Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/238/325.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 13:43:44+00:00

Document:
[238 U.S. 325, 327] Messrs. Eugene Mackey and D. T. Watson for defendants in error.
Plaintiff in error-the Oil Company-instituted this action July 1, 1910, in the district court, Caddo parish, Louisiana, for the purpose of establishing its right to possession of part of lot No. 1, section 4, township 20, north, range 16, west, suddenly become very valuable through discovery of gas and oil. The petition alleges that the United States in 1874 sold to one Pitts lots 1 and 2, section 4, forming a projection known as 'Wilson's Point,' surrounded on three sides by waters of James bayou, a navigable stream; that he immediately entered, and, together with his successors, remained in peaceful, complete possession until April 2, 1910, when defendants in error, without knowledge of Noel, then owner, wrongfully entered upon part of lot No. 1, built a wire fence and placed a keeper thereon; that April 15, 1910, by notarial act duly recorded, the Oil Company purchased both lots from Noel and became subrogated to his rights; and when it came to subject the whole property to actual possession a portion was found occupied as above indicated.
A writ of sequestration, issued contemporaneously with filing of petition, was subsequently dissolved upon motion, a proper bond having been given, conditioned not to commit waste, and to make faithful restitution of fruits if so required.
'It is admitted by both parties that J. S. Noel was in possession, as owner, from the date of his purchase in 1880 [238 U.S. 325, 1884] , to the sale to the plaintiffs of the property known as the Wilson's Point place, his corporeal possession being limited on the east and north by the Bristol meander line, and said Noel never exercised any acts of corporeal possession, or was ever in occupancy of any land in section 4, east of or outside of the said meander line, or of any of the land in controversy. This is not intended to apply to any other land west of the land in controversy. That Noel's possession was vested by act of purchase and continued by occupancy in the plaintiffs.
'It is further admitted that defendants on the 2d day of April, 1910, took actual possession of, and posted and filed notices of location under the placer mining laws of the United States, of the tract of land on which they are now in possession, and concerning which this suit is brought, which tract of land is described by metes and bounds in defendants' answer.
'It is further admitted that when defendants took possession of said land, they located the western boundary line of their location, as the Bristol meander line, as properly located, and the defendant does not claim the ownership or possession of any land west of the true location of said Bristol meander line.
[238 U.S. 325, 333] the defendants have actually discovered oil and gas and are now producing oil from said property.
The Oil Company claimed traverse lines around lot No. 1 must be treated as true meanders; that being owner and in actual possession of the lot it had constructive possession of land lying beyond such lines east and north to the bayou-40 acres or more; and that this was being trespassed upon. Defendants in error maintained the traverse lines were not intended as true meanders; that the grant was limited by courses and distances specified; and lands north and east of these were left unsurveyed, with title remaining in the government.
The cause is here by writ of error and the Oil Company maintains that it was obligatory upon the supreme court to accept the government survey, plat, and patent as correct; to treat traverses about lot No. 1 as true meanders of the bayou; and to hold, in consequence, that boundaries of the grant extended to the stream and include the locus in quo. The substantial Federal question presented-the only one for our determination-is whether, properly construed, the original patent conveyed to Pitts land lying between platted traverse lines and waters of the navigable stream. Waters- Pierce Oil Co. v. Texas, 212 U.S. 86, 97 , 53 S. L. ed. 417, 424, 29 Sup. Ct. Rep. 220. The effect of riparian rights, if established, would depend upon the local law. Hardin v. Shedd, 190 U.S. 508, 519 , 47 S. L. ed. 1156, 1157, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 685; Whitaker v. McBride, 197 U.S. 510, 512 , 49 S. L. ed. 857, 860, 25 Sup. Ct. Rep. 530.
