Mono County Irrigation Co. v. State

These cases involve the same principle and may, therefore, be considered together. Each was an action brought in the superior court of Mono County for the purpose of condemning certain lands for reservoir purposes, and alleged to be owned by the state of California and situated within the boundaries of a United States forest reserve, to wit, the Mono forest reserve, in said Mono County. The lands were reserved and set apart as reserved forest lands by the act of Congress approved October 1, 1890 (26 U. S. Stats. at Large, p. 650, [7 Fed. Stats. Ann., p. 309, 5 U. S. Comp. Stats. (1916), sec. 5209]). The United States township plat of the survey of said section was approved by the United States surveyor-general on May 29, 1895.

In its brief, appellant states: “These lands were, therefore, unsurveyed lands at the time they were included within the reservation. They were thus lost to the state of California ‘and the state had received indemnity in lieu of its loss.’ . . . The lands sought to be condemned in this action being unsurveyed lands at the time of the creation of the forest reserve in 1890, the state of California at that time lost all interest in these lands.”

In view of…