Dissenting Opinion: Brown, J. I am not impressed with the theory that the act admitting Wyoming into the Union upon an equal footing with the original States authorized them to impair or abrogate rights previously granted by the sovereign power by treaty, or to discharge itself of burdens which the United States had assumed before her admission into the Union. In the cases of the Kansas Indians, 5 Wall. 737, we held that a State, when admitted into the Union, was bound to respect an exemption from taxation which had been previously granted to tribes of Indians within its borders, because, as the court said, the State of Kansas "accepted this status when she accepted the act admitting her into the Union. Conferring rights and privileges on these Indians cannot affect their situation, which can only be changed by treaty stipulation, or a voluntary abandonment of their tribal organization. As long as the United States recognizes their national character they are under the protection of the treaties and laws of Congress, and their property is withdrawn from the operation of state laws." It is true that the act admitting the State of Kansas into the Union contained a proviso similar to that in the act erecting a government for the Territory of Wyoming, viz.: "That nothing contained in this said constitution respecting the boundaries of said State shall be construed to impair the rights of person or property now pertaining to the Indians of said Territory, so long as such rights shall remain unextinguished by treaty with such Indians." In this particular the cases differ from each other only in the fact that the proviso in the one case is inserted in the act creating the Territory, and in the other in the act admitting the Territory as a State; and unless we are to say that the act admitting the Territory of Wyoming as a State absolved it from its liabilities as a Territory, it would seem that the treaty applied as much in the one case as in the other. But however this may be, the proviso in the territorial act exhibited a clear intention on the part of Congress to continue in force the stipulation of the treaty, and there is nothing in the act admitting the Territory as a State which manifests an intention to repu Decree of the Court. diate them. I think, therefore, the rights of these Indians could only be extinguished by purchase, or by a new arrangement with the United States. I understand the words "unoccupied lands of the United States" to refer not only to lands which have not been patented, but also to those which have not been settled upon, fenced or otherwise appropriated to private ownership, but I am quite unable to see how the admission of a Territory into the Union changes their character from that of unoccupied to that of occupied lands. MR. JUSTICE BREWER, not having heard the argument, takes no part in this decision. INDIANA v. KENTUCKY. ORIGINAL. Argued April 27, 1896.-Decided May 18, 1896. The report of the commissioners appointed October 21, 1895, 159 U. S. 275, to run the disputed boundary line between Indiana and Kentucky, is confirmed. THE commissioners appointed on the 21st day of October, 1895, 159 U. S. 275, to run the disputed boundary line between the States of Indiana and of Kentucky, reported as stated below. The State of Kentucky filed exceptions to the report. The State of Indiana moved to confirm it. Mr. William A. Ketcham, Attorney General of the State of Indiana, for the motion. Mr. Richard H. Cunningham opposing. MR. CHIEF JUSTICE FULLER announced the decree of the court. This cause came on to be heard on the report of Gustavus V. Menzies, Gaston M. Alves and Amos Stickney, commis Decree of the Court. sioners appointed herein at this term, on October 21, 1895, to ascertain and run the boundary line between the States of Kentucky and Indiana, as designated in the opinion of this court heretofore filed and judgment and decree heretofore entered herein, May 19, 1890, filed April 27, 1896; the exceptions of the State of Kentucky thereto and the motion of the State of Indiana for the confirmation thereof; and which report is as follows: IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES. Indiana v8. Kentucky. To the Honorable Melville W. Fuller, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The undersigned commissioners appointed by this honorable court in the above entitled cause, to ascertain and run the boundary line between the States of Indiana and Kentucky, north of the tract known as Green River Island, have the honor to present the following report: The first meeting of the commission was held at Evansville, Indiana, on December 7, 1895, all the commissioners being present, and each commissioner having been sworn according to the order of the court, the commission organized by electing Lieut. Col. Amos Stickney, U. S. army, as chairman. At this meeting there were present Mr. R. H. Cunningham, of Henderson, Ky., representing the State of Kentucky; Mr. Merril Moores, deputy attorney general of the State of Indiana, representing that State, and Mr. J. E. Williamson, of Evansville, Indiana, representing a number of land owners along the line where the boundary is to be ascertained and run. The above mentioned gentlemen being invited thereto, expressed their views in a general way as to a proper method of determining the boundary line to be run between the States of Indiana and Kentucky to accord with the decision of this court. Neither in the order of your honorable court Decree of the Court. appointing the commissioners, nor subsequently, were your commissioners instructed as to the methods they should pursue in ascertaining the boundary line to be run. They therefore assumed that it was the intention of the court to leave them untrammelled with instructions other than such as were to be inferred, first, from the decision of the court, and, second, from the testimony upon which that decision was made. Your commissioners then proceeded to and made a personal examination of the grounds where the boundary line was to be ascertained and run. After this examination, and a consideration of the subject in the light of the court's decision, and the testimony, it was concluded that a determination of a proper location of the boundary line would require the marking out upon the ground as nearly as possible of the meandered river bank lines of the survey of Jacob Fowler, made in 1805 and 1806, the oldest survey of record, copies of the map and notes of which were incorporated and unchallenged in the testimony in the case. A competent surveyor was employed in the person of Mr. C. C. Genung, surveyor of Vanderburgh County, Indiana, who was familiar with the county records and the landmarks in the vicinity of the proposed line. Mr. Genung was instructed to proceed as soon as possible under the direction of the chairman, to reëstablish upon the ground as nearly as practicable the aforesaid meander line of the survey of 1805 and 1806, using every precaution to determine said line as accurately as might be, from the notes of the survey, and such marks referred to in the notes, and other authenticated marks as might be found. He was also directed to make cross sections at intervals, by levelling across the depression now existing, where the island chute once was, and determine the present crests of the banks. Mr. Genung performed the duty allotted to him, and made a map exhibiting the result of his surveys. Your commissioners, after verifying his work on the ground, then held another meeting at Evansville, Indiana, January Decree of the Court. 22nd, 1896, and made a careful study of the information obtained by the survey. An examination of the map presented by Mr. Genung, giving the results of his survey, with a report upon the same, satisfied your commissioners on three points. The close accord of the reëstablished meander line with the existing crest of the high bank was strong proof that the line as reëstablished was in fact a very close approximation in location to the location of the line as originally run; it also indicated that the original meander line was practically along the crest of the high water bank, and not along the low water line; and further, that the crest of the bank along the Indiana side of the depression as it exists to-day must be nearly as it was at the time of the original survey. It will be noticed from the topography on the map that the crest of the high water bank on the Indiana side of the depression is quite regular, while the crest of the bank on the island side, especially above the railroad crossing, is irregular, indicating probably, extensive deposits since the time when there was a free flowing stream around the island. In the testimony there are mentions of drift piles in the upper part of the chute causing deposits. Below the railroad crossing the crests of the two banks are nearly parallel, and as scaled on the map where most nearly parallel, are about eight chains apart. It would seem probable that the chute before it was choked up by drifts and deposits had a width more or less uniform of about eight chains between crests of the high bank. During low water stages the part of the chute covered by water was probably nearly in the centre of the chute. Just how far the low water surface extended towards the Indiana side, it is impossible at this time to determine accurately, but it would seem that a close approximation to the water line would be a line equidistant from the Indiana bank crest line and the central line of the chute. Upon this assumption, the water of a low stage would have covered the middle half of the space between the crest of the high banks, and a fair allowance should be made for the space covered by the bank slopes extending from the crests of the high banks to the low water line. |