Northern Pacific Railway Company v. Myers

This suit involves the validity of a tax, levied under the laws of the state of Montana, against certain lands lying within the grant to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, made by the act of congress approyed July 2, 1864, c. 217 (13 Stat. 365).

It was brought in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Montana, by the receivers of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, a federal corporation, and the receivers were appointed by a decree of the federal court.

The suit proceeded in the circuit court, in the name of said receivers, to a hearing on demurrer, and to a submission of the case upon bill, answer, and stipulated facts. On the 12th of November, 1896, it was stipulated and represented to the court that the Northern Pacific Railway Company had purchased the property in question pending the litigation, and it was agreed, and thereupon ordered by the court, that the Northern Pacific Railway Company be substituted as plaintiff in place of the receivers. Thereupon a decree was passed, on the 16th day of December, in favor of the complainant, enjoining the enforcement and collection of the taxes. From this decree the defendant, William Myers, county treasurer, appealed to the circuit court of appeals, which reversed the decree of the circuit court. Myers v. Railway Co., 48 U.S. App. 620, 28 C. C. A. 412, and 83 Fed. 358. The plaintiff railway company takes this appeal.

It was agreed 'that the sole question desired to be submitted upon the pleadings, and this stipulation, is whether the lands described in the bill were subject to taxation under the laws of the United States and of the state of Montana.' This being the only question submitted, the allegations of the pleadings and statements of the stipulation not bearing on that question need not be stated; and it is sufficient to note that the bi l and stipulation showed the incorporation of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company by the act of July 2, 1864; its power to construct a railroad from Lake Superior to Puget Sound; the grant of land to it by section 3, which is quoted hereafter; the performance by the railroad company of all the conditions of the grant, both provisional and final, including the construction of the road and its acceptance by the United States; and the freedom of the lands from pre-emption claims and rights.

Prior to the attempted assessments and tax levies assailed, the lands were surveyed by the United States or its authority, and were reported by the surveyors making such surveys to be agricultural lands, nonmineral in character; and the company prepared, in the manner prescribed by the secretary of the interior, lists of the lands claimed by it under the grant, including the lands in controversy, and filed them in the proper district land office, paying the fees thereon; and attached to each of said lists was an affidavit of the land commissioner of the railroad company, in which it was affirmed 'that the foregoing list of lands which I hereby select is a correct list of a portion of the public lands claimed by said Northern Pacific Railroad Company as inuring to the said company' under its grant by the act of congress of July 2d, and a joint resolution approved May 31, 1870, and 'that the said lands are vacant, unappropriated, and are not interdicted mineral or reserve lands, and are of the character contemplated by the grant, being within the limit of forty miles on each side of the line of route for a continuous distance of _____, being a portion of said lands for a section of ___ miles of said railroad, commencing at _____ and ending at _____.'

The said lists were duly filed, and their accuracy tested by the district land officers, and so certified, and it was also certified that the filing was allowed, that they were surveyed public lands within the limits of the grant, 'and that the same are not, nor is any part thereof, returned and denominated as mineral land or lands.' It was also certified that no claims were on file against the lands, and that the fees were paid.

The lists were transmitted to the office of the commissioner of the general land office.

The stipulation shows the manner of examination in the land office, and 'that such lands are not patented or certified to the company until clear lists are approved by the secretary'; and the lists have not yet been examined or passed or patented to the company, and that the mineral or nomineral character is under investigation under the provisions of the act of congress of February 26, 1895, c. 131 (28 Stat. 683).

The company has such right, title, interest, and property in the lands as was conferred upon it by the act of July, 1864, and the act and joint resolutions amendatory thereof, and acquired by a compliance with their terms.

One Thomas G. Merrill, a citizen of Montana, transmitted to the secretary of the interior a letter, signed by Thomas G. Miller, as chairman citizens' executive committee, declaring that the selections of the railroad company embraced thousands of recorded mineral claims, and extensive mining properties being prospected, developed, and worked; 'and, in view of the irreparable injury which would be caused to the people and state of Montana by the premature or unlawful conveyance of title to such lands to the railroad company, I beg leave to formally file the following requests:

'That the commissioner of the general land office be directed to suspend the patenting of lands in Montana to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company until the mineral or nonmineral character of the lands selected by said company shall have been investigated and definitely ascertained, and adjudicated by proper proceedings, and until mineral claimants and the state of Montana shall have opportunity to be heard before the department on questions of law an fact.

'(2) That the commissioner be directed to cause to be noted on the lists of the company's selections the tracts and townships alleged to be mineral in character by affidavits now on file in the department of the interior.

'Very respectfully,

Thomas G. Miller,

'Chairman Citizens' Executive Committee.'

November 4, 1889, the secretary of the interior referred said letter to the commissioner of the general land office, with the following indorsement: 'Referred to Commissioner of Gen'l Land Office, with approval of within requests, and direction to comply thereunto. Please notify me when done. Nov. 4, '89. J. W. Noble, Sec'y.'

This order was not revoked prior to 1895.

