Opinion ID: 166407
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The public use standard

Text: Under the common law, the establishment of a public right of way required two steps: the landowner’s objectively manifested intent to dedicate property to the public use as a right of way, and acceptance by the public. 21 Isaac Grant Thompson, A Practical Treatise on the Law of Highways 48-52 (1868) (dedication); id. at 54-57 (acceptance); Joseph K. Angell & Thomas Durfee, A Treatise on the Law of Highways 146-65 (2d ed. 1868) (dedication); id. at 174-83 (acceptance); 6 R. Powell, The Law of Real Property § 84.01 (2005) (hereinafter Powell); see The President, Recorder and Trustees of Cincinnati v. White’s Lessee, 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 431, 438-40 (1832). Dedication by the landowner could be manifested by express statement or presumed from conduct, usually by allowing the public “the uninterrupted use and enjoyment of their privilege” over a specified period of time. Thompson on Highways, supra, at 48-49; see also James Kent, 3 Commentaries on American Law 604-06, -51 (10th ed. 1860); 21 Alternatively, where land intended for highway use was privately owned and the landowner did not dedicate the land to use as a right of way, the government could proceed by condemnation and compensation. See Joseph K. Angell & Thomas Durfee, A Treatise on the Law of Highways 64-131 (2d ed. 1868). Because this case involves only routes across land that was public when the route was established, we will disregard this branch of the law. 70 for a modern example of presumed dedication, see Draper City v. Estate of Bernardo, 888 P.2d 1097, 1099 (Utah 1995). In the years after its enactment, R.S. 2477 was uniformly interpreted by the courts as an express dedication of the right of way by the landowner, the United States Congress. See Murray v. City of Butte, 14 P. 656, 656 (Mont. Terr. 1887); McRose v. Bottyer, 81 Cal. 122, 126 (1889); Street v. Stalnaker, 85 N.W. 47, 48 (Neb. 1901); Wallowa County v. Wade, 72 P. 793, 794 (Ore. 1903); Okanogan County v. Cheetham, 80 P. 262, 264 (Wash. 1905), overruled on other grounds by McAllister v. Okanogan County, 100 P. 146, 148 (Wash. 1909); Nicolas v. Grassle, 267 P. 196, 197 (Colo. 1928); Lindsay Land & Live Stock Co. v. Churnos, 285 P. 646, 648 (Utah 1929). The difficult question was whether any particular disputed route had been “accepted” by the public before the land had been transferred to private ownership or otherwise reserved. As one court noted: The act of congress already referred to [R.S. 2477] does not make any distinction as to the methods recognized by law for the establishment of a highway. It is an unequivocal grant of right of way for highways over public lands, without any limitation as to the method for their establishment, and hence a highway may be established across or upon such public lands in any of the ways recognized by the law of the state in which such lands are located; and in this state, as already observed, such highways may be established by prescription, dedication, user, or proceedings under the statute. Smith v. Mitchell, 58 P. 667, 668 (Wash. 1899). 71 The rules for “acceptance” of a right of way by the public (whether under R.S. 2477 or otherwise) varied somewhat from state to state. Some states required official action by the local body of government before a public highway could be deemed “accepted.” E.g., Tucson Consol. Copper Co. v. Reese, 100 P. 777, 778 (Ariz. Terr. 1909); Barnard Realty Co. v. City of Butte, 136 P. 1064, 1067 (Mont. 1913) (legislature amended state law in 1895 to prohibit establishment of a public road by use, unless accompanied by an action on the part of public authorities). In such states, the appropriation of public funds for repair was generally deemed sufficient to manifest acceptance by the public body. Angell & Durfee on Highways, supra, at 181-82. In most of the western states, where R.S. 2477 was most significant, acceptance required no governmental act, but could be manifested by continuous public use over a specified period of time. 22 This was the common law rule. “The common law mode of indicating an 22 E.g., Hamerly v. Denton, 359 P.2d 121, 123 (Alaska 1961) (“[B]efore a highway may be created, there must be either some positive act on the part of the appropriate public authorities of the state . . . or there must be public user for such a period of time and under such conditions as to prove that the grant has been accepted.”); Wilson v. Williams, 87 P.2d 683, 685 (N.M. 1939) (“There is no particular method required or recognized as the proper one for the establishment of highways under this grant. Generally the construction of a highway or establishment thereof by public user is sufficient.”); Lindsay Land & Live Stock Co. v. Churnos, 285 P. 646, 648 (Utah 1929) (“It has been held by numerous courts that the grant may be accepted by public use without formal action by public authorities . . . .”) (citing cases); Hatch Bros. Co. v. Black, 165 P. 518, 519 (Wyo. 1917) (“The continued use of the road by the public for such a length of (continued...) 