Joseph Naganab v. Ethan Allen Hitchcock

Decision Date21 May 1906
Docket NumberNo. 247,247
Citation50 L.Ed. 1113,26 S.Ct. 667,202 U.S. 473
PartiesJOSEPH NAGANAB, Appt. , v. ETHAN ALLEN HITCHCOCK, Secretary of the Interior
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Mr. Tracy L. Jeffords for appellant.

Messrs. William C. Pollock and Frank L. Campbell for appellee.

Mr. Justice Day delivered the opinion of the court:

In this suit a bill was filed in the supreme court of the District of Columbia by Joseph Naganab against Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Secretary of the Interior. Complainant brought the suit as a citizen of the United States and a member of the band and tribe of Chippewa Indians of the state of Minnesota suing for himself and other members of the band and tribe. The bill is quite voluminous, but in substance sets out the alleged right and title of the Indians who had conveyed certain lands under the act of Congress of January 14, 1889 [25 Stat. at L. 642, chap. 24], to the United States, to be administered for their benefit. The bill averred that under the act of Congress the Indians of the state of Minnesota had conveyed to the United States upwards of 3,555,771 acres of land, constituting certain reservations named, all of which lands and reservations were held by the United States under conveyances in trust for the benefit of the Indians; that the Secretary of the Interior had caused the lands to be classified as required by the act, and that approximately 1,500,000 acres thereof were classified as pine lands, 1,855,000 acres as agricultural lands; 600,000 acres of the lands, classified under the said act as pine lands, were situated in certain reservations, to wit, Chippewas of the Mississippi, Leech lake, Cass lake, and Lake Winnibigoshish; that upon said last-mentioned area, there was and is growing a large amount of merchantable pine timber, reasonably worth $10,000,000. The value of the lands classified as agricultural lands, to be sold under said act for $1.25 per acre, is $2,318,750. And it is averred that it is the right of the Chippewa Indians to have certain of the lands sold, the proceeds to draw 5 per cent interest for fifty years, and the interest money to be used for the benefit of the Indians, as provided in the act, and, at the expiration of the fifty years, the balance of the principal sum remaining to be paid to the Indians.

The complaint is of the act of June 27, 1902 [32 Stat. at L. 400, chap. 1157] amendatory of the act of January 14, 1889. It is averred that at the time of the passage of the latter act there yet remained 600,000 acres of pine lands, and 200,000 acres of agricultural lands, which ought to be disposed of in pursuance of said trust in favor of the Indians; that the pine lands are worth upwards of $10,000,000, and the agricultural lands $1.25 per acre; that, without the consent of the Indians, a portion of the pine lands was set off as a forest reservation, the timber on this land being of the value of $3,000,000; that the rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior for the selling and removal thereof would reduce the value of the pine timber to an amount...

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  • United States v. Mitchell
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • 27 Junio 1983
    ...Band of Pomo Indians, Inc. v. United States, 363 F.Supp. 1238, 1243-1248 (ND Cal.1973). 32 See Naganab v. Hitchcock, 202 U.S. 473, 475-476, 26 S.Ct. 667, 667-668, 50 L.Ed. 1113 (1906). In 1976 Congress enacted a general consent to such suits. See 5 U.S.C. § 33 In the Federal Courts Improvem......
  • North Side Canal Co. v. Twin Falls Canal Co.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Idaho
    • 19 Abril 1926
    ...States, the court is without jurisdiction, in the absence of an act of Congress waiving immunity from suit. Naganab v. Hitchcock, 26 S. Ct. 667, 202 U. S. 473, 50 L. Ed. 1113. The suit necessarily involves a consideration of the Carey Act (section 4, c. 301, of the Laws of 1894, 28 Stat. 42......
  • Mitchell v. United States
    • United States
    • U.S. Claims Court
    • 24 Enero 1979
    ...monetary relief in this court for claims founded on a statute such as the General Allotment Act. See Naganab v. Hitchcock, 202 U.S. 473, 475-76, 26 S.Ct. 667, 50 L.Ed. 1113 (1906); Affiliated Ute Citizens v. United States, 406 U.S. 128, 141-43, 92 S.Ct. 1456, 31 L.Ed.2d 741 (1972); United S......
  • Morrison v. Work
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • 5 Enero 1925
    ...later legislation were considered in Minnesota v. Hitchcock, 185 U. S. 373, 385, 22 S. Ct. 650, 46 L. Ed. 954; Naganab v. Hitchcock, 202 U. S. 473, 26 S. Ct. 667, 50 L. Ed. 1113; Fairbanks v. United States, 223 U. S. 215, 32 S. Ct. 292, 56 L. Ed. 409; United States v. Mille Lac Band of Chip......
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