United States v. Lane Same v. Gulf Refining Co of Louisiana Same v. Southwestern Gas Electric Co Same v. Gulf Refining Co of Louisiana Same v. Greene Smae v. Loucks
| Decision Date | 22 January 1923 |
| Docket Number | No. 163,No. 191,No. 161,No. 160,No. 192,No. 162,160,163,162,161,192,191 |
| Citation | 43 S.Ct. 236,67 L.Ed. 448,260 U.S. 662 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES v. LANE et al. SAME v. GULF REFINING CO. OF LOUISIANA. SAME v. SOUTHWESTERN GAS & ELECTRIC CO. et al. SAME v. GULF REFINING CO. OF LOUISIANA. SAME v. GREENE et al. SMAE v. LOUCKS et al |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Mr. Assistant Attorney General Riter, for the United States.
Mr. S. L. Herold, of Shreveport, La., for appellees in Nos. 160, 161, 162, and 163, and respondents in No. 191.
Mr. Elias Goldstein, of Shreveport, La., for appellees in No. 192.
These suits involve claims of title on the part of the United States, hereinafter called the plaintiff, to various parcels of land lying along the border of Ferry Lake, a navigable body of water in Caddo parish, La. Answering these claims, the defendants in the respective cases averred that plaintiff, long before the bringing of the suits, had conveyed by patents to private persons certain fractional subdivisions b rdering on the lake; that these fractions were represented on the official plat of the government survey, made by one Warren in 1839 and duly approved and filed, as bounded on the lake side by the waters of the lake; that in each of the cases the land in controversy was a small tract, lying along the edge of the lake and constituting part of the particular fractional subdivision so conveyed; and that, consequently, plaintiff had divested itself of whatever title it originally had.
Certain alternative defenses, based upon the alleged ownership of the lands by the state of Louisiana, were pleaded, but, in view of the conclusions we have reached, it is not necessary to consider them. The District Court entered decrees for the plaintiff which the Circuit Court of Appeals reversed (274 Fed. 145, 290), and the cases are here upon appeal except the Loucks Case, which comes on certiorari. The foregoing averments of fact contained in the answers are established by the record 1916-1917, nearly 80 years after the Warren survey—the lands in the meantime having become valuable for their deposits of oil and gas—a new survey was made under the direction of the General Land Office. This survey shows that the line run by Warren, purporting to meander the shore of the lake, did not in all instances coincide precisely with the water's edge. In the four cases first named in the title, the parcels of land lying between the meander line and the lake are of small extent. The meander line throughout its length approximately conforms to the sinuosities of the shore, sometimes, however, running for short distances inland, and sometimes for short distances into and through the water. In the first-mentioned suit the Warren survey indicates a fractional subdivision containing 26.80 acres; the new survey adds 5.67 acres. In the second suit the Warren survey indicates 23 acres; the new survey adds 12.72 acres. In the third suit the Warren survey indicates 155 acres; the new survey adds 27.87 acres. In the fourth suit the Warren survey indicates 114.80 acres; and the new survey adds 11.49 acres.
The lands in question are all in township 20, the first mentioned being in section 3, the second in section 10, the third in section 13, and the last in section 24. Following the meander line of the Warren survey the distance from the first of these tracts to the last is about five miles. Leaving out of consideration the large tract involved in Producers' Oil Co. v. Hanzen, 238 U. S. 325, 35 Sup. Ct. 755, 59 L. Ed. 1330, and the large tract involved in Jeems Bayou Fishing & Hunting Club v. United States (decided January 2, 1923) 260 U. S. 561, 43 Sup. Ct. 205, 67 L. Ed. ——, the aggregate of the various parcels lying outside the meander line is about 70 acres, and the aggregate of the various areas of water included within the...
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