Six Cos. v. De Vinney

• Decision Date: 15 February 1933
• Docket Number: No. G-195.,G-195.
• Citation: 2 F. Supp. 693
• Parties: SIX COS., Inc., v. DE VINNEY, County Assessor.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Nevada

2 F. Supp. 693

SIX COS., Inc., v. DE VINNEY, County Assessor.

No. G-195.

District Court, D. Nevada.

February 15, 1933.

Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe, and Thelen & Marrin, all of San Francisco, Cal., for plaintiff.

Gray Mashburn, Atty. Gen., of Nevada, W. T. Mathews, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Harley A. Harmon, Dist. Atty., of Las Vegas, Nev., for defendant.

Richard J. Coffey, Dist. Counsel, Bureau of Reclamation, of Los Angeles, Cal., and H. H. Atkinson, U. S. Atty., of Reno, Nev., amici curiæ.

NORCROSS, District Judge.

Plaintiff by its bill of complaint prays for a decree enjoining defendant from proceeding with the enforcement and collection of taxes upon personal property of plaintiff and the demanding of payment of all poll taxes claimed to be due from its employees. Plaintiff contends it is not liable for such taxes for the reason that the said property is located within and said employees are employed and reside within the Boulder Canyon Project Federal Reservation, on which the state of Nevada is claimed to have ceded jurisdiction. Exemption is also claimed for the further reason urged that plaintiff is an instrumentality of the federal government. See Six Companies v. Stinson (D. C.) 58 F.(2d) 649.

Primarily, it is urged that the state of Nevada is without jurisdiction to enforce its laws over the area in question by reason of the establishment of what is styled the Boulder Canyon Project Federal Reservation, and compliance with the provisions of an act of the Legislature of the State of Nevada, approved February 24, 1921 (St. 1921, c. 23, p. 27) entitled: "An Act ceding the jurisdiction of this state over certain lands owned or to be acquired by the United States and repealing certain acts relating thereto." Nevada Comp. Laws 1929, §§ 2895-2898.

So much of the body of the said act as is material reads:

"Section 1. The consent of the State of Nevada is hereby given, in accordance with the seventeenth clause, eighth section of the first article of the constitution of the United States, to the acquisition by the United States, by purchase condemnation or otherwise, of any land in this state which has been, or may hereafter be, acquired for sites for customhouses, courthouses, postoffices, arsenals, or other public buildings whatever, or for any other purpose of the government.

"Sec. 2. The exclusive jurisdiction in and over any land so acquired by the United States shall be, and the same is hereby, ceded to the United States for all purposes except the service upon such sites of all civil and criminal process of the courts of this state, but the jurisdiction so ceded shall continue no longer than the said United States shall own such lands; provided, that an accurate description and plat of such lands so acquired, verified by the oath of some officer of the general government having knowledge of the facts, shall be filed with the governor of this state.

"Sec. 3. The jurisdiction hereby ceded shall not vest until the United States shall have acquired the title to the said lands by purchase, condemnation or otherwise; and so long as the said lands shall remain the property of the United States when acquired as aforesaid, and no longer, the same shall be and continue exempt and exonerated from all state, county and municipal assessment, taxation or other charges which may be levied or imposed under the authority of this state."

The Boulder Canyon Project Act, enacted by Congress and approved December 21, 1928 (45 Stat. 1057 to 1066, 43 USCA §§ 617 to 617t), by its first section (617) provides: "For the purpose of controlling the floods, improving navigation and regulating the flow of the Colorado River, providing * * * for reclamation of public lands and other beneficial uses, * * * and for the generation of electrical energy * * * the Secretary of the Interior, * * * is hereby authorized to construct, operate, and maintain a dam and incidental works in the main stream of the Colorado River at Black Canyon or Boulder Canyon adequate to create a storage reservoir of a capacity of not less than twenty million acre-feet of water and a main canal and appurtenant structures * * * connecting the Laguna Dam, or other suitable diversion dam, * * * with the Imperial and Coachella Valleys in California, * * * and to acquire by proceedings in eminent domain, or otherwise, all lands, rights of way, and other property necessary for said purposes."

By section 617e it is provided: "The title to said dam, reservoir, plant, and incidental works shall forever remain in the United States. * * *"

By section 617m it is provided: "This chapter shall be deemed a supplement to the reclamation law, which said reclamation law shall govern the construction, operation, and management of the works herein authorized, except as otherwise herein provided."

