U.S. v. Idaho

• Decision Date: 28 July 1998
• Docket Number: No. CV94-328-N-EJL.,CV94-328-N-EJL.
• Citation: 95 F.Supp.2d 1094
• Parties: In re Suit to Quiet Title to That Portion of The Bed And Banks of The Coeur D'alene Lake and St. Joe River Lying Within The Exterior Boundaries of The 1873 Coeur D'alene Reservation. UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Counterdefendant, and Coeur D'Alene Tribe, Plaintiff in Intervention Counterdefendant in Intervention, v. State of IDAHO, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Idaho

95 F.Supp.2d 1094

In re Suit to Quiet Title to That Portion of The Bed And Banks of The Coeur D'alene Lake and St. Joe River Lying Within The Exterior Boundaries of The 1873 Coeur D'alene Reservation.

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Counterdefendant, and Coeur D'Alene Tribe, Plaintiff in Intervention Counterdefendant in Intervention, v. State of IDAHO, Defendant.

No. CV94-328-N-EJL.

United States District Court, D. Idaho.

July 28, 1998.

Lois J. Schiffer, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Land & Natural Resources Division, Kevin K Washburn, U.S. Dept of Justice, Indian Resources Section, Envir. and Nat. Resources Div., Hank Meshorer, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Environ. & Nat. Resources Div., Washington, DC, for plaintiffs.

Steven W. Strack, DAG, Clive J. Strong, Matthew J. McKeown, Office of Attorney General, Natural Resources Division, Boise, ID, for defendant.

Raymond C. Givens, Brian J. Cleary, Givens, Funke & Work, Coeur d'alene, ID, for Plaintiff-Intervenor.

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER

LODGE, District Judge.

I. Introduction

This case involves a dispute over the ownership of the bed and banks of Coeur d'Alene Lake and the St. Joe River (the "submerged lands") lying within the exterior boundaries of the present-day Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation. The United States of America acting in its own capacity and as trustee for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe of Idaho (the "Tribe") initiated the current action against the State of Idaho seeking to quiet title to the submerged lands for the benefit of the Tribe and its members. In addition to its title claim, the United States prays for a declaratory judgment to establish the Tribe's exclusive use, occupancy and right to the quiet enjoyment of the submerged lands. Finally, the United States seeks a permanent injunction prohibiting the State from asserting any right, title or other interest to such lands.

By leave of the Court, the Tribe intervened to assert independently its beneficial interest in the submerged lands based on the theory of "recognized title" and, alternatively, to claim ownership to the same lands pursuant to unextinguished "aboriginal or Indian title." The State answered and counterclaimed, requesting that the title of the submerged lands be quieted in favor of Idaho. The matter was then tried before the Court without a jury. The Court's decision is set forth below and constitutes its findings of fact and conclusions of law.

II. Historical Background

The Tribe once inhabited more than 3.5 million acres in what is now northern Idaho and northeastern Washington. On June 14, 1867, President Andrew Johnson established by Executive Order a reservation for the Tribe. The 1867 reservation consisted for the most part of an area known as Hangman Valley,¹ lying to the southwest of Coeur d'Alene Lake (the "Lake"). The parties dispute whether the 1867 reservation included any portion of the submerged lands within its exterior boundaries but, at most, the reservation embraced only a small silver of the Lake. The precise boundaries of the 1867 reservation never were established by survey, and the Tribe never formally accepted the reservation as its own.

On July 1, 1873, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs directed a three member Commission to visit non-treaty tribes in Idaho, including the Coeur d'Alenes, for the purpose of inducing the tribes "to abandon their roaming habits and consent to confine themselves within the limits of such reservation or reservations as may be designated for their occupancy." Ex. 309 at 1; Ex. 234 at 17, 385. As the result of negotiations between the Commission and the Tribe, an agreement was reached which entitled the Tribe to a reservation of approximately 598,000 acres and compensation for the relinquishment of all claims to the remainder of its aboriginal lands.

The reservation boundaries established by the 1873 agreement embraced the Hangman Valley, the Coeur d'Alene River (from its mouth to the Coeur d'Alene Mission of the Sacred Heart²), the St. Joe River (from its mouth to the present site of St. Maries), and all but a small portion of the Lake. As such, the 1873 reservation included within its boundaries not only the area set aside by the 1867 Executive Order but also the Lake and other waterways as well as additional tracts of land. The 1873 agreement, however, required approval by Congress before it became binding on the parties.

