Opinion ID: 102428
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Navigability.

Text: Dominion over navigable waters and property in the soil under them are so identified with the sovereign power of government that a presumption against their separation from sovereignty must be indulged, in construing either grants by the sovereign of the lands to be held in private ownership or transfer of sovereignty itself. See Massachusetts v. New York, 271 U.S. 65, 89. For that reason, upon the admission of a State to the Union, the title of the United States to lands underlying navigable waters within the States passes to it, as incident to the transfer to the State of local sovereignty, and is subject only to the paramount power of the United States to control such waters for purposes of navigation in interstate and foreign commerce. But if the waters are not navigable in fact, the title of the United States to land underlying them remains unaffected by the creation of the new State. See United States v. Utah, supra, 75; Oklahoma v. Texas, supra, 583, 591. Since the effect upon the title to such lands is the result of federal action in admitting a state to the Union, the question, whether the waters within the State under which the lands lie are navigable or non-navigable, is a federal, not a local one. It is, therefore, to be determined according to the law and usages recognized and applied in the federal courts, even though, as in the present case, the waters are not capable of use for navigation in interstate or foreign commerce. United States v. Holt State Bank, 270 U.S. 49, 55, 56; United States v. Utah, supra, 75; Brewer-Elliott Oil Co. v. United States, 260 U.S. 77, 87. The Special Master based his conclusion that the waters within the meander line boundary were not navigable in fact on the date of the admission of Oregon to the Union, or afterward, on his finding of fact that: neither trade nor travel did then or at any time since has or could or can move over said Divisions, or any of them, in their natural or ordinary conditions according to the customary modes of trade or travel over water; nor was any of them on February 14, 1859, nor has any of them since been used or susceptible of being used in the natural or ordinary condition of any of them as permanent or other highways or channels for useful or other commerce. It is not denied that this finding embodies the appropriate tests of navigability as laid down by the decisions of this Court. See United States v. Holt State Bank, supra, 56; United States v. Utah, supra, 76; Brewer-Elliott Oil Co. v. United States, supra, 86; Oklahoma v. Texas, supra, 586; Economy Light & Power Co. v. United States, 256 U.S. 113, 123; United States v. Rio Grande Irrigation Co., 174 U.S. 690, 698; The Daniel Ball, 10 Wall. 557, 563. The only attack upon it is that it is not adequately supported by the evidence. The finding, as the Master's report shows in detail, is rested upon his observations, made in the course of a personal inspection of the disputed area, and a careful consideration of the voluminous testimony of one hundred and forty-three witnesses. He made subsidiary findings with respect to (1) the physical condition, present and past, of the several bodies of water with respect to their depth, their channels or waterways capable of use in navigation, and the presence within them of vegetation, all of which affect their use and the access to them for purposes of navigation, and (2) their actual use, past and present, with special reference to (a) trapping of fur-bearing animals and (b) boating. Physical Condition: The Special Master inspected Lake Malheur Reservation on or about November 1, 1931, accompanied by counsel and engineers representing the parties. He found that the entire area was then dry, and showed no signs in the soil of ever having been under water, except that water one to two inches in depth was found in Harney Lake, and about 400 acres in Lake Malheur was covered by water of negligible depth, and was surrounded by about 1,000 acres of mud. This 1,400 acre area lay in the more southerly part of the lake. The surface elevation above sea level of the 1,400 acres varied from 4,090 to 4,092 feet, which was below the average elevation of the meander line, fixed in the findings at 4,093 feet. These data as to the condition of the area then, which are not directly challenged and are abundantly supported by the testimony, indicate clearly enough that all five divisions are shallow bodies of water which, with the exception of Lake Malheur, disappear completely or become negligible during a dry season. The five divisions are shown to lie in a flat plateau and their basins or beds to be so shallow and unprotected by banks that variations in the amount of water flowing into them produce large variations in the area covered by water, but relatively slight variations in depth. The entire area is shown to be an evaporation pan for the Harney County water basin, with an average annual evaporation of forty inches. The Master found that, except in years of abundant rainfall and favorable run-off, the water is not available to maintain an average water surface elevation of much above 4,093 feet. Contour maps of Lake Malheur, where conditions admittedly are the most favorable for navigation, show that nearly half its area, with water surface standing at 4,093 feet, would be covered with water two feet or less in depth, and less than one-fourth of its area with water between three and four feet in depth. [2] The areas which would be covered by water of depth sufficient to float boats are shown not to be continuous enough to afford channels or waterways capable of use in navigation. At a surface elevation of 4,093 feet the water is so shallow for long distances from the meander line as to preclude passage over it by boats, and with the water reduced to lower levels by seasonal evaporation the same area becomes mud or dry land. With a reduction of only one foot in water surface elevation, approximately 11,716 acres, otherwise covered by water, becomes mud or dry land, and other marked changes in the distribution of depths are produced. With the reduction in water surface attending the usual dry season of the