Source: https://m.openjurist.org/548/f2d/822
Timestamp: 2020-02-17 02:19:08
Document Index: 680166823

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art. 2', 'Art. 2', 'Art. 7', 'Art. 2', 'Art. 4', '§ 13', '§ 331', '§ 1165', '§ 1165', '§ 1302', '§ 1165', 'Art. 1', 'Art. 1', '§ 274', '§ 9', '§ 36', '§ 907', '§ 11', '§ 6', '§ 907', '§ 8']

548 F. 2d 822 - United States v. Finch
548 F2d 822 United States v. Finch
548 F.2d 822
James Junior FINCH, Defendant-Appellee.
It was early determined, before the Holt and Choctaw cases arose, that a disposition by the United States of public lands bordering on navigable waters, as a general rule, does not convey title or dominion to the lands situated below high water mark. Shively v. Bowlby, 152 U.S. 1, 14 S.Ct. 548, 38 L.Ed. 331 (1893).9 In Shively the United States had granted land adjacent to the Columbia River to a private party pursuant to the Oregon Donation Act, 9 Stat. 496. The Supreme Court held that absent the clearest expression of intent to the contrary, it would not presume that the United States intended to divest itself of part of the riverbed. The Court stated:
152 U.S. at 58, 14 S.Ct. at 569. This principle of construction, applied in Shively to a grant to an individual owner, was subsequently invoked by the Supreme Court in a case concerning a transfer of land to Indian tribes, United States v. Holt State Bank, supra.
In Holt State Bank the dispute concerned ownership of the bed of Mud Lake, which lay wholly within the exterior boundaries of the Red Lake Reservation in the State of Minnesota. The Government, by treaties enacted before Minnesota was admitted to the Union, had recognized the right of the Chippewa Indians to occupy the reservation. The last relevant treaties preceding Minnesota statehood were concluded September 30, 1854, 10 Stat. 1109, 2 Kapp. 648, and February 22, 1855, 10 Stat. 1165, 2 Kapp. 685. At the time the treaties were signed, Mud Lake was a navigable body of water.
The Court found nothing in the language of the treaties or the background of the treaty negotiations to show an expressed intent by the United States to dispose of the lands underlying Mud Lake. Both the treaty of 1854 and the treaty of 1855 provided for the cession by the Chippewas to the United States of their claimed aboriginal right to occupy certain lands.10 In return for that cession, the Government recognized that the Chippewas had rights in the land comprising the Red Lake Reservation. By the treaty of 1854, the United States did state that certain tracts of land were to be "set apart and with(held) from sale, for the use of the Chippewas," Art. 2, 2 Kapp. 648; and the treaty of 1855 provided that a sufficient quantity of land "be reserved and set apart . . . for the permanent homes of the said Indians" within designated locations. Art. 2, 2 Kapp. 685, 686. However, no express provisions guaranteeing to the Indians exclusive possession of the tracts were set out in either treaty, nor were any assurances given by the United States that the lands would never be put to any other use. The Supreme Court characterized the effect of the treaties as follows:
There was no formal setting apart of what was not ceded, nor any affirmative declaration of the rights of the Indians therein . . . . The effect of what was done was to reserve in a general way for the continued occupation of the Indians what remained of their aboriginal territory . . . .
270 U.S. at 58, 46 S.Ct. at 200. Following the rule announced in the Shively case, the Court held that title and dominion of the lake bed remained vested in the national government and that ownership of the bed passed to the State of Minnesota on its admission to the Union.
In Choctaw Nation v. Oklahoma, supra, the second principal authority to be considered on this question, the Supreme Court, after examining treaty grants made under different circumstances, reached a different conclusion as to the ownership of lands underlying navigable waters. The Court was presented with the issue whether treaty grants from the United States to the Cherokee and Choctaw Indians conveyed title to parts of the Arkansas River. A series of treaties had provided for the relocation of the Choctaw and Cherokee tribes, but so great was the force of our westward expansion that part of the lands set aside for these Indians had already been settled before the Indians could be relocated. Attempts at further voluntary removal failed, and the national government, as well as the states of Georgia and Mississippi, started to exert pressure on the Indians. The Supreme Court described what followed:
Thus faced with the prospect of losing both their lands and way of life, the Choctaws agreed in 1830 to leave Mississippi and to move to new lands west of the Arkansas territory. As a guarantee that they would not again be forced to move, the United States promised to convey the land to the Choctaw Nation in fee simple "to inure to them while they shall exist as a nation and live on it."
