Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mining & Concentrating Co. v. United States

Background

In 1903 a man named Messenger made a homestead entry on land in the Coeur D’Alene district, lived there with his family, and cut many trees, selling cordwood to a local company. He abandoned the land in 1905. The United States sued a mining company that had acquired timber removed from that land and won a judgment for the value of the timber in its improved state in a lower court.

Reasoning

The mining company argued the land was actually mineral land and therefore open to a statute allowing timber cutting for mining purposes. The Court rejected that claim because Messenger’s homestead entry had segregated the land from the public domain until the Government took action to cancel it. The Court explained that, while title technically remained in the United States, the entry gave Messenger the right to exclude others and prevented him or his buyers from later saying the land was public mineral land to justify cutting timber. The mining company bought with notice that the seller was a trespasser and so could not claim protection under the public-mineral timber law.

Real world impact

The ruling confirms that a valid homestead claim keeps land out of the public-mineral timber rules unless the Government cancels the entry. Mining companies and buyers must verify that land is not under homestead claim before taking timber. The lower-court judgment for the Government was affirmed.