State of Iowa v. State of Illinois

• Decision Date: 03 January 1893
• Docket Number: No. 5,5
• Citation: 147 U.S. 1,37 L.Ed. 55,13 S.Ct. 239
• Parties: STATE OF IOWA v. STATE OF ILLINOIS
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

147 U.S. 1

13 S.Ct. 239

37 L.Ed. 55

STATE OF IOWA

v STATE OF ILLINOIS.

No. 5.

January 3, 1893.

John Y. Stone, Atty. Gen., and James C. Davis, for complainant.

George Hunt, Atty. Gen., for defendant.

Mr. Justice FIELD delivered the opinion of the court.

The Mississippi river flows between the states of Iowa and Illinois. It is a navigable stream, and constitutes the boundary between the two states; and the controversy between them is as to the position of the line between its banks or shores which separates the jurisdiction of the two states for the purpose of taxation and other purposes of government.

The complainant, the state of Iowa, contends that for taxation, and for all other purposes, the boundary line is the middle of the main body of the river, taking the middle line between its banks or shores without regard to the 'steamboat channel,' as it is termed, or deepest part of the stream, and that, to determine the banks or shores, the measurements must be taken when the water is in its natural or ordinary stage, neither swollen by floods nor shrunk by droughts.

On the other hand, the defendant, the state of Illinois, claims that, for taxation and all other purposes, its jurisdiction extends to the middle of 'the steamboat channel' of the river, wherever that may be, whether on its east or west bank,—the channel upon which commerce on the river by steamboats or other vessels is usually conducted, and which for that reason is sometimes designated as 'the channel of commerce.'

The state of Iowa in its bill alleges that prior to and at the time of the treaty between England, France, and Spain, in 1763, (3 Jenkinson's Collection of Treaties, p. 177,) the territory now comprising the state of Iowa was under the dominion of France, and the territory now comprising the state of Illinois was under the dominion of Great Britain, and that, by the treaty named, the middle of the river Mississippi was made the boundary line between the British and French possessions in North America.

That, by the treaty of Paris between Great Britain and the United States, which was concluded September 3, 1783, (Id. p. 410, art. 2, and 8 St. p. 80,) the territory comprising the state of Illinois passed to the United States and that by the purchase of Louisiana from France, under the treaty of 1803, (8 St. p. 208,) the territory comprising the state of Iowa passed to the United States.

That the boundary between the territory comprising the states of Illinois and Iowa remained the middle of the river Mississippi, as fixed by the treaty of 1763.

That by the act of congress of April 18, 1818, known as the 'Act Enabling the People of Illinois to Form a State Constitution,' (3 St. p. 428,) the northern and western boundaries of Illinois were defined as follows: Starting in the middle of Lake Michigan, at north latitude 42 degrees and 30 minutes, 'thence west to the middle of the Mississippi river, and thence down along the middle of that river to its confluence with the Ohio river;' and that the constitutions of Illinois of 1818, 1848, and 1870 defined the boundaries in the same way.

And the bill further alleges that the state of Illinois and its several municipalities bordering on the Mississippi river claim the right to assess and do assess and tax, as in Illinois, all bridges and other structures in the river from the Illinois shore to the middle of the steamboat channel, or channel of the river usually traversed by steam and other crafts in carrying the commerce of the river, whether such channel is east or west of the middle of the main body or arm of the river, and that they thus assess and tax, as in that state, the bridge of the Keokuk & Hamilton Bridge Company across the river from Keokuk, Iowa, to Island No. 4, in Hancock county, Ill., from the west shore of the island westward 2,462 feet to the east end of the draw of the bridge, and to a point not over 580 feet east from the Iowa shore of the river and 941 feet west of the middle of the main arm or body of the river at that point.

That the steamboat channel, or channel of the river where boats ordinarily run in carrying the commerce of the river, varies from side to side of the river, sometimes being next to the Illinois shore and then next to the Iowa shore, and at most points in the river shifting from place to place as the sands of its bed are changed by the current of the water; that at the point of the Keokuk & Hamilton bridge, mentioned the river bed is rock, and not subject to much change; that at that point, were it not for the bridge, the middle of the steamboat channel would be, and was before the bridge was erected, fully 300 feet east of the east end of the draw in the bridge, or 880 feet from the Iowa shore of the river and 2,162 feet from the shore of the river in Illinois on Island No. 4; that at places in the river there are two or more channels equally accessible and useful for navigation by steamboats and other crafts carrying the commerce of the river; and that at the Keokuk & Hamilton bridge the channel used by steamboats is partly artificial, constructed by excavation of rock from the river bed to facilitate the approach to the lock of the United States canal immediately north of the bridge.

