State of Michigan v. State of Wisconsin
| Decision Date | 01 March 1926 |
| Docket Number | No. 19,O,19 |
| Citation | 70 L.Ed. 595,270 U.S. 295,46 S.Ct. 290 |
| Parties | STATE OF MICHIGAN v. STATE OF WISCONSIN. riginal |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Messrs. Andrew B. Dougherty, Atty. Gen., Carl D. Mosier, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Merdith P. Sawyer, of Menominee, Mich., for the State of Michigan.
Messrs. Herman L. Ekern, Atty. Gen., and R. M. Rieser, of Madison, Wis., for the State of Wisconsin.
This is an original suit in equity, brought in this court to determine the boundary between the states of Michigan and Wisconsin from the mouth of the Montreal river at Lake Superior to the ship channel entrance from Lake Michigan into Green Bay. By the Enabling Act of June 15, 1836, c. 99, 5 Stat. 49, under which Michigan became a state in 1837, 5 Stat. 144, c. 6, this boundary is described as follows:
'* * * Thence (the mouth of the Montreal river) through the middle of the main channel of the said river Montreal, to the middle of the Lake of the Desert; thence, in a direct line to the nearest head water of the Menominee river; thence, through the middle of that fork of the said river first touched by the said line, to the main channel of the said Menominee river; thence, down the centre of the main channel of the same, to the centre of the most usual ship channel of the Green Bay of Lake Michigan; thence, through the centre of the most usual ship channel of the said bay to the middle of Lake Michigan. * * *' Section 2.
The Territory of Wisconsin was created by an Act of April 20, 1836, c. 54, 5 Stat. 10, 11, and this boundary is there described in the reverse direction * * * 'To a point in the middle of said lake (Michigan), and opposite the main channel of Green Bay, and through said channel and Green Bay to the mouth of the Menominee river; thence through the middle of the main channel of said river, to that head of said river nearest to the Lake of the Desert; thence in a direct line, to the middle of said lake; thence through the middle of the main channel of the Montreal river, to its mouth. * * *' Section 1.
The only difference between the two descriptions is that in the former the call is for the 'most usual ship channel,' while in the latter it is for the 'main channel,' of Green Bay. In the Wisconsin Enabling Act of August 6, 1846, c. 89, 9 Stat. 56, 57, under which the state was admitted by the Act of May 29, 1848, c. 50, 9 Stat. 233, this boundary is described as:
'* * * Running with the boundary line of the state of Michigan, through Lake Michigan, Green Bay, to the mouth of the Menominee river; thence up the channel of said river to the Brule river; thence up said last mentioned river to Lake Brule ; thence along the southern shore of Lake Brule in a direct line to the centre of the channel between Middle and South Islands, in the Lake of the Desert; thence in a direct line to the headwaters of the Montreal river, as marked upon the survey made by Captain Cramm; thence down the main channel of the Montreal river to the middle of Lake Superior.
'* * * That, to prevent all disputes in reference to the jurisdiction of islands in the said Brule and Menominee rivers, the line be so run as to include within the jurisdiction of Michigan all the islands in the Brule and Menominee rivers (to the extent in which said rivers are adopted as a boundary), down to, and inclusive of, the Quinnesec Falls of the Menominee; and from thence the line shall be so run as to include within the jurisdiction of Wisconsin all the islands in the Menominee river, from the falls aforesaid down to the junction of said river with Green Bay: Provided, that the adjustment of boundary, as fixed in this act, between Wisconsin and Michigan shall not be binding on Congress, unless the same shall be ratified by the state of Michigan on or before the first day of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.' Sections 1, 2.
The history of events leading up to the present controversy extends over a period of 80 years, and the evidence, including a multitude of official and other maps and documents, constitutes a long and involved record. The case is reviewed in voluminous, but well-prepared briefs and was helpfully argued at the bar. This mass of material we have examined with the care properly due the importance of the issue and the high character of the parties litigant; but much of it may be put aside as unnecessary for final consideration, since the determination we have reached depends upon a comparatively few decisive facts and circumstances, either undisputed or clearly established.
