Opinion ID: 389584
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the general allotment act of 1887

Text: 43 We next consider Walton's rights as the fee owner of allotted land, and reverse the district court's judgment that he has no right to reserved water.
44 The General Allotment Act provided that land on reservations could be allotted for the exclusive use of individual Indians. Remaining land was to be made available for homesteading by non-Indians. After holding allotted lands in trust for individual Indians for a 25-year period, the federal government could convey the land to the allottee in fee, discharged of said trust and free of all charge or incumbrance whatsoever. 25 U.S.C. § 348. 45 Because the use of reserved water is not limited to fulfilling the original purposes of the reservation, Congress had the power to allot reserved water rights to individual Indians, and to allow for the transfer of such rights to non-Indians. Whether it did so is a question of congressional intent. 46 The General Allotment Act represented the shift in federal objectives from segregation of Indians on reservations to assimilation of them in non-Indian culture and society. Its primary sponsor, Senator Dawes, explained that the quicker (the Indian) is mingled with the whites in every particular the better it will be. Report of the Secretary of the Interior, Proceedings of Mohonk Lake Conference, H.R. Exec. Doc. No. 75, 49th Cong., 2d Sess. 992 (1887). 47 The Act was designed to encourage Indians to become self-supporting citizens by making them landowners. See generally D. Otis, The Dawes Act and the Allotment of Indian Lands 8-32 (1973). Allotted lands were held in trust for a 25-year period because of 48 the desire to protect the Indian against sharp practices leading to Indian landlessness, the desire to safeguard the certainty of titles, and the urge to continue an important basis of governmental activity (on the Indians' behalf). 49 F. Cohen, Handbook of Federal Indian Law 221 (1940); U.S. Department of Interior, Federal Indian Law 788-89 (1958). 50 The only reference to water rights in the Act is found in section 7: 51 In cases where the use of water for irrigation is necessary to render the lands within any Indian reservation available for agricultural purposes, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to prescribe such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary to secure a just and equal distribution thereof among the Indians residing upon any such reservation; and no other appropriation or grant of water by an riparian proprietor shall be authorized or permitted to the damage of any other riparian proprietor. 52 25 U.S.C. § 381. 53 The Act was passed over 20 years before the Supreme Court announced the implied-reservation doctrine in Winters. There is nothing to suggest Congress gave any consideration to the transferability of reserved water rights. To resolve this issue, we must determine what Congress would have intended had it considered it.B. 54 It is settled that Indian allottees have a right to use reserved water. United States v. Powers, 305 U.S. 527, 59 S.Ct. 344, 83 L.Ed. 330 (1939). 13 (W)hen allotments were made for exclusive use and thereafter conveyed in fee, the right to use some portion of tribal waters essential for cultivation passed to the owners. Id. at 532, 59 S.Ct. at 346. We must determine whether non-Indian purchasers of allotted lands also obtain a right to some portion of reserved waters. 55 (1) 56 The general rule is that termination or diminution of Indian rights requires express legislation or a clear inference of Congressional intent gleaned from the surrounding circumstances and legislative history. See Bryan v. Itasca County, 426 U.S. 373, 392-93, 96 S.Ct. 2102, 2112-13, 48 L.Ed.2d 710 (1975); Mattz v. Arnett, 412 U.S. 481, 504-05, 93 S.Ct. 2245, 2257-58, 37 L.Ed.2d 92 (1972). Upon careful consideration, we conclude this principle supports the proposition that an Indian allottee may sell his right to reserved water. 57 The district court's holding that an Indian allottee may convey only a right to the water he or she has actually appropriated with a priority date of actual appropriation reduces the value of the allottee's right to reserved water. We think this type of restriction on transferability is a diminution of Indian rights that must be supported by a clear inference of Congressional intent. 58 By placing allotted lands in trust for 25 years, Congress evinced an intent to protect Indians by preventing transfer of those lands. 14 But there is no basis for an inference that some restrictions survived beyond the trust period. Congress provided for extensions of the trust period, but directed that fee title be conveyed to the allottee when the period expired. We think the fee included the appurtenant right to share in reserved waters, and see no basis for limiting the transferability of that right. 59 This conclusion is supported by our decision in United States v. Ahtanum Irrigation District, 236 F.2d 321, 342 (9th Cir. 1956), cert. denied, 352 U.S. 988, 77 S.Ct. 386, 1 L.Ed.2d 367 (1957). Ahtanum held that non-Indian purchasers of allotted lands are entitled to participate ratably with Indian allottees in the use of reserved water. See United States v. Adair, 478 F.Supp. 336 (D.Ore.1979); United States v. Hibner, 27 F.2d 909 (D.Idaho 1928). 60 (2) 61 In determining the nature of the right acquired by non-Indian purchasers, we consider three aspects of an allottee's right to use reserved waters. 62 First, the extent of an Indian allottee's right is based on the number of irrigable acres he owns. If the allottee owns 10% of the irrigable acreage in the watershed, he is entitled to 10% of the water reserved for irrigation (i. e., a ratable share). This follows from the provision for an equal and just distribution of water needed for irrigation. 63 A non-Indian purchaser cannot acquire more extensive rights to reserved water than were held by the Indian seller. Thus, the purchaser's right is similarly limited by the number of irrigable acres he owns. 64 Second, the Indian allottee's right has a priority as of the date the reservation was created. This is the principal aspect of the right that renders it more valuable than the rights of competing water users, and therefore applies to the right acquired by a non-Indian purchaser. In the event there is insufficient water to satisfy all valid claims to reserved water, the amount available to each claimant should be reduced proportionately. 65 Third, the Indian allottee does not lose by non-use the right to a share of reserved water. This characteristic is not applicable to the right acquired by a non-Indian purchaser. The non-Indian successor acquires a right to water being appropriated by the Indian allottee at the time title passes. The non-Indian also acquires a right, with a date-of-reservation priority date, to water that he or she appropriates with reasonable diligence after the passage of title. If the full measure of the Indian's reserved water right is not acquired by this means and maintained by continued use, it is lost to the non-Indian successor. 66 The full quantity of water available to the Indian allottee thus may be conveyed to the non-Indian purchaser. There is no diminution in the right the Indian may convey. We think Congress would have intended, however, that the non-Indian purchaser, under no competitive disability vis-a-vis other water users, may not retain the right to that quantity of water despite non-use. See United States v. Adair, 478 F.Supp. at 348-49; United States v. Hibner, 27 F.2d at 912. C. 67 The district court's holding that Walton has no right to share in water reserved when the Colville reservation was created is reversed. On remand, it will need to determine the number of irrigable acres Walton owns, and the amount of water he appropriated with reasonable diligence in order to determine the extent of his right to share in reserved water.