THE DECISIONS

OF THE

Supreme Court of the United States,

AT

OCTOBER TERM, 1892.

(Authenticated copy of opinion record strictly followed, except as to such reference words and figures as are inclosed in brackets.]

(See 8. C. Reporter's ed. 1-14.)

Boundary between states-mid-channel of navigable river-navigable rivers between states of the Union-boundary line between Iowa and Illinois commission to ascertain boundary line.

1. When a navigable river constitutes the boundary between two independent states, the middle of the main channel of the stream marks the true boundary between them up to which each #tate will on its side exercise jurisdiction.

state of Illinois to ascertain and fix by judicial finding the boundary line between those

states.

The facts are stated in the opinion.

Messrs. John Y. Stone, Atty. Gen. of Iowa, and Jas. C. Davis for complainant. Mr. George Hunt, Atty. Gen. of Illinois, for defendant.

*Mr. Justice Field delivered the opinion [2 of the court:

The Mississippi river flows between the states of Iowa and Illinois. It is a navigable stream and constitutes the boundary between the two states; and the controversy between them is as to the position of the line between its banks or shores which separates the juris2. In international law and by the usage of Euro-diction of the two states for the purposes of pean nations, the terms "middle of the stream" and "mid-channel" of a navigable river are synonymous and interchangeably used.

taxation and other purposes of government.

The complainant, the state of Iowa, contends that, for taxation, and for all other purThe true line in navigable rivers between the poses, the boundary line is the middle of the states of the Union which separates the jurisdic-main body of the river, taking the middle line tion of one from the other is the middle of the main channel of the river; the jurisdiction of each state extends to the thread of the stream, that is. to the "mid-channel," and, if there be several channels, to the middle of the principal one, or, rather, the one usually followed.

The boundary line between the state of Iowa and the state of Illinois is the middle of the main navigable channel of the Mississippi river. 6. In a proper case, this court will appoint a commission to ascertain and designate the boundary lines between two states as determined by this court and to report the same to the court for its further action.

[No. 5, original.] Submitted Nov. 28, 1892. Decided Jan. 3, 1893.

between its banks or shores without regard to the "steamboat channel," as it is termed, or deepest part of the stream, and that, to determine the banks or shores, the measurements must be taken when the water is in its natural or ordinary stage, neither swollen by floods nor shrunk by droughts.

On the other hand, the defendant, the state of Illinois, claims that, for taxation and all other purposes, its jurisdiction extends to the middle of "the steamboat channel" of the river, wherever that may be, whether on its east or west bank-the channel upon which commerce on the river by steamboats or other vessels is usually conducted, and which for that reason is sometimes designated as "the channel of commerce."

The state of Iowa in its bill alleges: That

| territory does not divest the vested rights of individuals to property; former laws continue until altered by new sovereign, see note to Delassus v. United States, 9: 71.

As to judicial settlement of state boundaries, see note to Nebraska v. Iowa, 36: 186

prior to and at the time of the treaty between | of the draw in the bridge, or 880 feet from the England, France, and Spain, in 1763 (3 Jen- Iowa shore of the river and 2,162 feet from the kinson's Collection of Treaties, p. 177), the ter- shore of the river in Illinois on Island No. ritory now comprising the state of Iowa was Four; that at places in the river there are two under the dominion of France, and the terri- or more channels equally accessible and useful tory now comprising the state of Illinois was for navigation by steamboats and other crafts under the dominion of Great Britain, and that carrying the commerce of the river; and that by the treaty named the middle of the river at the Keokuk & Hamilton bridge the channel Mississippi was made the boundary line be- used by steamboats is partly artificial, contween the British and French possessions in structed by excavation of rock from the river North America. bed to facilitate the approach to the lock of the United States canal immediately north of the bridge.

That by the treaty of Paris between Great Britain and the United States, which was concluded September 3, 1783, (3 Jenkinson's Collection of Treaties, p. 410, art. II, and 8 Stat. at L. 80) the territory comprising the state of 3] Illinois passed to the United States,* and that by the purchase of Louisiana from France, under the treaty of 1803 (8 Stat. at L. 208) the territory comprising the state of Iowa | passed to the United States.

