N. Pac. R. Co. v. Scott & Holston Lumber Co.

• Decision Date: 15 June 1898
• Citation: 75 N.W. 737,73 Minn. 25
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court
• Parties: NORTHERN PAC. R. CO. ET AL. v SCOTT & HOLSTON LUMBER CO.

73 Minn. 25

75 N.W. 737

NORTHERN PAC. R. CO. ET AL.vSCOTT & HOLSTON LUMBER CO.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

June 15, 1898.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

1. The owner of certain lands bordering on the Bay of St. Louis platted them, including a portion of the submerged lands appurtenant thereto, and made and recorded a plat thereof, on which was indicated a public alley 30 feet wide in front of one of the shore blocks. Next in front of this alley lines were drawn on the plat embracing a tract of submerged land 200 feet in width, which was the outermost lot or tract platted. Its exterior line, which was the outermost line on the plat, was marked, “Property Line of L. S. & M. R. R.” The railroad company then occupied this tract with its railway track, and afterwards the platter conveyed the tract to it. Held, that the riparian rights originally incident to the shore block were severed therefrom by the plat, and attached to the outermost tract.

2. The deed by which the tract was conveyed contained other lots of land, but the description thereof was wholly disconnected with the description of the tract in question. The description of the lot was followed by the statement that it included riparian rights. No such words followed the description of the tract. Held, that the riparian rights which the platter had annexed to the tract passed by the conveyance thereof.

Appeal from district court, St. Louis county; S. H. Moer, Judge.

Action by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company and others against the Scott & Holston Lumber Company. Findings for plaintiffs. New trial denied, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.

The following is a copy of the plat referred to in opinion:Billson, Congdon & Dickinson, for appellant.

Washburn, Lewis & Bailey, for respondents.

START, C. J.

This was an action to determine adverse claims to certain lands and submerged lands lying on and in the Bay of St. Louis. The trial in the court below involved the rights of the respective parties to several tracts or lots, with the riparian rights appurtenant thereto, but on this appeal the contest is limited to the question of the ownership of the submerged lands or riparian rights originally incident to the lands which were afterwards platted as odd-numbered lots 341 to 351, both inclusive, of block 14, Duluth proper, Second division. The trial court made its findings of fact upon this question, and found that the plaintiff was the owner of such riparian rights, and that the defendant had no title or interest thereto or therein, and ordered judgment accordingly. The defendant appealed from an order denying its motion for a new trial.

The only error assigned is that the conclusions of law are not justified by the facts found, which are, so far as here material, substantially these: In the year 1869 the Western Land Association owned the lands and adjacent shores of one corner of the Bay of St. Louis, lying at the base of Rice's Point on its westerly side. The Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad in that year constructed along certain of the submerged lands, and some distance from the shore, its railway track, which its successors have ever since kept and maintained. In 1870 the Western Land Association made and filed for record the plat of Duluth proper, Second division, which embraces the premises in question. A true copy of this plat, marked “Exhibit A,” so far as here material, was made a part of the court's findings. On this plat, and on the southerly side of block 14, there was marked an alley, designated on the plat as “30-Foot Alley.” The lots in the southerly half of block 14 front on this alley and the odd-numbered lots thereof, 341 to 351, extend into the water. Immediately in front of this alley, and towards the line of navigable water, lines were drawn on the plat, inclosing a tract of submerged land 200 feet in width, extending from block J on the east to block K on the west through the waters of the bay. The southerly line of this tract is the outermost line from the southerly half of block 14 into the bay, and is marked on the plat, “Property Line of L. S. & M. R. R.” So far as appears from the evidence, the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad had no title to this tract 200 feet in width at the time the plat was made and recorded, other than may be implied, if at all, from its railway track being thereon, and from the plat itself. But thereafter, and on March 1, 1873, the Western Land Association by special warranty deed conveyed this tract to the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad, and the plaintiff has succeeded to its title thereto. It also, by the same deed, conveyed certain lots in blocks J, K, and G, in the same plat, “including all riparian rights and privileges belonging to any and all of the above tracts except such rights and privileges belonging to said lots in block K.” Then follows a separate description of the tract 200 feet in width above referred to, without any express mention of riparian rights. In 1874 the Western Land...