397 U.S. at 625, 90 S.Ct. at 1331. Similar promises were made to the Cherokees. Id. at 626, 90 S.Ct. 1328. The Court concluded that this background, together with the rule of construction that well-founded doubts should be resolved in favor of the Indian tribes, were sufficient to overcome the presumption that the United States retained ownership of the riverbed. Accordingly, it found the Holt State Bank case inapplicable and held that the bed of the Arkansas River, at the disputed locations, was owned by the Indian tribes.
Turning to the case before us, we first examine the negotiations and background of the two relevant treaties with the Crows. These are the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1851, supra, and the Treaty with the Crows of 1868, supra. The history and negotiation of the treaties were considered in detail by the Court of Claims in Crow Tribe of Indians v. United States, 284 F.2d 361, 151 Ct.Cl. 281 (1960); Crow Nation v. United States, 81 Ct.Cl. 238 (1935); and Fort Berthold Indians v. United States, 71 Ct.Cl. 308 (1930). In brief, the negotiations for the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1851 were precipitated by the increasing number of settlers who were crossing Indian lands on the westward journey to California, commencing in 1849 and 1850. The travelers freely used Indians lands for hunting buffalo and other game, and consumed timber and forage in increasing quantities. The Indians resented, and in some cases violently resisted, these incursions. Internecine warfare between different tribes over unsettled and ill-defined boundaries compounded the danger. The United States began negotiations with the Indians to stop these hostilities.
The Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1851 was concluded between the United States and eight Indian nations, including the Crows. On their face, the terms of the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1851 do not constitute a clear and unambiguous grant of lands from the federal government to the Indian tribes. Article 5 of the treaty is cast as a covenant among the tribes alone to recognize specified boundaries for their respective territories, and from this clause, the United States would not appear to be a party to the recognition of Indian boundaries. 2 Kapp. 594.
Other provisions of the treaty lend support to a contrary reading. For example, in Article 3 the United States undertook to protect the Indians "against the commission of depredations by the people of the said United States," after the ratification of the treaty. Id. By Article 2, the Indians conceded to the United States the right "to establish roads, military and other posts, within their respective territories." Id. The treaty also provides for monetary compensation for the concessions by the tribes, as well as for damage to the Indian nations both past and future. Art. 7, id. at 595. By negative inference, these terms are susceptible to the interpretation that the Government of the United States recognized the Indian lands as belonging to the tribes. But they fall far short of constituting an express grant of all lands, including the beds of navigable streams, contained within the territorial boundaries.
Of more help to the appellant's position are the assurances that were given to the Indians by the Government during the negotiations preceding the 1851 treaty. The territories at issue were referred to as "your country" and "your land" and "your territory."11 Similar references are contained in internal governmental communications.12 It is principally in light of this background that the Court of Claims reached the conclusion that the United States, by the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1851, recognized the title of the Crow Tribe to the lands described as theirs in Article 5 of the treaty. Crow Tribe of Indians v. United States, supra, at 371.
We need not, however, resolve this case solely by reference to the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1851. Choctaw Nation, supra, directs us to interpret the terms of an Indian treaty in light of its history and the negotiations preceding it and to construe doubtful language in favor of the Indians. The second relevant treaty, the Treaty with the Crows of 1868, when interpreted in light of its negotiations and the earlier treaty, convinces us that the national government, in 1868, did cede exclusive rights to the reservation lands. This cession, moreover, included rights in the riverbed.
Some fifteen years after the treaty of 1851, the Crow Tribe was approached anew by the Government. The purpose of the Government in the ensuing negotiations with the Crows was similar to that in its earlier negotiations with the Choctaw and Cherokee tribes: to reduce the size of the territory earlier designated as belonging to the tribe. During the negotiation of this second treaty, the Government, now acting through the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, again used language indicating that the Crows were to own the territory covered by the treaty.13 Furthermore, the terms of the 1868 treaty themselves evidence an intent on the part of the United States to recognize that the Crow Indians were to have beneficial ownership of all lands within the exterior boundaries of the reservation. The national government explicitly agreed that such lands would be "set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians herein named, and for such other friendly tribes or individual Indians as from time to time they may be willing, with the consent of the United States, to admit amongst them . . . ." Art. 2, 15 Stat. 649, 2 Kapp. 1008. The treaty continues:
(T)he United States now solemnly agrees that no person, except those herein designated and authorized so to do, and except such officers, agents, and employes of the Government as may be authorized to enter upon Indian reservations in discharge of duties enjoined by law, shall ever be permitted to pass over, settle upon, or reside in the territory described in this article for the use of said Indians . . . .
