Source: https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/353-u-s-112-606563062
Timestamp: 2020-04-08 03:21:58
Document Index: 506781950

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2', '§ 3', '§ 3', '§ 2', '§ 3', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 3', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 3', '§ 2', '§ 3', '§ 2', '§ 3', '§ 3', '§ 3', '§ 2', '§ 3', '§ 2', '§ 3', '§ 2']

353 U.S. 112 (1957), 97, United States v. Union Pacific Railroad Co. - Federal Cases - Case Law - VLEX 606563062
353 U.S. 112 (1957), 97, United States v. Union Pacific Railroad Co.
Citation: 353 U.S. 112, 77 S.Ct. 685, 1 L.Ed.2d 693
Party Name: United States v. Union Pacific Railroad Co.
353 U.S. 112 (1957)
77 S.Ct. 685, 1 L.Ed.2d 693
Held: the grant by § 2 of the "right of way" through the public lands did not convey to the railroad company the title to oil and gas deposits underlying the right of way, and the railroad company may not remove or dispose of such deposits. Pp. 113-120.
(c) Whatever rights may have been included in the grant of a "right of way," mineral rights were excepted by reason of the proviso in § 3 excepting "mineral lands," which extends to the entire Act. Pp. 114-115.
(e) To hold that, when Congress granted only a "right of way" and reserved "all mineral lands," it nonetheless endowed the railroad company with untold riches underlying the railroad would run counter to the established rules that land grants are construed favorably to the Government, that nothing passes except what is conveyed in clear language, and that any doubts are resolved in favor of the Government, not against it. P. 116.
(f) That the administrative system by which the exception of "mineral lands" was administered in relation to the lands granted by § 3 is inappropriate to the right of way granted by § 2 does not
make the exception of "mineral lands" in § 3 inapplicable to the right of way granted by § 2. Pp. 116-118.
(g) Northern Pacific R. Co. v. Townsend, 190 U.S. 267; Clairmont v. United States, 225 U.S. 551; and Great Northern R. Co. v. United States, 315 U.S. 262 distinguished. Pp. 118-119.
This is an action brought in the District Court by the United States to enjoin the Union Pacific Railroad Company from drilling for oil and gas on "the right of way" granted it by § 2 of the Act of July 1, 1862, 12 Stat. 489, [77 S.Ct. 686] 491, for the construction of a railroad and telegraph line. The claim of the United States is that "the right of way" granted by the Act is not a grant that includes mineral rights. The District Court's decision was adverse to the United States. 126 F.Supp. 646. The Court of Appeals affirmed. 230 F.2d 690. The case is here on a petition for a writ of certiorari which we granted in view of the public importance of the question presented. 352 U.S. 818.
The "right of way" which was granted by § 2 of the Act was "for the construction of said railroad and telegraph line." As an aid to the construction of the railroad, "every alternate section of public land" on each side of the road was also granted. § 3. Section 3 further provided "That
On the face of the Act it, would seem that the use of the words "the right of way" describes a lesser interest than the grant of "public land." Moreover, this right of way was granted Union Pacific "for the construction of said railroad and telegraph line." § 2. That purpose is not fulfilled when the right of way is used for other purposes. See Northern Pacific R. Co. v. Townsend, 190 U.S. 267, 271. It would seem that, whatever may be the nature of Union Pacific's interest in the right of way, drilling for oil on or under it is not a railroad purpose within the meaning of § 2 of the Act.1
It would also seem from the words of the Act that, whatever rights may have been included in "the right of way," mineral rights were excepted by reason of the proviso in § 3 excepting "mineral lands." The exception of "mineral lands," as applied to the right of way, may have been an inept way of reserving mineral rights. The right of way certainly could not be expected to take all the detours that might be necessary were it to avoid all lands containing minerals. But that the proviso applies to § 2 as well as to § 3 is plain. While the grant of "the right of way" is made by § 2, and the exception of "mineral lands" is contained in § 3, the exception extends not merely to § 3, but to the entire Act.
The reservation of the mineral resources of these public lands for the United States was in keeping with the policy of the times. The gold strike in California in 1848 made the entire country conscious of the potential riches underlying the western part of the public domain. The method of asserting federal control over mineral lands was not [77 S.Ct. 687] finally settled until the Act of July 26, 1866, 14 Stat. 251, prescribed the procedure by which mineral lands could be acquired. But meanwhile -- from 1849 to 1866 -- the federal policy was clear. As the Court said in Ivanhoe Mining Co. v. Keystone Consolidated Mining Co., 102 U.S. 167, the federal policy during this interim period was to reserve mineral lands, not to grant them. The policy was found to be so "uniform" in this interim period (id. at 175) that the Court, in construing an 1853 Act governing public lands in California, held that a grant to California did not include mineral lands, although they were not specifically excepted.
The case is much stronger here, for "mineral lands" are specifically reserved. It is therefore wholly in keeping with the federal policy that prevailed in 1862, when the present right of way was granted, to construe "mineral
lands" to include mineral resources under the right of way. For it was the mineral riches in the public domain that Congress sedulously sought to preserve until it formulated the special procedure by which all mineral resources were to be administered. In United States v. Sweet, 245 U.S. 563, Mr. Justice Van Devanter, our foremost expert on public land law, discussed this policy at length and cited in support of this federal policy the very Act we have under consideration in the present case. Id. at 569, note 1. And see Barden v. Northern Pacific R. Co., 154 U.S. 288, 317-318. We would have to forget history and read legislation with a jaundiced eye to hold that, when Congress granted only a right of way and reserved all "mineral lands," it nonetheless endowed the railroad with the untold riches underlying the right of way. Such a construction would run counter to the established rule that land grants are construed favorably to the Government, that nothing passes except what is conveyed in clear language, and that, if there are doubts, they are resolved for the Government, not against it. Caldwell v. United States, 250 U.S. 14, 20-21. These are the reasons we construe "mineral lands" as used in § 3 of the Act to include mineral rights in the right of way granted by § 2.
The system which Congress set up to effectuate its policy of reserving mineral resources in the alternate sections of public land granted by § 3 was by way of an administrative determination, prior to issuance of a patent, of the mineral or nonmineral character of the lands. Patents were not issued to land administratively determined to constitute mineral lands. And the administrative determination was final. Burke v. Southern Pacific R. Co., 234 U.S. 669. Such an administrative system was obviously inappropriate to the right of way granted by § 2. The land needed for the right of way was
Because the administrative system, by which the exception of "mineral lands" was administered in relation to the lands granted by § 3, is inappropriate to the right of way granted by § 2, we are urged to conclude that the exception of [77 S.Ct...