Simmonds

In furtherance of the Sacramento River Improvement Project which is being administered by the Secretary of the Army under the authority of the Act of April 24, 1888, c. 194, 25 Stat. 94 , 33 U.S.C.A. § 591 , and the River and Harbor Act approved August 30, 1935, c. 831, 49 Stat. 1028 , as amended July 24, 1946, c. 595, 60 Stat. 634 , the United States has condemned the fee simple title in a parcel of land, designated as Tract No. 7, abutting the Sacramento River almost opposite the City of Sacramento, the capital of the State of California. The land condemned has been used by the United States since 1945 as a depository for spoil accumulated from the improvement of the Sacramento River channel. Harry Simmonds, the owner of Tract No. 7 at the time of the condemnation, contended at the proceeding before the District Court that the taking of the fee title was a violation of the Fifth Amendment in that he had been deprived of his property without due process of law. Simmonds argued that the United States did not need the fee title in Tract No. 7 in order to dump spoil thereon; that at most a 15-year easement would have satisfied the needs of the government for the improvement project…