72 acceptance by the public of a dedication is by a user of sufficient length to evince such acceptance . . . .” Thompson on Highways, supra, at 54. 23 In some states, the required period was the same as that for easements by prescription, 24 in some states it was some other specified period, often five to ten years, 25 and in some states it was simply a period long enough to indicate intention to accept. 26 See generally Harry R. Bader, Potential Legal Standards for Resolving the R.S. 2477 22 (...continued) time and under such circumstances as to clearly indicate an intention on the part of the public to accept the grant has generally been held sufficient” to constitute acceptance of an R.S. 2477 right of way.), superseded by statute as noted in Yeager v. Forbes, 78 P.3d 241, 255 (Wyo. 2003); Van Wanning v. Deeter, 110 N.W. 703, 704 (Neb. 1907) (“[T]he acceptance of the congressional grant could be shown, not only by acts of the public authorities, but by the acts of the public itself. In the case at bar . . . there is evidence of user, general and long continued. . . . This, we think, is amply sufficient to show an acceptance by the public of the congressional grant . . . .”), rev’d on other grounds, 112 N.W. 902 (Neb. 1907). 23 “User” is the “enjoyment of a right of use: a right to use resulting from long-continued use.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 2524 (1976); see Black’s Law Dictionary 1542 (7th ed. 1999) (defining “user” as “[t]he exercise or employment of a right or property”). We will use the terms “user” and “continuous public use” interchangeably. See, e.g., Vogler v. Anderson, 89 P. 551, 552 (Wash. 1907); City of Butte 24 v. Mikosowitz, 102 P. 593, 595 (Mont. 1909). 25 See Powell, supra, at n.107; Okanogan County v. Cheetham, 80 P. 262, 264 (Wash. 1905) (holding that seven years of public use is sufficient to constitute acceptance of an R.S. 2477 right of way, as opposed to the ten years required for an easement by prescription, on the ground that “[i]t is not a matter of prescription, but of acceptance of a grant”). See Powell, supra, at n.105; Hatch Bros. Co. v. Black, 165 P. 518, 519 26 (Wyo. 1917). 73 Right of Way Crisis, 11 Pace Envtl. L. Rev. 485, 491-94 (1994). In the leading Utah decision interpreting R.S. 2477, the state Supreme Court explained: It has been held by numerous courts that the grant may be accepted by public use without formal action by public authorities, and that continued use of the road by the public for such length of time and under such circumstances as to clearly indicate an intention on the part of the public to accept the grant is sufficient. Montgomery v. Somers, 50 Or. 259, 90 P. 674; Murray v. City of Butte, 7 Mont. 61, 14 P. 656; Hatch Bros. v. Black, 25 Wyo. 109, 165 P. 518; Sprague v. Stead, 56 Colo. 538, 139 P. 544. Other decisions are to the effect that an acceptance is shown by evidence of user for such a length of time and under such conditions as would establish a road by prescription, if the land over which it passed had been the subject of private ownership[,] Okanogan Co. v. Cheetham, 37 Wash. 682, 80 P. 262, 70 L. R. A. 1027; City of Butte v. Mikosowitz, 39 Mont. 350, 102 P. 593, or of public user for such time as is prescribed in state statutes upon which highways are deemed public highways. McRose v. Bottyer, 81 Cal. 122, 22 P. 393; Schwerdtle v. Placer County, 108 Cal. 589, 41 P. 448; Walcott Tp. v. Skauge, 6 N. D. 382, 71 N. W. 544; Great N. R. Co. v. Viborg, 17 S. D. 374, 97 N. W. 6. See, also, annotation on necessity and sufficiency of acceptance, L. R. A. 1917A, 355. Lindsay Land & Live Stock Co. v. Churnos, 285 P. 646, 648 (Utah 1929), cited in Hodel, 848 F.2d at 1082 n.13. Looking to the Utah statutes in force at the time the right of way was claimed to have been accepted, the Court held that the period of user necessary for acceptance of an R.S. 2477 right of way was ten years. Id., citing Laws of Utah 1886, ch. 12, § 2 (“A highway shall be deemed and taken as dedicated and abandoned to the use of the Public when it has been continuously 74 and uninterruptedly used as a Public thoroughfare for a period of ten years.”). Acceptance of an R.S. 2477 right of way in Utah thus requires continuous public use for a period of ten years. The question then becomes how continuous and intensive the public use must be. The decisions make clear that occasional or desultory use is not sufficient. In the decision just quoted, the Utah Supreme Court stated: “While it is difficult to fix a standard by which to measure what is a public use or a public thoroughfare, it can be said here that the road was used by many and different persons for a variety of purposes; that it was open to all who desired to use it; that the use made of it was as general and extensive as the situation and surroundings would permit, had the road been formally laid out as a public highway by public authority.” Lindsay Land & Live Stock, 285 P. at 648. The requirements for establishing acceptance of a right of way by user cannot, we think, be captured by verbal formulas alone. It is necessary to set forth the factual circumstances of the decided cases, both those recognizing and those not recognizing the validity of R.S. 2477 claims. On remand, the district court will have the difficult task of determining whether the Counties have met their burden of demonstrating acceptance under these precedents. 