Mayor v. Board of County Commissioners

192 P.2d 403, 64 Wyo. 409, 1948 Wyo. LEXIS 7
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedApril 20, 1948
Docket2386
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 192 P.2d 403 (Mayor v. Board of County Commissioners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mayor v. Board of County Commissioners, 192 P.2d 403, 64 Wyo. 409, 1948 Wyo. LEXIS 7 (Wyo. 1948).

Opinions

OPINION
The district court of Johnson County dismissed an appeal brought to it by Charley Mayor wherein he questioned the propriety of a decision of the Board of Land Commissioners rendered by said Board on the fifth day of September, 1946 in a controversy involving conflicting applications for a lease on certain state land described as Section 16, Township 43 N., Range 80 West of the Sixth P.M. in Johnson County Wyoming, by Mayor as one applicant and the Johnson County Wool Growers Association as the other applicant. The record is here by direct appeal, brought by Mayor as appellant against the Board and Association mentioned above as respondents. For convenience and brevity Charley Mayor will usually be designated as the "appellant" or by his surname, the Board of Land Commissioners as the "Board" and the Johnson County Wool Growers Association as the "Association", the two last named *Page 414 parties being at times collectively referred to as the "respondents". The facts to be considered in this matter are not seriously, if at all, in dispute and are substantially these:

The Esponda Company on February 1, 1936 obtained a lease for grazing and agricultural purposes from the Board aforesaid upon the lands heretofore described for the term of five years, which period was thereafter subsequently renewed for another following similar period of time so that the instrument with which appellant is connected expired February 1, 1946. That connection arose through an assignment of said lease by the Esponda Company to appellant under date of October 22, 1945, he having theretofore purchased the properties of that corporation, part of which adjoin the land in question on the easterly side thereof. He owns, as he states in his application, about two hundred ninety-four head of live stock consisting of horses, cattle and hogs, the cattle being beef animals and two hundred in number. It appears that the land aforesaid has been entirely in use as grazing land only. Mayor made application for a renewal lease on this land on January 18, 1946 as the holder of the expiring lease, being such holder through procuring the assignment thereof mentioned above. He is a bona fide citizen of the State of Wyoming and duly qualified to hold the applied for lease.

The Association aforesaid also made application for this said land under date of January 28, 1946. It would appear to derive its existence and powers under and from the provisions of Section 44-1017 W.C.S., 1945 which reads:

"In all cases when the citizens of any county, or of two counties jointly, shall, or may have organized a county stock and agricultural society, not exceeding one in each county, by the adoption of a constitution and the *Page 415 choice of officers, they shall have all the powers of a corporation and body politic, and may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, prosecute and defend to final judgment and execution in any court of law or equity, and may purchase and hold any real or personal estate which shall be necessary to best promote the objects of said association, and which estate shall be exclusively devoted to such objects. Said societies shall also have power to sell and convey any and all such real estate, said conveyance being executed by the president and secretary of such society. All such land and property shall be exempt and free from taxation, while used as aforesaid by such societies."

Through its application and statements made in connection therewith, it develops that the Association has a membership of 97 persons who are engaged in the sheep industry owning some 144,000 sheep and represent the major portion of the sheep industry in Johnson County. The Association desired a lease on the land aforesaid for a stock rest and water gap having used the section for these purposes under arrangements with previous lease holders for over ten years. The attention of the land officials was called to the asserted fact that this section of land has been of particular value for such uses to the sheep owners in said county and it was very important that this available use be continued; that the Association's application was made in order to assure that use in the future, the Esponda Company with which it heretofore dealt having disposed of its (the Esponda Company's) properties; that the land is more valuable to the public generally for these uses than a use by any individual could be; that the land which is a so-called "school section" is traversed by a state highway extending from Kaycee to Sussex which road about divides the land in half into a northerly portion and a southerly portion; that at the time this road was constructed some three years ago, the State Highway Department built a woven wire fence on each side of the highway and although this *Page 416 fence somewhat reduced access to the northerly half of the section in question, it was still possible to use both sides of the roadway for a stock rest; that a large irrigation canal known as the Sahara Ditch runs through the north half of said section just a short distance from the highway furnishing a source of water supply from early spring until late in the summer; that in the south half of the section Powder River is located and is a source of water at all seasons; that in order to obtain the fullest use of this river water the Association has constructed a fence along the north bank of the stream in such a manner that cattle are restrained from getting past said fence from the south but the wire thereof is so placed as to allow the sheep to cross under and through the fence; that this fencing and a bridge over said ditch are owned by the Association; that practically all the sheep from the southeast part of Johnson County pass along this route on their way to the summer range in the Big Horn Mountains; that cattle use this route to some extent; that the nearest water on the east of this section is on the stock driveway on the northeast quarter of section 9 and the northwest quarter of section 10, Township 43 N., Range 79 W. of the Sixth P.M. over six miles distant and there is no water to the west of the section until the southeast quarter of section 9, Township 43 N., Range 81 W. of the Sixth P.M. is reached, distant over seven miles, where there is a water gap but no ground for a stock rest; that without the section in question being available for these purposes, owners of sheep would find it practically impossible to trail from twelve to thirteen miles along the highway in a fenced lane; that this land in question has been used by the public as a water gap and stock rest for over forty years; that to insure its future use in this way to the public and stock men, it would be definitely better to have a lease to the Association directly from the state. It seems that the *Page 417 Association has in past years paid to the holder of the state lease an amount equal to the annual state rental charge for this leased land, this amount being sixty-four dollars a year.

From the foregoing it is apparent that the applicant Mayor desires the land in question for grazing purposes for his own live stock and the Association seeks it for use as a stock rest and water gap for sheep and cattle generally, both the Association and Mayor having actual and necessary use for the section of land in controversy and each offering as rental the sum of sixty-four dollars per year or ten cents per acre.

Under date of March 13, 1946 the Commissioner of Public Lands reached the conclusion that it would "inure to the greatest benefit to the State of Wyoming and its people" to reject the application of Mayor and allow the application of the Association for the lease the latter desired.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
192 P.2d 403, 64 Wyo. 409, 1948 Wyo. LEXIS 7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mayor-v-board-of-county-commissioners-wyo-1948.