See Arizona v. California et al., 283 U. S. 423, 51 S. Ct. 522, 75 L. Ed. 1154, sustaining the validity of this act.

On May 26, 1931, there was filed with the Governor of the State of Nevada a plat designated, "Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation Boulder Canyon Project Federal Reservation in Nevada." Attached thereto was an affidavit made by the Secretary of the Interior of date May 15, 1931, in part reading: "I, Ray Lyman Wilbur, Secretary of the Interior, having knowledge of the facts, do hereby certify that this diagram is a true and accurate representation of the area constituting the Boulder Canyon Project Federal Reservation of the United States in Nevada; that except as to certain lands in private ownership hereinafter referred to, the title to the area shown upon this diagram is in the United States, and that said area so owned by the United States is set apart and reserved by the United States for its use in the construction of the Hoover Dam, the Power Plant and the incidental works authorized by the Boulder Canyon Project Act of December 21, 1928 (45 Stat. 1057); and that said area so owned by the United States is described as follows:"

Here follows a description of the boundaries of the reservation and a reference to certain lands therein held in private ownership comprising six patented mining claims, and the right of way for Los Angeles & Salt Lake (U. P.) Railroad from a point on the west boundary of the reservation to the town of Boulder City and for station grounds at said city.

The boundaries of the said reservation, as delineated on the said plat, may be briefly described as follows: Beginning at a point in the center of the Colorado river approximately six miles southerly of the Hoover Dam site; thence west eleven miles; thence north three miles, twenty chains; thence east two miles; thence north nine miles, 60 chains; thence east twelve miles; thence south approximately one-half mile to the center of Colorado river; thence following the center of the Colorado river to the point of beginning. The area of the reservation is approximately 115 square miles.

The said plat also shows the course of the Colorado river; the location of the Hoover Dam to be constructed therein; the town site of Boulder City as being approximately seven miles southwesterly from the dam site; the L. A. & S. L. (U. P.) R. R. branch line to Boulder City; state highway paralleling same; United States Construction Railroad and United States highway from Boulder City to the dam site.

The plat was submitted for filing together with a letter from the Secretary of the Interior to the Governor, of date May 19, 1931, the material portions of which read:

"Pursuant to the seventeenth clause of article 1, section 8 of the Constitution of the United States, and to section 2897 of the Nevada Compiled Laws, 1929, there is attached hereto for filing in your office an accurate description and plat or diagram showing lands embraced within the Boulder Canyon Project Federal Reservation in Clark County, Nevada, the establishment of which is hereby declared effective the date on which this letter and its accompanying enclosures are filed in your office. This reservation is established in order to facilitate the construction and operation of the Hoover Dam, power plant, and appurtenant works authorized by the Boulder Canyon Project Act of December 21, 1928 (45 Stat. 1057).

"Within the area described on said plat or diagram exclusive jurisdiction shall be exercised by the United States for all purposes except the service of civil and criminal process of the courts of the State of Nevada, as duly authorized by law."

To the letter of the Secretary, the Governor of Nevada replied by letter, of date of May 26, 1931, the body of which reads:

"This will acknowledge receipt at the hands of Chief Engineer R. F. Walter of the Bureau of Reclamation, of your letter of May 19th, with accompanying map of the Boulder Canyon Project Federal Reservation in Clark County, Nevada, which last has been filed in this office, and transmitted to the Surveyor General of Nevada for recording and filing in that office.

"It is noted that within the area described upon said plat or diagram, exclusive jurisdiction shall be exercised by the United States for all purposes except the service of civil and criminal process of the courts of the State of Nevada, as duly authorized by law."

Defendants introduced in evidence a letter from Governor Balzar to Secretary Wilbur, of date of December 16, 1931, the body of which, in part, reads:

"Reference is hereby made to your letter of May 19, 1931, * * * and, also, to my letter to you of May 26, 1931 * * *.

"I am sure that you will consider my letter to you of that date * * * not as either admitting or acquiescing in either the sufficiency or legality of your said act or acts in attempting to establish what you refer to in your letter as `Boulder Canyon Project Federal Reservation,' or as any admission or acquiescence upon the part of the State of Nevada, that said Reservation was thereby or at all legally or actually created or established, or that any such...