Wallace Reed v. Rogers C. B. Morton, Secretary of the Interior, United States of America v. Hood Corporation

The United States appeals from two judgments in related litigation, approving the acquisition and development of 3,700 acres of public land in Idaho.

The first action was brought by Wallace Reed and others to set aside an administrative decision of the Secretary of Interior canceling seven individual entries filed under the Desert Land Act of 1877, as amended, 43 U.S.C. §§ 321-339 .

The second action was brought by the government to cancel five patents grant ed to persons participating with the Reed group in acquiring the public lands in a manner the government contends was in violation of the Desert Land Act.

The district court held in the first action that the Secretary was wrong in canceling the seven entries that had not yet ripened into patents. In the second action it held that the five patents were free from fraud or mistake. We reverse both judgments.

I

The relevant facts apply to both cases. -In January and February of 1961, Reed, a farm-equipment dealer, and Raymond Michener, an agricultural engineer, recruited friends and relatives who, with themselves, filed twelve entries upon government land available for entry under the Desert Land Act. Reed and Michener…