R. B. Rands Et Ux. v. United States

Appellants owned two tracts of land along the Columbia River, about six miles upstream from the present John Day Dam. On November 1, 1962, they leased this and other property to the state of Oregon, which wanted it for an industrial park. That industrial development, for maximum utility, required access to the Columbia River; because two railroads and the United States owned most of the land along the river, appellants’ property was especially valuable as a port site. The lease agreement gave Oregon an option to purchase the land. Most of the land was priced, under the option, at $150 per acre; the balance, denominated “port site property” in the agreement, was priced at $400 per acre.

The option was never exercised. On August 13, 1963, the United States filed a Declaration of Taking in the United States District Court, condemning this and other property in connection with the river development project of which the John Day Dam is a part. On September 25, 1963, the Secretary of the Army granted this and other land to the State of Oregon by a federal deed. Its use passed to a private corporation under a lease from the state of Oregon dated July 2, 1963. The record does not show…