Many causes decided by this court involved construction of patents conveying public lands by reference to official surveys and plats indicating streams or other waters. St. Paul & P. R. Co. v. Schurmeir, 7 Wall. 272, 286, 19 L. ed. 74, 78; Cragin v. Powell, 128 U.S. 691, 696 , 32 S. L. ed. 566, 567, 9 Sup. Ct. Rep. 203; Hardin v. Jordan, 140 U.S. 371, 380 , 35 S. L. ed. 428, 432, 11 Sup. Ct. Rep. 808, 838; Mitchell v. Smale, 140 U.S. 406, 412 , 35 S. L. ed. 442, 444, 11 Sup. Ct. Rep. 819, 840; Horne v. Smith, 159 U.S. 40, 42 , 40 S. L. ed. 68, 69, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 988; Grand Rapids & I. R. Co. v. Butler, 159 U.S. 87, 92 , 40 S. L. ed. 85, 87, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 991; Ainsa v. United States, 161 U.S. 208, 229 , 40 S. L. ed. 673, 680, 16 Sup. Ct. Rep. 544; Niles v. Cedar Point Club, 175 U.S. 300, 306 , 44 S. L. ed. 171, 173, 20 Sup. Ct. Rep. 124; French-Glenn Live Stock Co. v. Springer, 185 U.S. 47, 51 , 46 S. L. ed. 800, 802, 22 Sup. Ct. Rep. 563; Kirwan v. Murphy, 189 U.S. 35 , 47 L. ed. 698, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 599; Hardin v. Shedd, supra; Security Land & Exploration Co. v. Burns, 193 U.S. 167 , 48 L. ed. 662, 24 Sup. Ct. Rep. 425; Whitaker v. McBride, supra; Graham v. Gill, 223 U.S. 643, 645 , 56 S. L. ed. 586, 588, 32 Sup. Ct. Rep. 396; Scott v. Lattig, 227 U.S. 229, 244 , 57 S. L. ed. 490, 497, 44 L.R.A.(N.S.) 107, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 242; [238 U.S. 325, 339] Chapman & D. Lumber Co. v. St. Francis Levee Dist. 232 U.S. 186, 196 , 58 S. L. ed. 564, 567, 34 Sup. Ct. Rep. 297; Gauthier v. Morrison, 232 U.S. 452, 459 , 58 S. L. ed. 680, 684, 34 Sup. Ct. Rep. 384; Forsyth v. Smale, 7 Biss. 201, Fed. Cas. No. 4,950. A review and analysis of these cases would be tedious and unprofitable; thorough acquaintance with the varying and controlling facts is essential to a fair understanding of them. They unquestionably support the familiar rule relied on by counsel for the Oil Company that, in general, meanders are not to be treated as boundaries, and when the United States conveys a tract of land by patent referring to an official plat which shows the same bordering on a navigable river, the purchaser takes title up to the water line. But they no less certainly establish the principle that facts and circumstances may be examined, and if they affirmatively disclose an intention to limit the grant to actual traverse lines, these must be treated as definite boundaries. It does not necessarily follow from the presence of meanders that a fractional section borders a body of water, and that a patent thereto confers riparian rights.
In the instant case we find a survey of improved lands made at the express request of the occupant to whom they were subsequently patented; a grant from the United States specifying the exact number of acres conveyed; a positive declaration in field notes that land to the north lies outside the traverse lines; admission that excluded area contains not less than 40 acres of high ground, and evidence of large timber growing there; official plat delineating the surveyor's courses and specifying acreage of the several subdivisions, which cannot be said to indicate a water boundary beyond possible question. Outside the southern traverses of this plat, in space designated 'Open Lake,' lie 300 acres of fast land surveyed by Barbour in 1896. Although Noel, the Oil Company's immediate vendor, as owner, was in possession of property known as Wilson's Point place for some thirty years, and until after alleged unlawful entry by [238 U.S. 325, 340] defendants in error, his corporeal possession (as expressly stipulated) was limited east and north by the Bristol traverse lines, and he never occupied or exercised any act of corporeal possession over the above- indicated 40 acres or more without the same.
Considering all disclosures of the record we are unable to conclude the court below erred in holding original patent from the United States to Pitts conveyed no title to lands in controversy, and its judgment must be affirmed.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.