Opinion ID: 377070
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Nature of the State's Interest

Text: 17 Next, we must consider the grants to Nebraska for school purposes. The State of Nebraska claims an interest in the land as a result of its in lieu selection of Lot 2 in 1899 pursuant to Nebraska Enabling Act of 1864. By Section 16 of the Act of Congress of May 30, 1854, 10 Stat. 277, 283, Sections numbered 16 and 36 in each township were reserved to the territory of Nebraska for the support of schools. Section 7 of the Nebraska Enabling Act, the Act of Congress of April 19, 1864, 13 Stat. 47, preserved the reservation of Sections numbered 16 and 36 for school land purposes, and provided further that alternate sections be granted to the state for the support of its schools where Sections numbered 16 and 36 had been sold or otherwise disposed of by any Act of Congress. 5 The parties have stipulated that on February 12, 1899, the State of Nebraska acquired title to Lot 2 as a result of deficiencies in Sections 16 and 36. Therefore pursuant to the Nebraska Enabling Act of 1864, the United States granted to Nebraska, lands selected in lieu of the designated sections which had previously been disposed of for the support of the common schools. 18 In Wyoming v. Andrus, 602 F.2d 1379 (10th Cir. 1979), the State of Wyoming sought to exclude from its patent to school sections, lands included within the railroad's right-of-way and, by reason of such exclusion, to be entitled to make indemnity in lieu selections. The court held that a grant to the railroad of right-of-way and profits a prendre in coal and iron in aid of building the railroad did not constitute a disposition of property within the meaning of the Wyoming Enabling Act. Accordingly, the court concluded that Congress intended Wyoming to take the school land grant sections subject to the railroad's right-of-way and that Wyoming was not entitled to in lieu selections. 19 We agree with the court in Wyoming v. Andrus, supra, 602 F.2d at 1385, that lands conveyed for a right-of-way by the 1862 Act, as amended, do not constitute lands otherwise disposed of within the meaning of state enabling acts. In this case Section 18, acquired in lieu of other lands, was likewise not otherwise disposed of and was, as the parties have stipulated, granted to the State of Nebraska for school purposes in 1899 pursuant to Section 7 of the Nebraska Enabling Act. We agree with the conclusion of the district court that the conveyance of Section 18 from the United States to the State of Nebraska as school land pursuant to Section 7 of the Nebraska Enabling Act involved a transfer to the State of Nebraska of at least the subsurface rights in the right-of-way land involved in this controversy. 20 Accordingly, we hold that the interest retained by the United States which was subsequently granted to the State of Nebraska for school purposes, conveyed sufficient title in the servient estate underlying the railroad right-of-way to permit the state to convey to ETS a pipeline easement interest in the subsurface of the servient estate. That interest, of course, remains subject to the encumbrance of Union Pacific's right-of-way to use of the land for the purpose of operating a railroad and subject to any reservation of mineral rights retained by the United States. 21 The judgment of the district court is affirmed.