Both the assurances given to the Indians during the negotiation of the treaty of 1868, considered against the background of the treaty of 1851, and the explicit language of the 1868 treaty could have had no other meaning in the minds of the Indians than that the Government recognized that all the lands within the metes and bounds of the reservation were to be theirs. We thus conclude that the United States, by signing the treaty of 1868 with the Crows, intended to grant them dominion and control over that portion of the bed of the Big Horn River situated within the reservation,15 subject to the retained power of the United States to exercise its paramount right to control navigation on the river.
It is true that the Treaty with the Crows of 1868 does not contemplate, by its express terms, that a patent will issue to convey the land to the Indian nation, nor does it contain an explicit promise that no part of the land granted shall be embraced in any territory or state, as did the treaties with the Choctaws and the Cherokees considered in Choctaw Nation. But the absence of similar provisions in the treaty with the Crows is not determinative. We rule, in light of the foregoing, that in establishing the Crow Reservation, the United States intended that all lands therein, including the riverbed, were to be for the exclusive use of the tribe.
Appellee has referred us to authorities in this circuit which, when deciding in doubtful cases whether the United States intended to convey lands underlying navigable waters to Indian tribes, inquire whether the livelihood of the Indians centered around fishing.16 He argues that since there is no evidence that the Crow Indians used the river as a source of food, the Government could not have intended to grant the riverbed to the Crow Tribe. Appellee misapprehends the purpose of Congress in creating the Crow Reservation. By establishing a reservation as a "permanent home" for the Crow Indians, see Treaty with the Crows of 1868, Art. 4, 2 Kapp. 1008, 1009, the Government manifestly intended to set aside lands which would provide the tribe with the food and natural resources upon which their livelihood depended. It is true that the Crow Indians, in 1868, were predominantly hunters.17 The aim of the United States, however, was to fix the Crows in one location and to reorient their way of life toward "agricultural and other pursuits."18 We find it inconceivable that the United States intended to withhold from the Indians the right to sustain themselves from any source of food which might be available on their reservation. It must have been no mystery to the Government that the Crow Tribe, whose nomadic ways they sought to change, might eventually be forced to derive their existence from a source other than big game, should the large herds of buffalo and elk roaming the plains become extinct by accident of nature or decimation by man. Cf. Menominee Tribe of Indians v. United States, 388 F.2d 998, 179 Ct.Cl. 496, 1002 (1967), aff'd, 391 U.S. 404, 88 S.Ct. 1705, 20 L.Ed.2d 697 (1968). We therefore decline to adopt an interpretation which would mean that the treaty of 1868 deprived the Crow Indians of potential control over a source of food on their reservation.19
Appellee argues that regardless of our determination as to ownership of the riverbed, he had a right to fish from the bank. Casting a fishing line and lure from a riverbank is an intrusion wholly sufficient to constitute an entry upon the riverbed. See W. Prosser, Handbook of the Law of Torts § 13 at 69 (4th ed. 1971). Appellee contends, however, that as the state's licensee he was exercising a privileged riparian right of access to the river, incident to Montana's ownership of the bank, and that he was not guilty of a "trespass on Indian lands" when he entered upon the riverbed to fish. We disagree.
Before explaining the principles of riparian ownership that are controlling in this case, we note that our determination of these questions is announced as a matter of federal law. This results from the circumstances of the original grant of the riparian lands here in question. The State of Montana is, by purchase, the successor in interest of an original patentee whose grant was in fee simple from the United States. The riverbank in question originally constituted part of lands held by the United States in trust for the Crow Tribe, and it was deeded by the United States to the state's earliest predecessor in title, pursuant to the General Allotment Act of 1887, 24 Stat. 338, 25 U.S.C. §§ 331 et seq. When the national government holds trust ownership of a navigable stream bed and the lands littoral to it, and thereafter conveys the banks of the stream, the nature and extent of riparian rights conveyed by deeds to such lands must be determined as a matter of federal law. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes v. Namen, 534 F.2d 1376 (9th Cir. 1976), aff'g 380 F.Supp. 452 (D.Mont.1974).