That the state of Iowa claims the right to tax all bridges across the river to the middle thereof, and does tax the Keokuk & Hamilton bridge to its middle between the east and west abutments thereof,—that is, the west approach and abutment, 200 feet, and 1,096 feet of the bridge proper,—thereby treating, for convenience of taxation, the middle of the bridge between abutments as the middle of the river at that point, but which is in fact 225 feet less than one half the distance across the main arm or body of the river at that point.

That the state of Illinois and its municipalities assess and tax, as in that state, 716 feet of the bridge actually assessed and taxed in Iowa, and 225 feet of the bridge, in addition thereto, located in Iowa, but not taxed in that state.

That the Keokuk & Hamilton Bridge Company, owner of the Keokuk & Hamilton bridge, is a corporation of both of said states, consolidated, and complains of such double taxation.

That litigation is now pending over such taxation, and is liable at any time to arise over the taxation of any of the other bridges across the river between the said states, now nine in number.

To the end, therefore, that the line between the states may be definitely fixed by the only court having jurisdiction to do so. the complainant prays that this court will take jurisdiction of this bill, and that the state of Illinois be summoned and requested to answer it, waiving such answer being on oath, and that upon the final hearing this court will definitely settle the boundary between the states at the said several bridges.

To this bill the state of Illinois appeared by its attorney general and filed its answer, which denied that the boundary line between the states of Iowa and Illinois is the middle of the Mississippi river, and insisted that it is the middle of the steamboat channel, or channel commonly used by boats in carrying the commerce of the river, whether east or west of the middle of the river. It admitted that the state and its municipalities claimed the right to tax and did tax bridges and other structures in the river to the middle of the steamboat channel or channel of commerce, whether such channel was east or west of the middle of the main body or arm of the river, and did assess and tax the Keokuk & Hamilton bridge to its draw, and west of the middle of the main body or arm of the river; and that the steamboat channel or channel of commerce is first near one shore. and then near the other, and at other places nearly across the river. But it denied the right of the state of Iowa to tax the bridges mentioned crossing the Mississippi river to any point east of the middle of the steamboat channel, or channel of commerce of that river.

To the answer a replication was filed by the state of Iowa.

At the time of filing its answer the state of Illinois filed also its cross bill, in which it alleges that there exist nine bridges across the Mississippi river between the states, the most southern of which is the Keokuk & Hamilton Railroad bridge, and the most northern the Dunlieth & Dubuque Bridge Company's railroad bridge.

That for the purposes of taxation the state of Illinois and its municipalities claim the right to assess and tax the respective bridges to the middle of the channel of commerce or steamboat channel,—that is, the channel usually used by steamboats and other crafts navigating the river; and that on the part of the state of Iowa and its municipalities it is claimed that each state has the right to assess and tax to the middle of the main arm or body of the river, regardless of where the channel of commerce or steamboat channel may be.

That the supreme court of Iowa, in the case of Dunlieth & D. B. Co. v. County of Dubuque, 55 iowa, 558, 8 N. W. Rep. 443, held that the authorities in Iowa have the right to tax such structures to the middle of the main arm or body of the stream, and no further, though at the point where such structure is situated the channel or part of the river followed by steamboat men in navigating the river is far east of the middle of such main body of the stream.

That, following the decision in that case, the authorities in Iowa assess and tax such structures to the middle of the main body of the river.

That at the point of the location of the Keokuk & Hamilton bridge the main body of the river, before the construction of the bridge, was between the Iowa shore at Keokuk, Lee county, Iowa, and the west shore of Island No. 4, located in the city of Hamilton, Hancock county, Ill., a breadth of about 3,042 feet; that in constructing the bridge a solid approach is extended from the shore at Keokuk into the river 200 feet, and from the shore on Island No. 4, in...