State ex rel. Harrison v. State Board of Land Commissioners

• Citation: 10 Wyo. 413,69 P. 562
• Parties: STATE, EX REL. HARRISON, v. STATE BOARD OF LAND COMMISSIONERS
• Decision Date: 23 July 1902
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

69 P. 562

10 Wyo. 413

STATE, EX REL. HARRISON, v. STATE BOARD OF LAND COMMISSIONERS

Supreme Court of Wyoming

July 23, 1902

ORIGINAL proceeding on mandamus.

This suit was instituted in the Supreme Court on the relation of Frank O. Harrison for a writ of mandamus to require the State Board of Land Commissioners to issue to him a lease of state lands in renewal of a former lease, and at the same rental. The right of renewal was based upon the fact that the said lessee had reclaimed the land by irrigation.

N. E Corthell, for relator.

J. A Van Orsdel, Attorney General, for respondent.

POTTER CHIEF JUSTICE. CORN, J., and KNIGHT, J., concur.

OPINION

POTTER, CHIEF JUSTICE.

The relator, Frank O. Harrison, asks the aid of the writ of mandamus to require the Board of Land Commissioners to issue to him a lease of certain state lands for the period of five years in renewal of a former lease, and at the same rental and upon the same terms and conditions as such former lease.

There is no disputed question of fact between the parties. The case was submitted upon an agreed statement of facts. It appears therefrom that January 17, 1896, the board entered into a lease with Harrison for said lands covering the period of five years thereafter, and that the annual rental was paid by the lessee, who also complied with the other conditions of the lease. Prior to the expiration of the lease, viz., December 1, 1900, the lessee filed an application for a new lease, and the board proceeded to place a valuation upon the lands in excess of that fixed at the time of the original lease, and to increase the annual rental accordingly. Thereafter the lessee made proof that prior to the expiration of his lease he had reclaimed all the lands by irrigation, had provided suitable ditches for the full and complete reclamation thereof, and had secured an adequate and perpetual water supply for said lands, which irrigation and cultivation and the raising of crops of hay and grass thereon had been continued; and by way of amendment to his application, the relator applied for a renewal of his lease for the term of five years, under the provisions of Section 815, Revised Statutes. The board declined to recognize the relator's right to such renewal, except upon the basis of the new valuation, and refused to issue a new lease at the same rental as that fixed by the former lease.

The right of the relator to a renewal of his lease, as provided by Section 815, in the case of the reclamation of the leased lands by the lessee, is conceded, but it is denied that the lessee in such cases is entitled to a renewal at the same rental as that stipulated in the original lease; and this is the only question in dispute.

In the case of Cooper v. McCormick (decided at the present term) we had occasion to examine and construe Section 815 in regard to certain particulars. The object...