Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/215/386/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 16:12:07+00:00

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Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 215 › Union Pacific R. Co.
The words "public lands" in legislation refer to such lands as are subject to sale or other disposal under general laws, and no other meaning will be attributed to them unless apparent from the context of or circumstances attending the legislation.
While the power of Congress continues over lands sought to be acquired under preemption and homestead laws until final payment, an entryman in actual possession cannot be dispossessed of his priority at the instance of an individual.
While a grant of right of way may take effect as of the date of the grant, that date must be found in the act prescribing the finally adopted route.
In this case, the rights of a bona fide settler holding a patent under preemption law and his grantee held superior to those of the railroad company under the Act of July 1, 1862, 12 Stat. 489, 494, granting public lands for a railway right of way.
The admitted facts are that, on April 22, 1861, Bernhard Blou settled upon and improved the Northeast Quarter of Section 12, Township 14 South, of Range 3, in Saline County, Kansas, and on May 13, 1861, filed the declaratory statement required by the preemption laws. Blou, by occupation, cultivation, and improvements preserved all his rights under the preemption until September 5, 1865, when, having made no payment or final proof, he changed his preemption entry to one under the Homestead Act of May 20, 1862. He continued in occupation, on December 8, 1870, made final proof under his homestead entry, and, on March 15, 1872, received a patent.
and thereafter to the Kansas Pacific Railway Company, was granted a right of way 200 feet in width on each side of its road, through the public lands of the United States. The plaintiff in error, hereinafter called the defendant, has succeeded to the right, title, and interest of the Leavenworth Company. The route of the company, as prescribed by the act, ran from Missouri up the Kaw River until it reached the Republican River, and then north along the left bank of that river to intersect with the one hundredth meridian in the Territory of Nebraska. On July 17, 1862, the company filed its map of general route, and caused the lands within the limits of fifteen miles thereof on either side of the proposed route to be withdrawn from sale. Under the amendatory act of July 2, 1864, 13 Stat. 356, c. 216, the company filed another map, designating the same general route. Neither of these routes came within forty-five miles of the tract in controversy. Among the changes in the last named act is one providing in § 3 for the condemnation of a right of way 200 feet wide through land occupied by the owner or claimant. The Act of July 3, 1866, 14 Stat. 79, c. 159, changed the route to extend westwardly towards Denver. Under this act. the company located and constructed its road westwardly along the Smoky Hill River instead of northwestwardly along the Republican River, and, as located and constructed, the road passed through the quarter section which Blou was then seeking to acquire under the homestead law.
quarter section lying south of the railroad track, containing 101 acres. The defendants in error, hereinafter called the plaintiffs, derive title from Erickson. The plaintiffs and those under whom they claim had exclusive possession of the land in question from May, 1861, to August, 1902; broke and cultivated it, and paid all taxes assessed upon it since the issue of the patent. In August, 1902, the defendant fenced and took possession of the tract in controversy, whereupon this action to recover possession was commenced by the plaintiffs. The court found in their favor, and rendered judgment accordingly. This judgment was affirmed by the supreme court of the state (Union Pacific R. Co. v. Harris, 76 Kan. 255), and thereupon the case was brought here on error.
latter, yet, under the general land laws of the United States, one who, having made an entry, is in actual occupation under the preemption or homestead law, cannot be dispossessed of his priority at the instance of any individual. Hastings &c. Railroad. Co. v. Whitney, 132 U. S. 357, 132 U. S. 363-364. In other words, one who has taken land under the preemption or homestead law acquires an equity of which he cannot be deprived by any individual under the like laws. Now at the time of the passage of the Act of July 3, 1866, Blou was and had been, for several months, in actual occupation under the homestead law. Did Congress intend by its legislation to deprive him of that equity which he had under the general land laws as against anyone proceeding under those laws?
Any possible rights of the railroad company in this land commence with the Act of July 3, 1866, for while the acts of 1864 and 1866 were in amendment of the act of 1862, yet the route prescribed by the acts of 1862 and 1864 was far to the east of this land, and only by the act of 1866 was the company authorized to construct a road through or near it. True, as held in Railroad Company v. Baldwin, 103 U. S. 426; Bybee v. Oregon & California Railroad Company, 139 U. S. 663, 139 U. S. 679; Northern Pacific Railway Company v. Hasse, 197 U. S. 9, the grant of the right of way is absolute, and taking effect as of the date of the grant. But that date must be found in an act prescribing the finally adopted route.
organic act of 1854, 10 Stat. 283, creating the Territory of Nebraska."
"It must therefore be conceded that Osborn did not, by maintaining possession for several years and putting valuable improvements thereon, preclude the government from dealing with the lands as its own and from conferring them on another party by a subsequent grant."
"On the other hand, it would not be easy to suppose that Congress would, in authorizing railroad companies to traverse the public lands, intend thereby to give them a right to run the lines of their roads at pleasure, regardless of the rights of settlers."
It is true as suggested in Western Pacific Railroad Company v. Tevis, 41 Cal. 489, 493, that the condemnation proceedings named by the Act of July 2, 1864, were in territorial courts, whereas Kansas at that time was a state. But undoubtedly the thought of Congress was the protection of an owner or claimant by condemnation proceedings, and not in what courts those proceedings should be had.
Further, "this right of way through school sections had been accepted without challenge for twenty years." This indicated the general understanding, and was significant. The contrary appears here. The railway company not only did not disturb the possession of the settler for nearly forty years, but, on the other hand, purchased and paid him for a right of way through the tract.
We are of opinion that the case of Crier v. Innes,160 U.S. 103, is, as respects the case at bar, inconsistent with that in the 31st Fed. Reporter, and must be held to have, to that extent, overruled it. We do not think that it would be profitable to cite the many other cases which touch the question before us more or less closely, or to seek to point out the differences between them and this, or to notice all the general expressions which are to be found in them.

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