The company and its receivers have been diligent to prosecute the identification of the lands, and the defendant, conceding this, denies that they have not been or are not fully defined and identified as part of the grant to the company.

Three commissioners were appointed, as provided in the act of February 26, 1895, and commenced the examination and classification of said lands during the year 1895, and have classified certain of the lands as mineral, a list of which is inserted, and that the remainder of the lands have not been examined and classified; and it was admitted that other lands, a list of which is given, are in contest in the interior department, and that a certain section of land was decided in 1894, but subsequent to the assessment, to be mineral, and excepted from the grant, and that there were other lands to which there were claims, but which were disputed by the company, and that some contests were decided in favor of the company.

In the year 1894, the assessor of Jefferson county, Mont., proceeded to, and did, assess the lands described in the complaint herein, in the manner and form prescribed by law, and described and included said lands in the assessment book of said county of Jefferson for said year.

The receivers appeared before the board of equalization, and objected to the assessment, and the board refused to strike the lands from the assessment roll, and the taxes were assessed and levied against the lands with the other lands of the county; that the tax proceedings were in manner and form in all respects as required by the laws of Montana; that the taxes amounted to $3,000, and that the treasurer of the county was proceeding to collect the same by sale, and would so collect the same if not enjoined and restrained by the order of the court.

As a ground of relief by injunction, the bill alleges: 'And your orators show that said tax levies cloud the title to said described lands, and impair the value thereof as an asset in the hands of your orators; that said certificates and deeds, when issued, as your orators believe and show they will be, will constitute further clouds upon the title thereto; that if said lands be sold, a multiplicity of suits will be necessary to quiet the title thereto, and to remove the clouds thereby created.'

Among the things which were asked to be adjudged at the final hearing, were:

'(1) That the lands described in Schedule 'A,' hereunto annexed, and each and all thereof, were not subject to assessment and taxation by said county of Jefferson of state of Montana for the year 1894, and until the United States shall issue to said railroad company patents therefor.

'(2) That it may be ordered, adjudged, and decreed that said pretended and attempted assessments and tax levies were and are null and void, and constitute a cloud upon the title to said described lands.'

Section 3 of the act of July 2, 1864, is as follows:

'That there be, and hereby is, granted to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, its successors and assigns, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of said railroad and telegraph line to the Pacific coast, * * * every alternate section of public land, not mineral, designated by odd numbers, to the amount of twenty alternate sections per mile, on each side of said railroa line, as said company may adopt, through the territories of the United States, and ten alternate sections of land per mile on each side of said railroad whenever it passes through any state, and whenever on the line thereof, the United States have full title, not reserved, sold, granted, or otherwise appropriated, and free from pre-emption or other claims or rights at the time the line of said road is definitely fixed, and a plat thereof filed in the office of the commissioner of the general land office; and whenever, prior to said time, any of said sections or parts of sections shall have been granted, sold, reserved, occupied, by homestead settlers, or pre-empted or otherwise disposed of, other lands shall be selected by said company in lieu thereof, under the direction of the secretary of the interior, in alternate sections, and designated by odd numbers, not more than ten miles beyond the limits of said alternate sections. . . . Provided, further, that all mineral lands be, and the same are hereby, excluded from the operations of this act, and in lieu thereof a like quantity of unoccupied and unappropriated agricultural lands, in odd sections, nearest to the line of said road, may be selected as above provided; and further provided, that the word 'mineral,' when it occurs in this act, shall not be held to include iron or coal.'

Section 4 provides for the issuing of patents on the completion and acceptance of each 25 consecutive miles of said railroad and telegraph line.

The assignment of errors is as follows:

'The said court held that the lands described in the bill of complaint in said action were subject to taxation, although it appears from the pleadings and stipulation in said cause:

'(a) That said lands were, at the time of the assessments and tax levies complained of, unpatented, and were involved in contests pending before the interior department over questions of fact between said railway company and various settlers and the United States.

'(b) Although it further appears, from the pleadings and stipulation in said cause, that said lands were not, at the time of the assessment and tax levies complained of, identified and defined as lands passing under the act of congress approved July 2, 1864, so as to be segregated from the public lands of the United States.

'(c) Although it further appears, from the pleadings and stipulations in said cause, that the grantee, under the act of congress approved July 2, 1864, entitled 'An act granting lands to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from Lake Superior to Puget Sound, on the Pacific coast, by the Northern route,' was not entitled to patents for said lands at the time of the assessment and tax levies complained of.

'(d) Although it appears, from the pleadings and stipulation in said cause, that the United States possessed, at the time of the assessment and tax levies complained of, an interest in said lands, and each and all thereof, and that the said lands were subject to exploration for minerals as public lands of the United States.

'The said court failed and refused to hold that the lands described in the complaint were not, at the time of the assessment and tax levy complained of, subject to assessment or taxation.

'The said court entered an order reversing the decree of the United States circuit court for the district of Montana, and remanded said cause, with an order to the United States circuit court for the district of Montana to enter a decree in favor of the abovenamed appellant.'

C. W. Bunn and A. B. Browne, for appellant.

C. B. Nolan, for appellee.

Mr. Justice McKENNA, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.