summer, much of the area is made up of small lakes or ponds, separated by mud or dry land. There has been no survey of Harney Lake, but contour maps of the other divisions show similar conditions, though less favorable to navigability. The evidence establishes that Harney Lake is even more shallow and is without banks on its westerly end. Its waters are alkaline, and almost without vegetation. Its water area at the time of trial was approximately 2,000 acres, having a depth of from one to two inches. The depths have been variable, but the lake has not been shown at any time to have had a depth exceeding three feet. The evidence establishes that it has no stable or constant stand of water, and that large variations in the water area occur with seasonal and climatic changes. All the other divisions are shown to be covered in substantial measure by tules, which ordinarily grow only in depths of five feet or less, and to be filled in the shallower portions with growths of vegetation of a character and extent such as to make navigation difficult, even though there were channels or waterways otherwise capable of use for that purpose. The presence of dead sagebrush and greasewood in all three lakes, in considerable areas generally covered by water, indicates that the land has been dry for substantial periods. Scientific and historical evidence in great volume supports the conclusion that the physical condition of the bodies of water within the area has not varied substantially, so as to affect the possibility of their use in navigation, since the admission of Oregon to the Union. This is established by early maps and reports; a study of tree rings, indicating past climatic conditions, particularly the amount of annual rainfall; and the presence in all divisions, except Harney Lake, of underlying beds of peat varying from twelve to thirty inches in depth and tending to establish shallow water conditions, and the presence of vegetation, over a long period. The conclusion must be that at the time of admission to statehood the bodies of water within the meander line were shallow, with average surface water not much above 4,093 feet, with the water of all except Harney Lake substantially filled with tules and other types of water vegetation, so as to give them largely the character of swamps, with irregularly located but connected areas of shallow open water of variable depths. The conclusion of the Special Master, that only under exceptional conditions does the water surface rise above 4,093 feet, is challenged by the State. The finding is based in part upon an elaborate study and report of water conditions in the Harney County water basin, prepared by Jessup, a Government engineer, showing that in order to maintain a mean average elevation of this lake surface [Lake Malheur] much above 4,093 feet would require more water than has ever been available. In support of Oregon's exception to the Master's finding, it relies upon two independent private surveys, the results of which did not differ materially from those tendered by the Government, and the evidence of numerous witnesses who testified that at one time or another during the past 45 years they had seen the water at points which, if their estimates and recollections are correct, would establish a water surface elevation above 4,093 feet. Their testimony, aside from its often vague and untrustworthy character because based on estimates and unaided recollections over long periods of time, as well as that of the surveys referred to, tended at most to show that in exceptional conditions of flood the water surface rose somewhat above the elevation of the meander line. There is abundant scientific evidence, and the testimony of contemporary observers, that for considerable parts of each year, and except in unusual conditions of flood, the water falls substantially below that elevation. There is no convincing evidence that the Special Master erred in his conclusion that the mean water surface elevation is not much above that point. The Master also found against the contention of Oregon, set up by its amended answer, that the water surface elevation had been materially lessened by diversion of water from the Silvies and Donner und Blitzen rivers, for purposes of irrigation. The record affords no substantial support for this contention. The voluminous scientific evidence must be accepted as establishing that any diversion, which could reasonably be assumed to take place by reason of irrigation, is too small in comparison with the area affected to produce any variation in depth of water sufficient to affect navigability. At a surface elevation of 4,092 feet the three lakes are connected and the flow of water required to raise water surface an additional foot, when allowance is made for increased evaporation, would considerably exceed any estimated amount of water artificially diverted. Nor does the evidence support the contention of Oregon that the navigability of Lake Malheur and Mud Lake is affected by the breaking of a channel through the Sand Reef, and the resulting connection with Harney Lake, which is said materially to have lowered the surface of the waters in the two upper lakes. The Special Master found that the gap, about 45 feet wide, which was broken through the top of Sand Reef by flood water in 1881, has had no such effect. In this he is supported by the scientific evidence based upon the contour maps of the region, and the annual inflow of water into Lake Malheur, and the outflow through the Sand Reef to Harney Lake. There is no outflow in some years. The evidence shows that with the Sand Reef closed the depth of water in Malheur and Mud Lakes would be increased by only a few tenths of a foot. Trapping. The State places much reliance on the large amount of testimony relating to the trapping of furbearing animals, principally muskrats, in the contested area. The evidence shows that, at times subsequent to 1890, a large number of animals were trapped in the tule areas, some in fall and spring, but principally in the winter months. Most of this evidence has no bearing on navigability, for with a few exceptions, the trappers appear to have waded or walked. See Toledo Liberal Shooting Co. v. Erie Shooting