Douglas

This proceeding was instituted by the United States to condemn land of appellee Douglas for the use of the Atomic Energy Commission. The land was a quarter section located in, and a part of the Columbia Basin Project in the State of Washington. The Act which authorized the project’s construction required the owners of each farm unit as a condition precedent to receiving water from the project, to execute a contract providing that such land owner should not, until five years after water became available for such unit, sell or convey his land for a consideration exceeding the value at which it was appraised by the Secretary of the Interior. Such appraisal was required to be made, and the land evaluated “without reference to or increment on account of the construction of the project.” Douglas signed such a contract. His farm unit, the quarter section mentioned, was appraised at $1353.01, approximately $8 per acre. This represented the Secretary’s determination of the value of the land in its raw, dry land state.

Upon the trial, in the district court, of the issue of the amount of compensation to be fixed for the taking of the Douglas tract, the United States contended that the…