27 In Lindsay Land & Live Stock, the Utah Supreme Court described the 27 On remand, the parties and the district court are not limited to precedents discussed in this opinion. 75 evidence bearing on usage of the claimed road in great detail: The road extends across the lands in a general easterly and westerly direction following a part of its distance through a narrow canyon or pass called Davenport canyon. At the eastern terminus of the road is a large area of mountain land valuable for grazing animals in the summer season, a portion of which is now the Cache National Forest, and a portion in private ownership. This area has been extensively used for summer grazing for many years, by owners of sheep who trailed them over the route in question from the settled portions of the country lying to west, to the summer range in the spring of the year and back again in the fall. In 1876 a sawmill was constructed in Davenport canyon and the road in question was first definitely located and commenced to be used. People generally from the cities and villages in Box Elder and Cache counties approaching from the West traveled the road for the purpose of hauling lumber from the sawmill, and others from Ogden City and Ogden Valley, who had access to the eastern terminus of the road in question, used it for similar purposes. Other sawmills were set up at different places along the road during the years before 1890, and the road was generally traveled by many persons who had occasion to do so for the purpose of hauling logs to the sawmills and hauling lumber and slabs therefrom, and going to and from the sawmills for other purposes. In about the year 1885 a mining excitement in the locality resulted in the establishment of a mining camp called La Plata near the road in question. Houses were built, a post office established, and several hundred people resided in the camp for five or more years. During this period the road in question was traveled extensively by the general public in going to and from the mining camp. During all of the time from 1876 until shortly before the commencement of this action the road was used by numerous owners of sheep who had occasion to go that way for the purpose of trailing their herds to and from the summer range, and for the purpose of moving their camps and supplies to their herds. The use of the road for this purpose was general and extensive. One witness stated that “there must have been a hundred herds that went up there,” another that he had “seen as high as seven herds a day” going over the road. The mining business ceased in about the year 1890 and a few years later the saw mills disappeared. From since about the year 1900 the use of the road has been confined to stockmen driving their herds and hauling their 76 supplies and camp outfits over it, and to a less frequent use by hunters, fishermen, and others who had occasion to travel over it. At times bridges were built and short dugways constructed by persons directly interested, but it does not appear that any public money was ever expended to maintain or repair the road. During the last four or five years the road in places has become impassable to ordinary vehicles, and has been used only for driving animals, pack outfits, etc., over it. Before the year 1894 the lands traversed by the road were unappropriated public lands of the United States. During the period of 1894 to 1904 the title to the lands passed from the federal government to the plaintiff or its grantors. The use of the road as above described was not interrupted by the change in the title or ownership of the lands, but continued thereafter as before stated. There was evidence that the travel over the road did not always follow an identical or uniform line, but at times and in a few places varied somewhat therefrom, and that sheep when trailing across would sometimes depart from the line of the road. There was ample positive evidence, however, that the road as described by the findings and decree was substantially the line and course of the road as it had been traveled and used for more than fifty years. Id. at 647. Notwithstanding this extensive evidence of public use, the owner of the lands over which the route was located contended “that the use of the road, as proved, was not such as amounted to a continuous and uninterrupted use as a public thoroughfare.” Id. at 648. The court responded: If the claim rested alone