McAllister v. Okanogan County

Citations

• 51 Wash. 647
• 100 P. 146
• 1909 Wash. LEXIS 1248

Syllabus

<p>Public Lands — Settlers — Right of Occupancy — Unsurveyed Land — Statutes—Construction. Vol. 23 Stat. 321, prohibiting the unlawful occupancy of the public domain was not intended to prevent actual bona fide settlers from inclosing an entryman’s proportion of unsurveyed land.</p> <p>Same — Grants-—Rights of Way — Highways — Settlers on Unsurveyed Land — Possessory Rights. U. S. Rev. Stats., § 2477, granting rights of way over the unreserved public lands of the United States, and Laws 1903, p. 155, authorizing boards of county commissioners to accept by resolution such Congressional grant, do not amount to a grant in praesenti, as to unsurveyed lands in the possession of a bona fide settler; but the grant is held in abeyance until a highway is established by law (overruling Okanogan County v. GUeetham, 37 Wash. 682).</p> <p>Same — Eminent Domain. A bona fide settler in peaceable possession of an entryman’s proportion of unsurveyed public lands, who had enclosed the lands and made improvements, has such an interest in. the lands as to preclude the opening of a county road across the same without condemning his interests.</p>