Ireton v. Idaho Irrigation Co.

164 P. 687, 30 Idaho 310, 1917 Ida. LEXIS 39
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedApril 3, 1917
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 164 P. 687 (Ireton v. Idaho Irrigation Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ireton v. Idaho Irrigation Co., 164 P. 687, 30 Idaho 310, 1917 Ida. LEXIS 39 (Idaho 1917).

Opinion

MORGAN, J.

—On December 21,1911, Robert Lansdon and his wife executed and delivered their promissory note for $2,000 to Boise Title & Trust Company, and, on the same day, to secure the payment thereof, executed and delivered to that company a mortgage upon 160 acres of land in Gooding county, together with any and all water rights owned by the mortgagors or belonging to or connected with the premises. The mortgage was duly recorded on January 8, 1912, and on March 13th of that year, and prior to the maturity of the note, was sold, and assigned, together with the indebtedness thereby secured, to respondents who have commenced this action to foreclose it.

Appellant, a Carey Act construction company, entered into a contract with the state of Idaho to construct an irrigation system in the counties of Blaine and Lincoln, out of a portion of which latter county the county of Gooding has been created, for the purpose of watering lands entered under the Carey Act. The contract provided that appellant should sell to entrymen water rights and shares of stock in the Big Wood River Reservoir & Canal Company, Limited, a corporation to be formed by it, in order to facilitate the transfer of the ownership and control of the system to purchasers of water rights and for their convenience, when they shall have acquired the system, in its management and control and in the distribution of water therefrom to their lands according to their respective interests. The shares were to represent a proportionate interest in the irrigation works, one share to be issued for each acre of land to be irrigated. The land in question was not Carey Act land, but was acquired by Lansdon under the desert land laws of the United States and is adjacent to the Carey Act segregation of appellant and capable of being irrigated only by its system.

On April 1, 1910, appellant and Lansdon entered into a written agreement, whereby the latter purchased a certain number of shares in the canal company, each share entitling him to one-eightieth cubic-foot of water per second and a proportionate interest in the system. The contract provided that in case of default in the payment of any instalment of [314]*314the purchase price appellant might, at its option, declare all payments due, enforce any lien it might have upon the water right and land, or proceed to enforce any remedy given it by law. Lansdon and wife, by the terms of the contract, which was recorded on June 28, 1913, were to transfer, and did transfer, the stock to appellant as security for the payments to be made. In settlement of the first payment due the entryman gave his promissory note to appellant; he defaulted in the subsequent payments.

Neither respondents nor the Boise Title & Trust Company at the time they respectively acquired the mortgage or at any time prior thereto, had actual notice of any lien of appellant by reason of the entryman’s contract and, as above stated, the mortgage was made and recorded long prior to the date of recording the contract.

Water was delivered to and applied to a beneficial use upon the land during 1911, and the right to the use of water therefor from the system of appellant has never been abandoned. Lansdon made final proof on December 12, 1911, and evidence of the water right, consisting of the contract between himself and appellant, formed part of the proof. Final certificate issued January 6, 1912, and patent July 6, 1914. The irrigation system has been practically completed, but is not yet accepted by the state nor have the works been turned over to the operating company.

The court rendered judgment in favor of respondents, decreeing that the lands, water right and shares of stock be sold and the proceeds applied, first, to the payment of the costs of sale; second, to the payment of the claim of respondents, and third, to the payment, of the claims of appellant for the purchase price of the water right. This appeal is from the judgment.

The only issue presented in this case is as to the relative priority of the liens of the appellant and respondents upon the water right in question, it having been conceded by appellant that whatever lien it has upon the land, by virtue of its contract, is subsequent to the mortgage. It is contended by respondents, and denied by appellant, that the water right [315]*315is real property, appurtenant to the land, and was conveyed by the mortgage.

Sec. 3056, Rev. Codes, includes water rights within the definition of real property. Such rights are appurtenant to the land to which the water represented thereby has been beneficially applied. (Sec. 4, art. 15, constitution; sec. 3240, Rev. Codes; Hall v. Blackman, 8 Ida. 272, 68 Pac. 19; Taylor v. Hulett, 15 Ida. 265, 97 Pac. 37, 19 L. R. A., N. S., 535; Russell v. Irish, 20 Ida. 194, 118 Pac. 501; Paddock v. Clark, 22 Ida. 498, 126 Pac. 1053.) Furthermore, by the terms of the contract between the state and appellant, and of that between appellant and Lansdon, the water right was dedicated, and made appurtenant to the land involved herein and none other.

Sec. 1629, Rev. Codes, being a part of the chapter of the Idaho law whereby the conditions of the Carey Act are accepted, provides that any person, company or association furnishing water for a tract of land shall have a prior lien upon the water right and land for all deferred payments for the same, and that the contract for the water right, upon which the lien is founded, shall be recorded in the office of the recorder of the county where this land is situated. While the land involved here was not a Carey Act entry, but was acquired under the desert land laws of the United States, the contract between appellant and Lansdon, the entryman, provided: “That the purchaser has made application to the company to purchase upon the terms hereinafter set forth, shares in the Big Wood River Reservoir and Canal Company, Limited, upon the same terms and conditions, as near as may be, as purchasers of water rights under the Carey Act.” In that contract it was provided that Lansdon and his wife, for and in consideration of the premises and of the agreements and covenants of appellant, and as security only, by way of mortgage, for the payment, when due, of the sums agreed to be paid for the water rights did grant, bargain, sell, convey, assign, transfer and set over unto appellant, its successors and assigns, all their right, title and interest in and to the lands and premises described in the contract, and [316]*316Lansdon also agreed that, to further secure said payment, the shares of stock purchased in the Big Wood River Reservoir & Canal Company, Limited, should be and they were thereby assigned and transferred to appellant.

It is apparent that under the terms of this contract appellant is in no better position than it would have been had the land been embraced within a Carey Act entry. By the terms of this contract the land, so far as it could be, and the water rights and certificates of stock were conveyed, or agreed to be conveyed, by way of mortgage, to secure the payment of the sums due to appellant from Lansdon, which makes the- provisions of sec. 3160, Rev. Codes, applicable to it, as follows: “Every conveyance of real property other than a lease for a term not exceeding one year, is void as against any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee of the same property, or any part thereof, in good faith and for a valuable consideration, whose conveyance is first duly recorded.” Sec.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
164 P. 687, 30 Idaho 310, 1917 Ida. LEXIS 39, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ireton-v-idaho-irrigation-co-idaho-1917.