Samuel Israel and Samis Land Company, a Washington Corporation, Plaintiffs v. Rogers Morton, as Secretary of the Interior

Appellants are owners of land located within the boundaries of the Columbia Basin Project, a federal reclamation project located in the State of Washington, utilizing water from the Grand Coulee Dam. They have brought this action seeking a judicial declaration of their right to sell land in excess of a holding of 160 acres without restriction on sale price, and the right of the land, once so sold, to receive irrigation water from the project. The case involves interpretation of the laws governing the Columbia Basin Project and of contracts with the United States specifying the terms on which the cost of the project is to be repaid to the United States and on which the lands within the project may secure project water.

The district court ruled that in absence of approval by the Secretary of the Interior appellants do not have the right to sell the lands involved at a price in excess of the value at which the lands had been appraised by the Secretary, and that if the lands are sold without such approval, and at a price in excess of the appraised value, the lands in the hands of the new owners would not be entitled to receive irrigation water from the project.

Appellants…