In the Namen case this Court concluded that Congress must have intended that grants of riparian lands under the Indian Allotment Acts should carry riparian rights of access and wharfage. 534 F.2d at 1377. It is therefore clear that the State of Montana and its licensees have a right of access to the waters of the Big Horn River at the location in question. It does not follow, however, that Montana's right of access to the waters of the river includes a protected right to enter upon the riverbed for the purpose of fishing. Cf. United States v. Pollmann, 364 F.Supp. 995, 1000 (D.Mont.1973). In order to prevail, appellee therefore must demonstrate the existence of an independent riparian right to fish inuring to the State of Montana by virtue of its riparian ownership, and that such right is paramount to the regulatory authority exercised by the national government and the Indian tribe.
We find little guidance in the decided cases for resolving questions concerning the source or extent of a riparian right to fish in navigable waters as a matter of federal common law. The authorities that have come to our attention involve the interpretation of state or territorial law, and they are generally inconclusive on the subject. A majority of the cases contain oblique references to a riparian right to fish in navigable waters but give no indication of the limitations on its exercise.20 Those few cases which discuss the dimensions of the riparian right to fish express two different views. The first group states that the right of a riparian owner to fish in navigable waters is no greater than the common right of fishing enjoyed by the general public,21 and from this it would follow that the riparian right to take fish is simply a right of access, from which one cannot derive an additional interest in land, a profit a prendre for fishery. The second view appears to recognize a riparian right to fish which is superior to the common right of fishery.22
Despite these differences, however, the cases which address the point indicate that the riparian right to fish, whether it is a profit a prendre or simply the means of access to a right that is enjoyed by all, is in either event subject to close regulation by the governing authorities;23 and we need go no further than to recognize this principle to resolve the instant case. We hold that the Government has exercised regulatory power which is superior, on the facts of this case, to any riparian right to fish held by the State of Montana or its licensees.
Appellee would deny that the United States, either alone or in conjunction with the Crow Tribe, is exercising a regulatory power in this case, and contends that the Crow Tribe Ordinance which closed Indian lands to fishing was promulgated without authority. We reject that argument.
Even assuming that the authority of the Crow Tribe to control access to its own reservation is insufficient to sustain the closure of its lands to fishing by non-Indians, but cf. Quechan Tribe of Indians v. Rowe,531 F.2d 408 (9th Cir. 1976), the authority to withhold permission to enter for fishing, hunting, or trapping has been expressly conferred on the tribe by the promulgation of 18 U.S.C. § 1165, an enactment clearly within the national power. The language and the history of 18 U.S.C. § 1165 show that the right of Indians to control hunting, trapping and fishing on their lands is a prerogative of ownership which the United States recognizes as a matter of federal law. It was the intent of Congress that "Indian property owners should have the same protection as any other property owners" such as, for example, "a private hunting club (which) may keep nonmembers off its game lands or . . . may issue a license for a fee."24 Under the Act, a tribe may refuse entry for fishing on its lands just as an individual Indian owner might do, and the sanctions apply in either case. The Crow Tribal Ordinance dated October 13, 1973, by which nonmembers of the tribe were prohibited from fishing within the confines of the reservation, was ample notification by the beneficial owners of the bed of the river within the reservation that consent to entry for such purposes was withheld.25
Appellee finally contends that the ordinance which bans all nontribal members from fishing on the Crow Reservation denies him equal protection of the laws guaranteed to nontribal members by 25 U.S.C. § 1302(8), and is therefore void. The Supreme Court rejected similar arguments in Morton v. Mancari, 417 U.S. 535, 94 S.Ct. 2474, 41 L.Ed.2d 290 (1974). See also Moe v. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, 425 U.S. 463, 480, 96 S.Ct. 1634, 48 L.Ed.2d 96 (1976). Its explanation for sustaining the statute specially applicable to the Indians in that case is equally applicable to the tribal ordinance at issue here.