In the briefs and oral arguments the boundary is divided for purposes of convenient discussion into three distinct sections, namely: (1) The Montreal river section, extending from the mouth of the Montreal river to the Lake of the Desert, and thence to the headwaters of the Menominee river (or to Lake Brule ); (2) the Menominee river section, extending from its headwaters (or from Lake Brule ) to Green Bay; and (3) the Green Bay section, extending from the last-named point through the center of the most usual ship channel of the Green Bay to Lake Michigan. Although our ultimate determination in respect of these three sections rests upon the same basic principle, they are so distinct in their physical characteristics and in respect of much of the evidence peculiarly applicable to each apart from the others that our conclusions will be more clearly formulated and better understood if we adopt the same plan in the examination of the questions which follow. The Montreal River Section.
If we had before us nothing but the language of the Michigan Enabling Act, describing this section of the boundary as extending 'through the middle of the main channel of the said river Montreal, to the middle of the Lake of the Desert,' it would not be easy to avoid the conclusion that it was the understanding of the framers of the act that the river Montreal could be followed to a connection with the Lake of the Desert; and that such was the understanding clearly appears from the record. Moreover, maps in existence at the time of the passage of the act, which were available and must have been known to the framers, depict the Lake of the Desert (or, as it is there called, Lac Vieux Desert) as the source of the Montreal river. But the locality at that time was a wilderness, the topography of which was practically unknown, except to the aboriginal inhabitants and the occasional voyageur, trapper, and hunter, and, following the date of the passage of the act, it was found that in fact the headwaters of the Montreal did not extend to the Lake of the Desert, but fell short of it some 50 or 60 miles. It was subsequently revealed by exploration and surveys that the river from its mouth follows a winding course for several miles eastwardly, and then divides into two branches, the westerly branch to its head following a southerly direction and the easterly branch a southeasterly direction. The westerly branch finds its source in a body of water called Island Lake. The easterly branch finally divides into two small tributaries, called, respectively, the Balsam and Pine. The lake, which in our opinion is sufficiently identified as the one which Congress meant by its call for the Lake of the Desert, is several miles nearer to the point of junction of these tributaries than it is to any point on the westerly branch. Much evidence was submitted on behalf of Michigan in an effort to demonstrate that the westerly branch of the river was the larger stream, and was in fact, and was understood by Congress to be, the upper portion of that river, and that Island Lake, at the head of the westerly branch, was intended by the designation 'Lake of the Desert.' We think it fairly appears, to the contrary, that the easterly, and not the westerly, branch was, and was understood to be, the upper portion of the Montreal; but a positive conclusion to that effect is not necessary, since our judgment turns upon other and independent considerations.
In 1838, an act of Congress, 5 Stat. 244, c. 101, directed that the boundary line in question be 'surveyed, marked, and designated,' and by a later act, approved July 20, 1840, 5 Stat. 404, 407, c. 54, the making of the survey was placed under the superintendence of the War Department. Pursuant to this legislation, one Capt. Cram was directed to make the survey, which he proceeded to do, completing it in 1841. He submitted two reports to Congress, from which it appears that the description of the boundary 'through the middle of the main channel of the said river Montreal, to the middle of the Lake of the Desert,' was an impossible one, and that the line could not be run in complete accordance with it. Carrying out as nearly as possible what he conceived to be the intention of Congress, he fixed the headwaters of the Montreal at the junction of the Balsam and Pine, at a point designated and marked 'Astronomical Station No. 2,' from which point the line was extended in a direct course to the Lake of the Desert. His reports embodies data for the information of Congress, and recommended that action be taken by that body definitely to establish the boundary.
Capt. Cram's first report is dated December, 1840. He begins it with an analysis of the description we have quoted from the Michigan Enabling Act, from which he infers that Congress supposed that the Lake of the Desert discharged itself into the Montreal river; that somewhere between Lake Superior and Green Bay there was a known lake bearing that name, since the description is 'to the middle of the Lake of the Desert'; that of the various headwaters discharging into the Menominee river one would be found nearest to the Lake of the Desert, since that is the call; and that this would be found to be a branch of the Menominee, and not a lake, since the description is, 'through the middle of...
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