In a letter dated November 4, 1873, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs advised the Secretary of Interior of the 1873 agreement and recommended that "pending the action of Congress upon said agreement ... the President ... issue an Executive Order setting apart the same for the use of said Indians." Ex. 3240. On November 8, 1873, President Ulysses S. Grant established by Executive Order a reservation for the Tribe that mirrored exactly the legal boundaries delineated in the 1873 agreement:

It is hereby ordered that the following tract of country in the Territory of Idaho be, and the same is hereby, withdrawn from sale and set apart as a reservation for the Coeur d'Alene Indians in said Territory, viz:

Beginning at a point on the top of the dividing ridge between Pine and Latah (Hangmans) Creeks, directly south of a point on said last-named creek 6 miles above the point where the trail from Lewiston to Spokane Bridge crosses said creek; thence in a northeasterly direction in a direct line to the Coeur d'Alene Mission on the Coeur d'Alene River (but not to include the lands of said mission); thence in a westerly direction in a direct line to the point where the Spokane River heads in or leaves the Coeur d'Alene Lakes; thence down along the center of the channel of said Spokane River to the dividing line between the Territories of Idaho and Washington as established by the act of Congress organizing a Territorial government for the Territory of Idaho; thence south along said dividing line to the top of the dividing ridge between Pine and Latah (or Hangmans) Creeks; thence along the top of said ridge to the place of beginning.

Ex. 275 at 72. Although a purpose of the Executive Order was to temporarily set aside the reservation "pending the action of Congress," the 1873 agreement never was ratified by Congress.

The United States conducted a survey of the reservation in 1883. Once the boundaries had been established, Congress sought to extinguish the Tribe's aboriginal title to lands outside the reservation. In 1886, Congress authorized the Secretary of the Interior to negotiate with the Tribe "for the cession of their lands outside the limits of the present Coeur d'Alene reservation." Ex. 649. In 1887, the Tribe and representatives of the United States reached an agreement in which the Tribe ceded

all right, title, and claim which they now have, or ever had, to all lands in said Territories and elsewhere, except the portion of land within the boundaries of their present reservation in the Territory of Idaho, known as the Coeur d'Alene Reservation.

Ex. 215 at 68. The 1887 agreement provided that it "shall not be binding on either party until ratified by Congress." Id. at 69.

Before it had ratified the 1887 agreement, Congress authorized the Secretary of the Interior "to negotiate with the Coeur d'Alene tribe of Indians for the purchase and release by said tribe of such portions of its reservation not agricultural and valuable chiefly for minerals and timber as such tribe shall consent to sell." Ex. 2288 at 1002. The resulting negotiations lead to an agreement in 1889, in which the Tribe ceded the approximate northern third of the 1873 reservation to the United States. The portion of the reservation subject to the 1889 cession included within its boundaries the approximate northern two-thirds of the Lake. The 1889 agreement provided that it was "not binding on either party until ratified by Congress." Ex. 215 at 14.

Prior to congressional ratification of the 1887 and 1889 agreements, Idaho was admitted into the Union. As part of that process, Congress enacted the Idaho Statehood Act, which "accepted, ratified, and confirmed" the Idaho State Constitution. Ex. 221 at 215. The state constitution contains a section disclaiming the State's "right and title to the unappropriated public lands" and lands "owned or held by any Indians or Indian tribes." Ex. 2294 at 415. Shortly after Idaho secured statehood, Congress, on March 3, 1891, ratified the 1887 and 1889 agreements.

With two exceptions, the boundaries of the Coeur d'Alene Reservation remain the same today as established by the congressional ratification of the 1887 and 1889 agreements. In 1894, the Tribe agreed to cede to the United States a one-mile wide strip of the reservation, running from the mouth of the Coeur d'Alene River to the reservation's eastern boundary (the "Harrison cession"). And in 1908, Congress authorized the conveyance to the State of Idaho of land surrounding three small lakes, adjacent to the southern extreme of the Lake. Following its transfer by patent to the State of Idaho in 1911, this area became a public park ("Heyburn State Park").

III. Legal Framework

The United States and the Tribe (collectively, "the Plaintiffs") allege that the Executive Order of 1873 setting apart the reservation also reserved for the benefit of the Tribe the bed and banks of the Lake and other navigable waterways lying within the outer boundaries of the reservation. According to the Plaintiffs, Congress intended to retain, for the benefit of the Tribe, title to the submerged lands included within the reservation created by the 1887 and 1889 agreements.³ In contrast, the State maintains that under the "equal footing" doctrine title to all submerged lands within the exterior boundaries of the 1873 reservation passed to the State of Idaho on July 3, 1890, when Idaho was admitted into the Union.

The United State Supreme Court recently articulated the legal principles relevant to resolving a dispute over the ownership of submerged lands. In United...