Opinion ID: 335494
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Claim of Indian Title.

Text: 6 Indian title is a permissive right of occupancy granted by the federal government to the aboriginal possessors of the land. (Johnson v. McIntosh (1823) 21 U.S. (8 Wheat.) 543, 573-74, 5 L.Ed. 681, 688 (Marshall, C. J.).) It is mere possession not specifically recognized as ownership (Tee-Hit-Ton Indians v. United States (1955) 348 U.S. 272, 279, 75 S.Ct. 313, 317, 99 L.Ed. 314, 320) and may be extinguished by the federal government at any time. Although an extinguishment cannot be lightly implied in view of the avowed solicitude of the Federal Government for the welfare of its Indian wards (United States v. Santa Fe Pacific R. Co. (1941) 314 U.S. 339, 354, 62 S.Ct. 248, 255, 86 L.Ed. 260, 274), when the Government clearly intends to extinguish Indian title the courts will not inquire into the means or propriety of the action: 7 Extinguishment of Indian title based on aboriginal possession is of course a different matter. The power of Congress in that regard is supreme. The manner, method and time of such extinguishment raise political not justiciable issues. As stated by Chief Justice Marshall in Johnson v. M'Intosh, 'the exclusive right of the United States to extinguish' Indian title has never been doubted. And whether it be done by treaty, by the sword, by purchase, by the exercise of complete dominion adverse to the right of occupancy, or otherwise, its justness is not open to inquiry in the courts. (Santa Fe, supra, at 347, 62 S.Ct. at 252, 86 L.Ed. at 270 (citations omitted).) 8 Thus, despite the policy of the Congress, continued throughout our history, to extinguish Indian title through negotiation rather than by force (Tee-Hit-Ton Indians, supra, 348 U.S., at 273, 75 S.Ct. at 314, 99 L.Ed. at 317), extinguishment need not be accomplished by treaty or voluntary cession. The relevant question is whether the governmental action was intended to be a revocation of Indian occupancy rights, not whether the revocation was effected by permissible means. 9 There is no dispute in this case that prior to 1850 the Pit River Indians held Indian title to the lands in question; the issue is whether that title has been extinguished. Appellants argue vigorously that the California Land Claims Act of 1851 (Act of March 3, 1851, ch. 41, 9 Stat. 631) did not revoke their rights in the land. The Act required that every person claiming lands in California by virtue of any right or title derived from the Spanish or Mexican government present that claim to a special Commission. (Id. § 8.) Confirmed claims were perfected by the issuance of a patent; land that was not patented within two years passed into the public domain of the United States. (Id. § 13.) In Barker v. Harvey (1901) 181 U.S. 481, 21 S.Ct. 690, 45 L.Ed. 963 and United States v. Title Ins. & Trust Co. (1924) 265 U.S. 472, 44 S.Ct. 621, 68 L.Ed. 1110, the Supreme Court upheld fee titles based on patents against challenges by Mission Indians who had not presented their claims to the 1851 Commission. 10 Appellants here claim that the Act, as construed in Barker and Title Insurance, covered only claims of fee ownership or claims of lesser property interests based on explicit or implicit grants from the Spanish and Mexican governments. Since their claim of Indian title is not one of ownership derived from a foreign government, but is a claim of permissive occupancy based on the acquiescence of the United States sovereign, appellants argue that the actions of the 1851 Commission did not affect their rights in the land. The contention that the Pit River Indian title was not extinguished by the 1851 Act finds some support in Barker and in legislation enacted after the expiration of the 1851 Act. (See Barker, supra, 181 U.S., at 491-92, 21 S.Ct. at 694, 45 L.Ed. at 968 (noting an essential difference between temporary Indian occupancy and a right of permanent occupancy based on action of a prior government); Act of March 3, 1853, ch. 155, § 6, 10 Stat. 244, 246-47 (limiting post-1853 settlement on land occupied or possessed by any Indian tribe).) 11 Nevertheless, even if we agree, arguendo, that the 1851 Act was ambiguous as to the extinguishment of Indian title, a series of federal actions subsequent to 1851 clearly demonstrates that the Pit River Indian title has been extinguished. First, in the 1850's and the 1860's the Government undertook concentrated military action against the Pit River Indians and other tribes in the area. In 1857, Fort Crook was established as a base of military operations and in 1867 the various tribes were decisively overcome at the Battle of the Infernal Caverns. (Pit River Indians v. United States (1959) 7 Ind.Cl.Comm 815, 862.) Conceding that they have not been in physical possession of the land for 100 years, the Indians contend that their title survived because they were removed by force, rather than by voluntary abandonment. An extinguishment by force, however, is effective (Santa Fe, supra, 314 U.S. at 347, 62 S.Ct. at 252, 86 L.Ed. at 270) and the military action of the mid-nineteenth century is a strong indication of the sovereign's intent to revoke the Pit River rights of permissive occupancy. 12 In the beginning of the twentieth century, the United States took action that further clarified the status of the land. At trial the Government introduced uncontroverted documentary evidence from the Bureau of Land Management showing that in the early 1900's the claimed land was included in national forest reserves which later became the Shasta Trinity and Lassen National Forests. The continuous use of the land to the present time for the purposes of conservation and recreation, after the Indians had been forcibly expelled, leaves little doubt that Indian title was extinguished. The Court of Claims has recently held that the designation of land as a forest reserve is itself effective to extinguish Indian title. (United States v. Pueblo of San Ildefonso (Ct.Cl.1975) 513 F.2d 1383, 1386, 1391-92.) 13 Finally, any ambiguity about extinguishment that may have remained after the establishment of the forest reserves, has been decisively resolved by congressional payment of compensation to the Pit River Indians for these lands. In 1946 Congress established the Indian Claims Commission to hear and determine claims against the United States by groups of American Indians. (25 U.S.C. §§ 70 to 70v-2) 5 The Pit River Indians filed a claim with the Commission to receive compensation for the taking of their Indian title lands. (Pit River Indians v. United States (1959) 7 Ind.Cl.Comm. 815.) In 1959, the Commission found that the Pit River Indian title to approximately 3,386,000 acres had been taken by the federal government. (Id. at 862.) Five years later, after negotiations and voting by the various tribes, the Commission approved a compromise final settlement between the United States and all the California Indians (including the Pit River Indians) with claims pending before the Commission. (Thompson v. United States (1964) 13 Ind.Cl.Comm. 369, 513.) 6 That same year Congress appropriated the funds to pay the settlement. (Act of October 7, 1964, Pub.L. No. 88-635, ch. 11, 78 Stat. 1033; Andrade v. United States (1973) 485 F.2d 660, 661, 202 Ct.Cl. 988.) Payment of the Pit River claim eliminates any lingering doubt that by 1964 Congress had revoked the Indians' rights of permissive occupancy. 14 The exact date on which Indian title has been extinguished is often difficult to determine. (See United States v. Pueblo of San Ildefonso, supra, at 1391.) The four events we have recounted amply illustrate that problem. Any one of these actions, examined in isolation, may not provide an unequivocal answer to the question of extinguishment. However, the activity of the federal government, beginning with the ambiguous Act of 1851 and culminating in the payment of the compromise settlement, has included expulsion by force, inconsistent use, and voluntary payment of compensation agreement. (See Santa Fe, supra, 314 U.S. at 347, 62 S.Ct. at 252, 86 L.Ed. at 270.) This century-long course of conduct amply demonstrates that the Pit River Indian title has been extinguished. 15