Club, 90 Fed. 680, 682 (C.C.A. 6th). Before 1908 only three trappers are shown to have used boats. Later one trapper is shown to have used a rowboat and another to have used both a rowboat and a motor boat. Of the four witnesses who had used boats in connection with trapping, three referred to use of homemade boats of three or four to six inches draft, one in the fall of 1833 and following years, another in 1894-1895, and another subsequent to 1909. All wore gummed boots and found it necessary, in the use of the boats, to get out and pull them over shallow points in the lake where the depths were from one to four inches. Another, who used a boat in which he had installed a small motor, stated that the propeller sometimes struck bottom, when it would be necessary to pole the boat off, and that it was often stalled by the tangling of the weedless propeller in the vegetation of the lake. Boating. The Special Master found that the boating which took place in the area involved had no commercial aspects and was of such a character as to be no indication of navigability; that it was only such as might reasonably be expected to occur in a swampy area of the character and magnitude described. The issue of navigability was chiefly concerned with Lake Malheur, but the findings were made with respect to the entire area. Numerous witnesses who had lived in the vicinity for many years had never used a boat and had never, or rarely, seen one on the lake. Most of the evidence of boating related to the use of boats by trappers, to which reference has already been made, and by duck hunters in the spring and fall of the year. The boats were all of light draft, those most in use being canvas canoes or homemade rowboats, drawing between one and six inches of water. The record is replete with evidence showing that many difficulties were customarily encountered in the use of boats. It was usual to drag them many yards, sometimes several hundred, from the fast land before they would float. Once embarked they encountered tules, often six feet or more in height, and much other water vegetation, impenetrable at many points, but through which there was a labyrinth of channels leading to no definite or certain destination. Hunters, in many instances, found it necessary to flag or otherwise mark the course in order to insure a convenient and safe route for return. The boats were often propelled by poling them through the tules and over the shallow places, or by getting out and pulling them. Only four motor boats appear ever to have been used, and then only to a very limited extent, when conditions were favorable, in the more open water in the southeasterly part of Lake Malheur. This could ordinarily be reached by motor boat only by passing through a considerable distance of relatively shallow water in the region of the Blitzen River. One operator of a motor boat was often marooned by shallow water and took with him a small canoe as a means of proceeding when the motor boat was grounded. He had never found the boat useful because of the weeds and the shallowness of the water. The others had the same difficulties. Two stated that they could only use the boats during high water in spring and early summer. One of them, the Reserve Protector, a resident since 1909, had patrolled Lake Malheur in his boat in high water, but the greater portion of his patrolling was not by boat. The fourth person who had used a motor boat had often found it necessary to get out and pull the boat over shoals in one to four inches of water. The evidence of any use of boats in the other divisions was much more meagre and still less indicative of the possibility of navigation. There is a single instance of bringing a small quantity of hay by rowboat from one of the small islands in Lake Malheur, but there is no other evidence of transportation of any commodity, beyond that already indicated. The evidence, taken as a whole, clearly establishes the flat topography of the disputed area, the shallow water without defined banks, ice-bound from three to four months of the year, the separation of areas covered by water of sufficient depth to float boats, the presence of tules and other forms of water vegetation, a dry season every year, and frequent dry years during which Mud and Harney Lakes are almost entirely without water, and Lake Malheur is reduced to a relatively few acres of disconnected ponds surrounded by mud. These conditions preclude the use for navigation of the area in question, in its natural and ordinary condition, according to the customary modes of trade or travel over water, and establish an absence of that capacity for general and common usefulness for purposes of trade and commerce which is essential to navigability. See United States v. Rio Grande Irrigation Co., supra, 698. At most the evidence shows such an occasional use of boats, sporadic and ineffective, as has been observed on lakes, streams or ponds large enough to float a boat, but which nevertheless were held to lack navigable capacity. See United States v. Rio Grande Irrigation Co., supra, 699; The Montello, 20 Wall. 430, 442; Leovy v. United States, 177 U.S. 621, 627, 633; North American Dredging Co. v. Mintzer, 245 Fed. 297 (C.C.A. 9th); Toledo Liberal Shooting Co. v. Erie Shooting Club, supra, 682; Harrison v. Fite, 148 Fed. 781, 786 (C.C.A. 8th). It is not without significance that the disputed area has been treated as non-navigable both by the Secretary of the Interior and the Oregon courts. The Secretary, in 19 L.D. 439, December 3, 1894, described Lake Malheur as non-navigable, and in 16 L.D. 256, March 3, 1893, and in 30 L.D. 521, March 11, 1901, as little more than a swamp or marsh, and again as a vast marsh or tule swamp with comparatively little open water. The Oregon Supreme Court, in cases involving the correctness of the present or previous meander lines, has repeatedly recognized that Lake Malheur is non-navigable. See French-Glenn Live Stock Co. v. Springer, 35 Ore. 312, 323; 58 Pac. 102 (1899), 185 U.S. 47, 53; Cawlfield v. Smyth, 69 Ore. 41, 42; 138 Pac. 227 (1914); Bailey v. Malheur Irrigation Co., 36 Ore. 54, 55; 57 Pac. 910 (1899); In re Rights to Use of Waters of Silvies River, 115 Ore. 27, 34; 237 Pac. 322 (1925).