Ulbright v. Baslington

119 P. 292, 20 Idaho 539, 1911 Ida. LEXIS 126
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 7, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 119 P. 292 (Ulbright v. Baslington) 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
Ulbright v. Baslington, 119 P. 292, 20 Idaho 539, 1911 Ida. LEXIS 126 (Idaho 1911).

Opinion

AILSHIE, J.

This action was instituted by the respondent, Amel Ulbright, against George Baslington, who is also a respondent in this court, for the recovery of the possession of what plaintiff termed in his complaint, “All of fractional section 7 in township 51 north of range 5 west, Boise Meridian, ’ ’ and damages for the withholding of the possession thereof, as well as for the rents, issues and profits. Baslington filed his answer, alleging possession and ownership of the lands, and thereafter and by order -of the court, the appellant herein, James H. Wright, was allowed to intervene. The intervenor alleged title by mesne conveyances from the United States to the E. % of the S. W. 14, and lots 6 and 7 of see. 6, township 51 north of range 5 west, Boise Meridian. The respondent, on the other hand, claimed the property in controversy by reason of being a purchaser from the Northern Pacific Railway Co. It appears that on the 22d of December, 1894, patent issued from the government under the Northern Pacific land grant to the Northern Pacific Railway Co. for lots 1, 2, 3, and 4 and the N. E. 14 of the N. E. 14 and the N. E. 14 of the S. E. 14, which comprised all of the lands in section 7 of township 51 north, range 5 west, Boise Meridian. These lands abut upon what is designated on the official map as Mud Lake, and the whole controversy here arises over the right to the land lying between the meander line and the water line of Mud'Labe. This land was surveyed in 1880, and the survey thereof was approved by the surveyor general on July 23, 1881. Mud Lake was meandered in accordance with the statutes of the United States and the rules of the general land [542]*542office. The official plat of that survey comprising sections 6 and 7 of township 51 was introduced in evidence and is as follows:

INTERVENOR’S EXHIBIT NO. 2.

I hereby certify this to be a correct tracing of Secs. 6-7, T. 51 N., R. 5 W., B. M., on file in this office.

U. S. Surveyor General’s Office, Boise City, Idaho. Jan. 24,1910.

DARWIN A. UTTER,

U. S. Sur. Geni, for Idaho.

[543]*543It will be seen from an examination of the plat, and it likewise appears from the field-notes and is also testified to by the witnesses, that lot 7 and the S. B. % of the S. W. % of see. 6, belonging to the intervenor, abnt on Mud L-ake, and it likewise appears that lots 1, 2, 3, and 4 in see. 7, belonging to Ulbright, abut on the same body of water. It will be noticed that lot 1 extends west some rods beyond the half section line or the southeast corner of the intervenor’s premises. There is consequently a portion of the S. E. % °f the S. W. 34 of sec 6 extending from the corner to the westerly meander line of lot 1 in sec. 7 which does not abut on the lake and which therefore has no meander line.

The whole controversy in this case is over the right of ownership and possession of the land lying between the meander line of the intervenor’s property and the water line of the lake, and comprises about 37 acres. This court has so repeatedly considered and passed upon the right of a riparian proprietor to take such land as he may find lying between the meander line and the center of the stream meandered, that it would seem useless for us to again enter into a discussion or consideration of that question. We have repeatedly held that the riparian or abutting upland owner will, as a general rule, take everything between his meander line and the center of the meandered stream. (Lattig v. Scott, 17 Ida. 506, 107 Pac. 47; Johnson v. Johnson, 14 Ida. 581, 95 Pac. 499, 24 L. R. A., N. S., 1240; Moss v. Ramey, 14 Ida. 598, 95 Pac. 513; Johnson v. Hurst, 10 Ida. 308, 77 Pac. 784.)

The contention, however, is made by the respondent that the Northern Pacific Railway Co. took title by grant from the government to all the land within section 7, and that since the meander line and the section line coincide along the south boundary of appellant’s land, that the appellant cannot cross that line, and consequently respondent is entitled to take all land within the exterior boundaries of what would constitute section 7. This position would be correct if the south boundary line of appellant’s property were only a section or subdivision line, but it is more than that. It is- a section line and a meander line and so appears from the official plat, and [544]*544likewise upon the field-notes as the same were returned by the surveyor to the surveyor general’s office. This was a meander line of a body of water, and it follows that the patentee to the lands bounded by this meander line is a riparian proprietor, and he is consequently entitled to take to the water. The same is true as to the respondent, who owns lots 1, 2, 3, and 4 in section 7.

The rule with reference to the upland owner projecting the side lines of his premises in a right line to the center of the stream must necessarily receive a modification in the case of a circular lake. A lake has a center and sometimes a center line, but seldom a thread or stream. It is necessary, therefore, that the side lines of riparian and upland proprietors should converge to the center of the lake. In such a case, none of the lines can be projected in a right line with the section or subdivision lines as established by the government. In this case the deflected line establishing the boundary between the appellant and respondent, as the same will be extended from the meander line to the center of the lake, will start at the point where the west meander line of respondent’s lot 1 connects with the south line of the S. E. % of the S. W. % of section 6. Prom that point a right line should be drawn toward the center of the lake and thus establish the boundary line between the appellant and respondent. This is the rule which has been announced by some of the courts with reference to lakes, and it appeals to us as equitable and just.(See Hanson v. Rice, 88 Minn. 273, 92 N. W. 982.) In the foregoing ease, the supreme court of Minnesota, in passing on the question as to the projection of side lines and the establishment of boundary lines between adjoining tracts, said: “The boundaries of adjoining tracts, as to land beyond the meander line, are fixed by extending their side lines on a deflected- course from their intersection with the meander line toward a point in the center of the lake.”

In Hardin v. Jordan, 140 U. S. 371, 11 Sup. Ct. 817, 35 L. ed. 439, the supreme court of the United States in commenting upon and criticising a decision of Judge Gresham, wherein the latter had held that since there is no current to a [545]*545lake and no thread to the stream, it was impracticable to extend the lines of riparian proprietors into lakes as is done •with flowing streams, said:

“As to the supposed difficulty or inconvenience in applying the law, it is no greater than that which occurs on any bay or incurved shore, even of a large river, in adjusting the outgoing boundary lines between adjoining proprietors over the submerged bottoms or flats lying in front of their riparian lands. Just and equitable rules have been adopted for settling the mutual rights of parties in such cases.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
119 P. 292, 20 Idaho 539, 1911 Ida. LEXIS 126, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ulbright-v-baslington-idaho-1911.