We conclude that the bed of the Big Horn River within the confines of the Crow Indian Reservation is held by the United States in trust for the Indian tribe and that appellee violated 18 U.S.C. § 1165 by willfully and knowingly fishing without lawful authority or permission of the tribe.
The order of the district court dismissing the information is accordingly reversed, and the cause is remanded for entry of judgment based on the stipulation filed in the district court by both parties to this cause.
While this controversy is between the United States and appellee Finch, the Crow Tribe and the State of Montana have each filed briefs as amici curiae
The statement ended with the following paragraph:
It is . . . agreed that this matter is hereby submitted to the court for its decision without further proof unless the court should desire proof on any point or points not covered herein to the satisfaction of the Court.
We emphasize that our ultimate conclusion on the jurisdictional question is unchanged even if we assume that, by dismissing the information, the trial court was declining to proceed under the stipulation. In that event, jeopardy would not have attached at all
The existence of an express written stipulation distinguishes this case from United States v. Patrick, 532 F.2d 142 (9th Cir. 1976). In that case, we found that a reversal of a judgment of acquittal would place the defendant twice in jeopardy. We noted that although there were no disputed factual issues, the defendant below had not entered into an express stipulation of facts. 532 F.2d at 147. Without such a stipulation, the trial court had no power to find the defendant guilty; if the judgment of acquittal had been reversed, a remand to the district court would have required further proceedings devoted to resolution of essential factual issues. By contrast, appellee in this case did enter into an express stipulation of facts upon which the district court would be required to make a determination of guilt if all of the defendant's legal arguments were resolved against him. The Patrick opinion implies that had such a stipulation of fact existed in that case, a remand to the district court would not have put defendant in jeopardy a second time. The case therefore supports our conclusion that a remand in this case will not place appellee twice in jeopardy
22 Stat. 42 (1882); 26 Stat. 989 (1891); 33 Stat. 352 (1904); 50 Stat. 884 (1937)
The parties have stipulated that the Big Horn River is now a navigable waterway
See the maps reproduced following the opinion of the district court. 395 F.Supp. at 215-20
Choctaw Nation v. Oklahoma, 397 U.S. 620, 627-28, 90 S.Ct. 1328, 25 L.Ed.2d 615 (1969)
Our discussion assumes that the Big Horn River was navigable in 1851 and 1868. Our treaty interpretation would follow a fortiori if the river was not navigable when the treaties of 1851 and 1868 were signed
Treaty with the Chippewa, 1854, Art. 1, 2 Kapp. 648; Treaty with the Chippewa, 1855, Art. 1, 2 Kapp. 685
See Crow Tribe of Indians v. United States, 284 F.2d 361, 366-67, 151 Ct.Cl. 281 (1960), quoting from an address by Treaty Commissioner Mitchell at the initial Council with the assembled representatives of the eight Indian Nations, held on September 8, 1851, reported in the St. Louis Republican, Oct. 26, 1851
See letter from Commissioner of Indian Affairs, W. Medill, to the Secretary of the Interior, June 15, 1849, quoted in Crow Tribe of Indians v. United States, 284 F.2d 361, 365, 151 Ct.Cl. 281 (1960); 1849 Report to Secretary of the Interior from Commissioner of Indian Affairs, quoted in Crow Tribe of Indians, supra, at 366; Cf. Letter from Commission of Indian Affairs to Treaty Commissioner Mitchell, May 26, 1851, S.Doc. No. 53, 70th Cong., 1st Sess. (1851), 4 Kapp. 1074-75, quoted in Crow Tribe of Indians, supra, at 366
Crow Tribe of Indians v. United States, 284 F.2d 361, 367 n.3. The briefs filed by the United States and the Crow Tribe in Crow Nation v. United States, 81 Ct.Cl. 238 (1935), quote from the address of Commissioner Taylor to the representatives of the Crow Tribe at the beginning of the negotiations of the Treaty of 1868 at Fort Laramie on November 12, 1867, set out in the record of that case. 671 Printed Records of the Court of Claims 921-22, 1343. Commissioner Taylor said to the Crows, in part:
My friends, chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Crow Nation: * * * At our invitation you have come a long way, through much difficulty, to meet us. * * * Your Great Father at Washington, though so far away from you, is well informed of your friendship toward us. * * * He knows also, of some of the troubles and difficulties that surround you. He has sent us to see you in order that he may learn more fully, from your own lips, your true situation, and that he may take all necessary steps to remove those difficulties and to make your way smooth for the future. We learn that valuable mines have been discovered in your country, which, in some instances, are taken possession of by the white people. We learn that roads are laid out and traveled through your lands; that settlements have been made upon your lands; that your game is being driven away and is fast disappearing. We know, also, that the white people are rapidly increasing and are taking possession of and occupying all the valuable lands.