upon the use of the road for sawmill purposes, or for mining purposes, or for the trailing of sheep, the question would be more difficult. But here the road connected two points between which there was occasion for considerable public travel. The road was a public convenience. When sawmills were established on or near the road, it was used, not only by those conducting the sawmills, but by many others who went to the sawmills to get lumber, etc. During the period when the mining camp existed in the vicinity, the road was unquestionably used very extensively by the general public for general purposes. And all the 77 time it was used as a general way for the driving or trailing of sheep. This latter use was not by a few persons, but by many persons, and it involved more than the mere driving of animals on the road. Camp outfits and supplies accompanied the herds and were moved over the road in camp wagons and on pack horses. Id. The court thus concluded that the trial court “was justified in finding that the road had been continuously and uninterruptedly used as a public thoroughfare for more than ten years.” Id. at 648-49. We think it significant that the Utah Supreme Court stated that if the claim rested “alone upon the use of the road for sawmill purposes, or for mining purposes, or for the trailing of sheep, the question would be more difficult.” Id. at 648. But where the “road was unquestionably used very extensively by the general public for general purposes,” the court concluded an R.S. 2477 right of way had been established. Id. At the opposite extreme, in Cassity v. Castagno, 347 P.2d 834, 835 (Utah 1959), the Utah Supreme Court declined to recognize an R.S. 2477 right of way where one cattleman had a practice of herding his cattle across the lands of another to get to and from winter grazing land. 28 28 In Deseret Livestock Co. v. Sharp, 259 P.2d 607, 609 (Utah 1953), which involved a claim for a prescriptive easement under state law, the Court found that the public had acquired a 100-foot wide easement across private land because the route had been “traveled by various groups for a variety of private and commercial uses” over a period of 50 years, but rejected a claim that a 3,000-foot wide right of way had been established on the same route by the twice-annual trailing of sheep. 78 Jeremy v. Bertagnole, 116 P.2d 420 (Utah 1941), is similarly instructive. In that case, the owner of the servient estate conceded that a right of way had been established by prescription, and the litigation concerned the width of that right of way. Id. at 421. Nonetheless, the court discussed at length the evidence in support of that legal conclusion. While technically relevant only to scope, this discussion provides guidance regarding the quality and quantity of evidence the Utah courts expect for proof of historical use. According to the Utah Supreme Court, “some thirteen witnesses testified to the use of the road for vehicular and other traffic between 1877 and 1900, and an equal number as to its use since the latter date.” Id. at 423. The testimony covered the period from the 1870s until the time of trial, around 1940. Id. at 424. The court noted, “True, such testimony does not reveal that any witness used the road at weekly, monthly, or even yearly intervals over a period of ten years.” Id. But the court described the “inference” as “clearly a reasonable one” that the route had been used “for a number of years in excess of that required,” and that the evidence was sufficient to prove “the existence for many years of this roadway, openly used as the public might desire for vehicular, pedestrian, and equestrian traffic.” Id. In Leo M. Bertagnole, Inc. v. Pine Meadow Ranches, 639 P.2d 211, 213 (Utah 1981), the Utah Supreme Court upheld a finding of a public road by prescription where there was “evidence of the use of the road by large flocks of 79 sheep, sheep camps, trucks, jeeps, heavy equipment, hunters, fishermen, picnickers, campers, and sightseers” over a ten year period. In Boyer v. Clark, 326 P.2d 107 (Utah 1958), the Supreme Court of Utah reversed a lower court judgment which had concluded that a “wagon trail” near Coalville, Utah, was not an R.S. 2477 right of way. The land over which the road crossed had passed into private hands in 1902, and the road had never been maintained at public expense. The evidence recited by the court suggests that the public use was less extensive than that in the previously discussed cases. The principal witness, who was 84 years old at the time of trial, testified that he “had used the road for over 50 years when hauling coal, crossing the open range, driving cattle, sheep and courting the girl he later married,” and that “anyone who wanted to” used the road for similar purposes. Id. at 108. An unspecified number of “other witnesses” testified that the use of the road was not changed when the property became private and that “anyone who wanted to use it to go deer hunting or visiting with