection should be made, so as to enable them to have cars of wood transferred at that point from the Willmar & Sioux Falls Railroad to the Wisconsin, Minnesota & Pacific Railroad, and distributed at the stations along the latter road. But this will deprive the Wisconsin, Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company of the benefit of a much longer haul on dearer wood. The loss of revenue which will result to it by reason thereof is one of the grounds of its complaint here. A large number of cattle are raised in the territory tributary to the Wisconsin, Minnesota & Pacific Railroad west of Hanley Falls. For such of these cattle as are fat enough for beef, Minneapolis and St. Paul are the best market, but, for the stockers and feeders, Sioux City or Omaha is the best market. But there is no way of reaching Sioux City or Omaha with cars of stock shipped from said territory over said last-named road, except by running the cars first to Hopkins, within 8 miles of Minneapolis, and then transferring them to another railroad with which the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway Company has traffic arrangements, and running the cars over such other road to Sioux City or Omaha. The distance from Hanley Falls to Sioux City by this route is 380 miles, while the distance from Hanley Falls to Sioux City over the Willmar & Sioux Falls Railroad is but 181 miles. Making the connection in question will deprive the Wisconsin, Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company of the benefit of such longer haul on such stockers and feeders, and the loss of revenue which will result to it by reason thereof is another ground of its complaint.

1. Appellant Wisconsin, Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company contends that, as the shipping of stock to Sioux City and Omaha is interstate commerce, the state tribunals have no jurisdiction over it, and must not take into consideration the question of the transferring of cars of such stock when determining the necessity of a connection at this crossing. Conceding, without deciding, that the state tribunals would have no jurisdiction to require the making of this connection for the sole...