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United States v. Oregon Central Military Road Co.

103 F. 549, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 3880
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Oregon
DecidedJune 30, 1900
StatusPublished

This text of 103 F. 549 (United States v. Oregon Central Military Road Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Oregon Central Military Road Co., 103 F. 549, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 3880 (circtdor 1900).

Opinion

BELLINGER, District Judge.

On July 2,1864, congress granted to the state of Oregon, to aid in the construction of a wagon road from Eugene City, across the Cascade Mountains, to the eastern boundary of the state, alternate sections of public land, designated by odd numbers, for three sections in width on- each side of such road. 13 Stat. 355. Prior to this act, on March 25, 1864, congress passed an act authorizing the president to conclude a treaty with the Klamath, Modoe, and Snake Indians, in Southeastern Oregon, for the purchase of the country occupied by them. 13 Stat. 37. In pursuance of this authority a treaty was concluded on October 14, 1864,' with the head men of the Modoc and Snake Indian tribes. This treaty was ratified by the senate on July 2, 1866, with two amendments, consisting of mere verbal corrections, in no wise affecting the sense of the treaty; but the amendments resulted in a second convention with the Indians, held December 10,1869. The senate amendments were ratified at this convention, and the treaty was proclaimed by the president February 17, 1870. By this treaty the Indian tribes ceded to the United States all their right, title, and claim to the country then occupied by them, with this proviso:

“Provided, that the following described tract, within the country ceded by this treaty, shall, until otherwise directed by the president of the United States, be set apart as a residence for said Indians, [and] held and regarded as an Indian reservation, to wit: Beginning upon the eastern shore of the Middle Klamath Lake, at the Point of Rocks, about twelve miles below the mouth of Williamson’s river; thence following up said eastern shore to the mouth of Wood river; thence up Wood river to a point one mile north of the bridge at Port Klamath; thence due east to the summit of the ridge which divides the Upper and Middle Klamath Lakes; thence along said ridge to a point due east of the north end of the upper lake; thence due east, passing the said north end of the upper lake, to the summit of the mountains on the east side of the lake; thence along said mountain to the point where Sprague’s river is intersected by the Ish-tish-ea-wax creek; thence in a southerly direction to the summit of the mountain, the extremity of which forms the Point of Rocks; thence along said mountain to the place of beginning.” 16 Stat. 708.

The treaty provided for annual money payments to be made to tbe Indian tribes, extending over a period of 15 years. It further provided for the payment for such articles as might be advanced to the Indians at the time of the signing of the treaty, for their subsistence 'during the first year after their removal to the reservation, the pur[551]*551chase of teams, farming implements, tools, seeds, clothing, and provisions, and for the payment of the necessary employés. It was further provided that the United States would erect, at suitable points on the reservation, as soon as practicable after the ratification of the treaty, saw and flouring mills, suitable buildings for the use of a blacksmith, carpenter, and wagon and plow maker, buildings for one manual labor school, and such hospital buildings as might be necessary, and that it would keep these buildings iu repair at the expense of the United States for the term of 20 years. Article 6 of the treaty provided as follows:

“The United States may, in their discretion, cause a part or the whole of the reservation provided for in article 1 to be surveyed into tracts and assigned to members ol' the tribes of Indians, parties to this, treaty, or such of them as may appear likely to be beneiitcd by the same, under the following restrictions and limitations, to wit: To each head of a family shall be assigned and granted a tract, of not less than forty nor more than one hundred and twenty acres, according to the number of persons in such family; and to each single man above the age of twenty-one years a tract; not exceeding forty acres. The Indians to whom these tracts are granted are guaranteed the perpetual possession and use of the tracts thus granted and of the improvements which may be placed thereon; but no Indian shall have the right to alienate or convey any such tract to any person whatsoever, and the same shall be forever exempt from levy, sale, or forfeiture: provided, that the congress of the United States may hereafter abolish these restrictions and permit the sale of the lands so assigned, if the prosperity of the Indians will be advanced 1 hereby: and provided i'urther, if any Indian, to whom an assignment of land has been made, shall refuse to reside upon the tract so assigned for a period of two years, his right to the same shall be deemed forfeited.”

On the 24th of October, 1864, the state transferred the grant of lands provided for in the act of congress to the Oregon Central Military Hoad Company, a corporation incorporated under the laws of Oregon, for the purpose of taking the grant and building the road in question. By the wagon-road grant it was provided, in effect, that, when the governor of the state should certify to the secretary of the interior that any 10 continuous miles of said road were completed, a quantity of land, not exceeding 30 sections, might he sold by the company, and so on from time to time until said road was completed. On the 26th of December, 1866, congress passed an indemnity grant, extending 3 miles beyond the limits of the original grant on either side of the line of the proposed road. On the 27th of July, 18C6, the governor of the state certified to the completion, in accordance with the requirements of the act of congress and the laws of Oregon, of the first continuous 50 miles of road, beginning at Eugene City. Thereafter, and on ’November 26, 1867, the governor of the state certified to the completion of the second section of the road for a distance of 42¿ miles, and extending to Orescent Lake, in the valley of the Des Chutes. On the 17th of March, 1869, a map of the general route of the road over the Indian reservation, provided for in the treaty, to the eastern boundary of the state, was filed. The route thus located enters the reservation at its north boundary, continues thence south until near the south boundary, when it turns eastward and leaves the reservation, after traversing it for a distance of more than 60 miles, as shown by the following map:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
103 F. 549, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 3880, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-oregon-central-military-road-co-circtdor-1900.