That the boundary between the territory comprising the states of Illinois and Iowa remained the middle of the river Mississippi, as fixed by the treaty of 1763.

That by the Act of Congress of April 18, 1818, known as the Act Enabling the People of Illinois to Form a State Constitution (3 Stat. at L. 428), the northern and western boundaries of Illinois were defined as follows: Starting in the middle of Lake Michigan, at north latitude forty-two degrees and thirty minutes, "thence west to the middle of the Mississippi river, and thence down along the middle of that river to its confluence with the Ohio river," and that the constitutions of Illinois of 1818, 1848, and 1870 defined the boundaries in the same way.

And the bill further alleges that the state of Illinois and its several municipalities bordering on the Mississippi river claim the right to assess and do assess and tax, as in Illinois, all bridges and other structures in the river from the Illinois shore to the middle of the steamboat channel, or channel of the river usually traversed by steam and other crafts in carrying the commerce of the river, whether such channel is east or west of the middle of the main body or arm of the river; and that they thus assess and tax, as in that state, the bridge of the Keokuk & Hamilton Bridge Company across the river from Keokuk, Iowa, to Island No. Four, in Hancock county, Illinois, from the west shore of the island westward 2,462 feet to the east end of the draw of the bridge, and to a point not over 580 feet east from the Iowa shore of the river and 941 feet west of the middle of the main arm or body of the river at that point.

That the steamboat channel, or channel of the river where boats ordinarily run in carrying the commerce of the river, varies from side to side of the river, sometimes being next to the Illinois shore and then next to the Iowa shore, and, at most points in the river shifting from place to place as the sands of its bed are changed by the current of the water; that at the point of the Keokuk & Hamilton bridge 4] mentioned the river bed is rock and not subject to much change; that at that point, were it not for the bridge, the middle of the steamboat channel would be, and was before the bridge was erected, fully 300 feet east of the east end ❘

That the state of Iowa claims the right to tax all bridges across the river to the middle thereof, and does tax the Keokuk & Hamilton bridge to its middle between the east and west abutments thereof, that is, the west approach and abutment 200 feet and 1096 feet of the bridge proper, thereby treating, for convenience of taxation, the middle of the bridge between abutments as the middle of the river at that point, but which is in fact 225 feet less than one half the distance across the main arm or body of the river at that point.

That the state of Illinois and its municipalities assess, and tax, as in that state, 716 feet of the bridge actually assessed and taxed in Iowa, and 225 feet of the bridge in addition thereto, located in Iowa but not taxed in that state.

That the Keokuk & Hamilton Bridge Company, owner of the Keokuk & Hamilton bridge, is a corporation of both of said states consolidated, and complains of such double taxation.

That litigation is now pending over such taxation, and is liable at any time to arise over the taxation of any of the other bridges across the river between the said states, now nine in number.

To the end, therefore, that the line between the states may be definitely fixed by the only court having jurisdiction to do so, the complainant prays that this court will take jurisdiction of this bill, and that the state of Illinois be summoned and *requested to answer it, [5 waiving such answer being on oath, and that upon the final hearing this court will definitely settle the boundary between the states at the said several bridges.

To this bill the state of Illinois appeared by its attorney general and filed its answer, which denied that the boundary line between the states of Iowa and Illinois is the middle of the Mississippi river, and insisted that it is the middle of the steamboat channel, or channel commonly used by boats in carrying the commerce of the river, whether east or west of the middle of the river. It admitted that the state and its municipalities claimed the right to tax and did tax bridges and other structures in the river to the middle of the steamboat channel or channel of commerce, whether such channel was east or west of the middle of the main body or arm of the river, and did assess and tax the Keokuk & Hamilton bridge to its draw and west of the middle of the main body or arm of the river; and that the steamboat channel or channel of commerce is first near one shore and then near the other, and at other places nearly across the river. But it denied the right of the state of Iowa to tax the bridges mentioned crossing the Mississippi river to any