people living in the vicinity or to dances which were held in Grass Creek did so.” Id. Apparently, “[t]he use of the road was not great because comparatively few people had need to travel over it, but those of the public who had such need, did so.” Id. The Supreme Court held: The uncontradicted evidence in the instant case disclosed that for a period exceeding 50 years, the public, even though not consisting of a great many persons, made a continuous and uninterrupted use of 80 Middle Canyon Road in traveling by wagon and other vehicles and by horse from Upton to Grass Creek and other points as often as they found it convenient or necessary. They trailed cattle, and sheep, hauled coal, and used this trail for other purposes in traveling from Grass Creek and various other points to and from Highway 133. This evidence was sufficient as a matter of law to establish a highway by dedication and the court erred in finding otherwise. Id. at 109. In other jurisdictions we find decisions of a similar nature. In Wallowa County v. Wade, 72 P. 793 (Or. 1903), an early decision involving a claimed route across land homesteaded around the turn of the century, the Oregon Supreme Court affirmed a decree recognizing a public road and enjoining the defendant landowner from maintaining a fence across it. The evidence showed that “the road was used continuously by the public as a highway for more than 10 years prior to the construction of the fence.” Id. at 793. Witnesses testified that “all this time it has been a plain, open, well-beaten track, and has been traveled by all the people that live in that section of the county; that it is the only road used by them in going to and returning from the county seat.” Id. In Dillingham Commercial Co., Inc. v. City of Dillingham, 705 P.2d 410, 414 (Alaska 1985), the Alaska Supreme Court recognized an R.S. 2477 right of way on the basis of the uncontradicted testimony of two witnesses that the route had been used by the public for beach access and for hauling freight into town. In Ball v. Stephens, 158 P.2d 207, 211 (Cal. Dist. Ct. App. 1945), the California District Court of 81 Appeal recognized an R.S. 2477 claim along a route used originally by horse and wagon and later “almost daily” by motor vehicles. The court summed up the evidence as follows: The travel over the road prior to 1928 was irregular but that was due to the nature of the country and to the fact that only a limited number of people had occasion to go that way. However, many people used the road for different purposes. The use of the route by hunters, vacationists, miners and oil operators which brought the road into existence was a public use. Travel was not merely occasional; it was in our opinion substantial and sufficient to prove acceptance of the offer of the government of the right of way and to constitute it a highway by dedication under the state laws. Id. By contrast, in Luchetti v. Bandler, 777 P.2d 1326 (N.M. Ct. App. 1989), the New Mexico Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court decision rejecting an R.S. 2477 claim for a right of way, despite testimony by at least four witnesses that they and other members of the public used the road for picnics, hiking, hunting, and access to a spring. 29 The court concluded: “we cannot say that use to reach a single private residence, hike, picnic, or gather wood, or to reach a watering hole, was sufficient to require a finding of acceptance of the government’s offer to dedicate the road as a public highway.” Id. at 1328. Similarly, in Moulton v. 29 Based on evidence that the road had become impassable and was closed by wire shortly after the relevant time period, the Court of Appeals suggested that the trial court “could have doubted that the road was used as extensively as testified to by defendant’s witnesses.” Id. at 1328-29. 82 Irish, 218 P. 1053 (Mont. 1923), the Montana Supreme Court reversed, as “not supported by the evidence,” a trial court ruling that an R.S. 2477 highway existed, where two witnesses testified to use of a “road or trail along the creek,” which they used “perhaps ‘once a year, twice a year, three times; not over that; maybe some years not at all.’” Id. at 1055, 1054. See also Hamerly v. Denton, 359 P.2d 121, 125 (Alaska 1961) (acceptance not established by infrequent and sporadic use, by sightseers, hunters, and trappers, of a dead-end road running into wild, unenclosed, and uncultivated land); State ex rel. Dansie v. Nolan, 191 P. 150, 152 (Mont. 1920) (“It is inconceivable that it was the intention of Congress and of the Legislature to say that two or more persons crossing at random on each of a dozen trails . . . could constitute an acceptance of the government grant as to each of such trails . . . .”); Town of Rolling v. Emrich, 99 N.W. 464, 465 (Wis. 1904) (rejecting R.S. 2477 claim on the basis of “a few months’ desultory use by a few persons of a logging road or trail through the woods, with no acts by the public authorities of any kind”).