Under these circumstances we are sent by the Great Father and the great council at Washington to arrange some plan to relieve you, as far as possible, from the bad consequences of this state of things and to protect you from future difficulties. We desire to set apart a tract of your country as a home for yourselves and children forever, upon which your Great Father will not permit the white man to trespass. We wish you to mark out a section of country that will suit you for this purpose. When that is set apart, we desire to buy of you the right to use and settle the rest, leaving to you, however, the right to hunt upon it all as long as the game lasts.
By Article 11 of the treaty, the United States undertook that "(n)o treaty for the cession of any portion of the reservation (therein) described, which may be held in common (would) be of any force or validity as against the said Indians unless executed and signed by, at least, a majority of all the adult male Indians occupying or interest in the same . . . ." 2 Kapp. at 1011. Such language also assumes that the United States recognized the extensive ownership rights of the Crow Tribe in the reservation lands
In Montana Power Co. v. Rochester, 127 F.2d 189 (9th Cir. 1942), this court reached a similar result in construing the Treaty of July 16, 1855, 12 Stat. 975, 2 Kapp. 722, negotiated with the Confederated Tribes of the Flathead, Kootenai, and Upper Pend d'Oreilles Indians
E. g., Skokomish Indian Tribe v. France, 320 F.2d 205 (9th Cir. 1963); Moore v. United States, 157 F.2d 760 (9th Cir. 1946). See also Alaska Pacific Fisheries v. United States, 248 U.S. 78, 39 S.Ct. 40, 63 L.Ed. 138 (1918)
Published histories of the Crow Tribe indicate that the Crow Indians engaged principally in the hunting of large game such as elk and buffalo. Fishing was neither a primary nor an important source of food or industry. In his definitive study of the Crow Tribe, R. Lowie states:
A Crow was not happy without a diet of the flesh of ruminants. Boys went out shooting rabbits for fun, but that would be starvation fare for adults. I have never met a reference to eating of fish; berries, and roots dug up by the women formed a regular part of the ancient bill of fare but only as seasoning or dessert; and the corn traded in from the Hidatsa was eaten for the sake of variety rather than as a substitute for meat.
R. Lowie, The Crow Indians 72 (1938).
See Letter from C. E. Mix, Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs, to W. J. Cullen, Special Agent for Montana, April 30, 1868, informing Cullen of his appointment by the President as a Treaty Commissioner and instructing him of his duties, quoted in part, Crow Nation v. United States, 81 Ct.Cl. 238, 250 (1935)
It should further be noted that the cases cited in note 15, supra, where an examination of the lifestyles of the Indian tribes was considered particularly important, involved controversies over the location of the exterior boundaries of lands set aside for the Indians. In the case before us, it is clear that the part of the Big Horn River at issue is within the metes and bounds of the Crow Reservation. Cf. Choctaw Nation v. Oklahoma, 397 U.S. 620, 628, 90 S.Ct. 1328, 25 L.Ed.2d 615 (1969)
See, e. g., United States v. Sexton Cove Estates, 526 F.2d 1293, 1300 n.18 (5th Cir. 1976); Springer v. Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co., 510 F.2d 468, 470 (4th Cir. 1975); Burns v. Forbes, 412 F.2d 995, 998 (3rd Cir. 1969); United States v. 220.0 Acres of Land, State of Md., 306 F.Supp. 138, 151 (D.Md.1969). See also G. Thompson, Real Property § 274 (2d ed. 1964)
The only facet of the right which seems well established is that a riparian owner has no exclusive right to fish in navigable waters in the absence of an express grant and, as a corollary, may not prevent the public from fishing in the navigable waters contiguous to his land. See, e. g., 2 American Law of Property § 9.49 (A. J. Casner ed. 1952); H. Farnham, Water and Water Rights P 375 (1904); Waters and Water Rights § 36.4(A) at 198 (R. Clark ed. 1967); S. Wiel, Water Rights in the Western States § 907 (3d ed. 1911); Annot., 47 A.L.R.2d 381; 35 Am.Jur.2d Fish and Game § 11; 36A C.J.S. Fish §§ 6, 8.
