Opinion ID: 704021
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Railroad Land.

Text: 85 The district court did not make occupancy findings regarding certain lands which the Navajos obtained from the Santa Fe Railroad. Instead, it granted summary judgment for the Navajos, on the ground that this was not part of the vacant and unappropriated land which the 1934 Act apportioned to the Navajos and such other Indians as may already be located thereon. Masayesva, 792 F.Supp. at 1159. We review de novo, Jesinger v. Nevada Federal Credit Union, 24 F.3d 1127, 1130 (9th Cir.1994) and affirm. 86 The United States conveyed the lands at issue to the Santa Fe Railroad in the 1860's. In 1904, Congress provided that railroads could exchange lands in Indian reservations for other lands of equal area and value in lieu of the reservation lands: 87 Any private land over which an Indian reservation has been extended by Executive order, may be exchanged at the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior and at the expense of the owner thereof and under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, for vacant, nonmineral, nontimbered, surveyed public lands of equal area and value and situated in the same State or Territory. 88 43 U.S.C. Sec. 149. 89 The Santa Fe conveyed lands on what later became the Navajo Reservation in 1912, as part of such an anticipated exchange. The United States recorded Santa Fe's deed, but did not give Santa Fe lieu lands in return. This failure to complete the exchange may have resulted from a dispute about value of the lands to be exchanged. Santa Fe then conveyed other lands to the government, and the government conveyed lieu lands to the Santa Fe, in 1915. 90 The base lands conveyed by the Santa Fe in 1912 were not reconveyed by any instrument back to the Santa Fe. Nevertheless, the Santa Fe sold them to the government again. Between 1929 and 1932, the Santa Fe conveyed them by quitclaim deed to the United States in trust for the Navajo Tribe. Masayesva, 792 F.Supp. at 1157. The United States used Navajo tribal funds to buy the lands. Id. 91 The Hopis argue that the United States already owned the railroad lands in 1912, so the quitclaim deeds in 1929-32 did not convey anything. The Navajos argue that the 1912 conveyance was rescinded by implication, when the United States refused to convey the lieu lands in exchange, so the land was acquired in trust for the Navajos in 1929-32, and was therefore not part of the unappropriated land subject to ownership by such other Indians as may already be located thereon under the 1934 Act. 92 It is plain from the fact of their purchase that the United States and the Navajos understood, in 1929-32, that the Santa Fe owned an interest in the lands. It is also plain, from the terms of the conveyance, that the Navajos and the United States intended, in 1929-32, that the lands should be held in trust for the Navajo Tribe. Had the United States been able to convey the lands into trust for the Navajos without paying the Santa Fe for quitclaim deeds, as it could if it owned the land, there is no reason to doubt that this would have been done. 93 There is law supporting the proposition that a conveyance in the circumstances of the Santa Fe's 1912 conveyance is subject to an equitable claim for rescission if the lieu lands are not conveyed. State of Oregon v. Bureau of Land Management, 876 F.2d 1419, 1427-28 (9th Cir.1989); Udall v. Battle Mountain Co., 385 F.2d 90, 94 (9th Cir.1967). Sumid v. Cairns, 25 Ariz. 597, 220 P. 1084, 1085 (1923). 94 Since the relinquishment to the United States contemplated a completed exchange of lands, an equity in the nature of a right to rescission remained with the owner of the relinquished land until the exchange had been completed and it was not until then that the United States might be regarded as vested with unconditional ownership. 95 Battle Mountain, 385 F.2d at 94. 96 In the circumstances of this case, the Hopi argument would establish that the United States acquired bare legal title in 1912, subject to an equitable claim of rescission owned by the Santa Fe. The 1915 exchange is subject to two interpretations, either that it was an alternative to the failed 1912 exchange, or that it was a conveyance of Santa Fe lands in addition to those conveyed in 1912, bringing the value up to a level which satisfied the government. The purchase by the government in 1929-32 implies that the first interpretation is the one which the parties thought to be correct. The government did not obtain the equitable interest in the railroad lands until 1929-32. The Santa Fe did indeed own something when it conveyed its interest in 1929-32 by quitclaim deeds: the equitable right to the lands. The interest was then purchased with Navajo money and was subject to a trust on behalf of the Navajos. The district court correctly held that this land was not part of the unappropriated lands subject to the 1934 Act. 97