Spokane British Columbia Railway Company v. Washington Great Northern Railway Company

• Decision Date: 03 January 1911
• Docket Number: No. 49,49
• Citation: 31 S.Ct. 182,219 U.S. 166,55 L.Ed. 159
• Parties: SPOKANE & BRITISH COLUMBIA RAILWAY COMPANY, Plff. in Err., v. WASHINGTON & GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY, Washington Improvement & Development Company, John Hughes, et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

219 U.S. 166

31 S.Ct. 182

55 L.Ed. 159

SPOKANE & BRITISH COLUMBIA RAILWAY COMPANY, Plff. in Err.,

v WASHINGTON & GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY, Washington Improvement & Development Company, John Hughes, et al.

No. 49.

Submitted November 29, 1910.

Decided January 3, 1911.

Messrs. William T. Beck, W. C. Keegin, and A. M. Craven for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 166-168 intentionally omitted] Mr. Thomas R. Benton for defendants in error.

[Argument of Counsel from page 168 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Day delivered the opinion of the court:

In this case the Spokane & British Columbia Railway Company, plaintiff in error, began an action in the superior court of the state of Washington for Ferry county, to enjoin the Washington & Great Northern Railway Company, the Washington Improvement & Development Company, and others, from interfering with the use of a certain right of way for railway purposes through the Colville Indian Reservation in the state of Washington, which, it was alleged, belonged to the plaintiff. The plaintiff had judgment in its favor in the superior court. Upon proceedings in error, the judgment was reversed and a judgment entered in favor of the present defendants in error, defendants below. 49 Wash. 280, 95 Pac. 64. To that judgment a writ of error was sued out from this court.

The case presents a conflict between the right of way of the Spokane & British Columbia Railway Company and a right of way theretofore granted by the United States to the Washington Improvement & Development Company, grantor of the Washington & Great Northern Railway Company. The case is stated in the supreme court of Washington as follows:

'By an act of Congress approved June 4, 1898 [30 Stat. at L. 430, chap. 377], there was granted to the appellant Washington Improvement & Development Company, and to its assigns, a right of way for its railway, telegraph, and telephone lines through the Colville Indian Reservation, beginning on the Columbia river near the mouth of the Sans Poil river, running thence northerly through said reservation toward the international line. There was also granted grounds adjacent for the purposes of stations, other buildings, side tracks, and switch tracks. The act provided for the filing of maps showing the route when determined upon, said maps of definite location to be approved by the Secretary of the Interior. These maps were subsequently filed, and were approved by the Honorable Secretary prior to November 27, 1899. Before the commencement of this action, the Washington Improvement & Development Company transferred all of its rights, privileges, and immunities acquired under this act of Congress to the appellant Washington & Great Northern Railway Company. Since the filing and approval of the maps of definite location, as aforesaid, this respondent [plaintiff in error here], acting under authority of the act of Congress of March 3, 1875 [18 Stat. at L. 482, chap. 152, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 1568], and the act of Congress of March 2, 1899 [30 Stat. at L. 990, chap. 374, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 1581], located a route for its railway over practically the same line indicated by the maps filed by the Washington Improvement & Development Company, as aforesaid, and filed its maps with the Secretary of the Interior, who approved the same on October 17, 1905. The act of June 4, 1898, under which appellants [defendants in error here] claim, contained the following provision:

"Provided, That when a map showing any portion of said railway company's located line is filed herein, as provided for, said company shall commence grading said located line within six months thereafter or such shall be approved by the secretary of the shall be approved by the secretary of the Interior in sections of twenty-five miles before the construction of any such section shall be begun.'

'Section 5 of the statute reads as follows:

"That the right herein granted shall be forfeited by said company unless at least twenty-five miles of said railroad shall be constructed through the said reservation within two years after the passage of this act.'

'Neither the Washington Improvement & Development Company nor its successor, the Washington & Great Northern Railway Company, commenced grading within six months after the approval of its maps of definite location, nor did it construct 25 miles of railroad, nor any, within two years after the passage of the act. For these reasons the respondent claims that appellant's location of the strip indicated by its map bacame void and forfeited, and that respondent had a right to go upon the same strip of land, and survey and locate its line of railway; that having surveyed and marked out its proposed line of railway upon substantially this same strip of ground after the expiration of two years, and its said maps of location having been approved by the Secretary of the Interior, respondent claims that its location thereupon is legal, and that appellants have no rights whatever in the premises, and should be enjoined from in any manner interfering (which appellants were doing) with the respondent's use and occupancy thereof.'

From this statement it is apparent that the case turns upon the rights of the defendants in error, the Washington & Great Northern Railway Company, in the right of way, as the successor of the Washington Improvement & Development Company, in view of the facts just stated.

The grant to the Washington Improvement & Development Company, to it and its assigns, by the act of Congress of June 4, 1898 (30 Stat. at L. 430, chap. 377), was of the right of way for its railway, telegraph, and telephone lines in and through the Colville Indian Reservation in the state of Washington, and its language is:

'That there is hereby granted to the Washington Improvement & Development Company, a...