International Shoe Co. v. Heatwole, 126 W.Va. 888, 30 S.E.2d 537, 540, (1944); Small v. Wallace, 124 Me. 365, 129 A. 444, 445 (1925)
Ross v. Mayor and Council of Borough of Edgewater, 115 N.J.Law 477, 180 A. 866, 870 aff'd, 116 N.J.Law 447, 184 A. 810, cert. denied, 299 U.S. 543, 57 S.Ct. 37, 81 L.Ed. 400 (1935)
C. J. Hendry Co. v. Moore, 318 U.S. 133, 135, 63 S.Ct. 499, 87 L.Ed. 663 (1943) and cases cited therein; United States v. Pollmann, 364 F.Supp. 995, 1000 (D.Mont.1973); Corsa v. Tawes, 149 F.Supp. 771, 773 (D.Md.), aff'd per curiam, 355 U.S. 37, 78 S.Ct. 116, 2 L.Ed.2d 70 (1957). See H. Farnham, Water and Water Rights PP 375, 382 (1904); S. Wiel, Water Rights in the Western States § 907 (3rd ed. 1911); 36A C.J.S. Fish §§ 8, 26
H.Rep. No. 625, 86th Cong., 2d Sess. 2; S.Rep. No. 1686, 86th Cong., 2d Sess. 2. Prior to the enactment of section 1165, Indian property owners could not protect their lands against trespassing by non-Indians for the purpose of hunting, trapping, and fishing. Both the House and the Senate reports stated that "(n)on-Indians are not subject to the jurisdiction of Indian courts and cannot be tried in Indian courts on trespass charges." H.Rep. No. 625, supra, at 2; S.Rep. No. 1686, supra, at 2. (The correctness of that assumption may now be questioned in light of our recent decision in Oliphant v. Schlie, 544 F.2d 1007 (9th Cir. 1976).) Furthermore, there were no federal laws which could be invoked against trespassers. The House report notes:
There is a Federal statute making it an offense for a non-Indian to hunt or trap on lands of treaty tribes except for subsistence (25 U.S.C. 216). However, as pointed out in the report of the Secretary of the Interior, this act does not cover fishing, is limited to lands of tribes with treaties, and in effect sanctions trespass if it is "for subsistence in Indian country." To this might be added the practical fact that some U.S. attorneys hesitate to prosecute under this act which dates back to 1834, because of the difficulty of proof on the subsistence point and mainly because there is a feeling that the 1834 act was designed for the old-time professional hunter and trapper, not the weekenders or local rod-and-gun members who pose the modern problem.
H.Rep. No. 625, supra, at 2. The legislation was thus intended to provide sanctions for hunting, trapping, and fishing on Indian lands "without the consent in the form of a license or permit for which a fee can be charged, by the Indian or tribe concerned." H.Rep. No. 625, supra, at 1. See also Letter from Assistant Secretary of the Interior Ernst, to Rep. Celler, Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, February 13, 1958, which states in pertinent part:
In a great many instances, fish and game are much more plentiful on Indian reservations than on adjacent lands, and non-Indian hunters and fishermen come onto the reservations to hunt and fish. Indian tribes have the right to control or to prohibit hunting and fishing on their reservations, and to charge fees for permitting hunting and fishing. Sometimes the money derived from hunting and fishing permits represents a sizable portion of the tribal income.
H.Rep. No. 625, supra, at 4.
That the waters of the Big Horn River are navigable is irrelevant to the question whether or not there was a prohibited entry for the purposes of fishing. We have expressly observed that there is no inherent conflict between the Government holding lands in trust exclusively for Indian fisheries and its also holding the waters over such lands in trust for the purposes of navigation. Moore v. United States, 157 F.2d 760 (9th Cir. 1946). It is well settled that the United States may exercise its power to protect Indian fisheries even as to waters that are subject to the public easement of navigation. Alaska Pacific Fisheries v. United States, 248 U.S. 78, 39 S.Ct. 40, 63 L.Ed. 138 (1918)