United States v. Washington

The United States brought this action against the State of Washington and others to quiet its title, subject to the rights of the heirs of Samson Johns, to accretions adjacent to ocean uplands owned by plaintiff. Judgment was entered quieting title in the United States, subject to the rights of the heirs of Samson Johns, to all accretions formed prior to November 11, 1889, when Washington became a state, and in the State to all accretions formed since that date. The dividing line between such accretions was held to be the line of ordinary high tide, defined as that line which the water had impressed on the soil as of November 11, 1889, by covering it for sufficient periods to deprive the soil of vegetation and destroy its value for agricultural purposes. The Government appeals.

The material facts are not in disputé. Lots 3 and 4 of section 15 in township 18 north of range 12 west of the 'Willamette Meridian, adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in Grays Harbor County, Washington, belong to the United States, subject to a trust patent issued in 1916 to Samson Johns, a Quinault Indian, now deceased. As now extended, the trust period will expire in 1966. Samson Johns died in 1930, and…

(concurring).

As the district court thought, I think the question of the line of the title ought to be decided by state law. But as I read Borax Consolidated, Ltd., v. City of Los Angeles, 296 U.S. 10 , 56 S.Ct. 23 , 80 L.Ed. 9 ,1 think the road sign points to the line being treated as a federal question. So, I concur.