Chapman & Dewey Lumber Co. v. St. Francis Levee District

Background

The dispute involves lands in a named Arkansas township that the State claimed under an 1858 patent issued under the Swamp-land Act. The official plat showed large meandered areas labeled as "Sunk Lands" and other areas surveyed into sections. The plat and selection lists gave the township area as 14,329.97 acres; after deducting 514.30 acres in section 16 that passed to the State under a school-land grant, the patent accounted for 13,815.67 acres. A federal certificate describing these figures was introduced without objection and accepted by the Arkansas Supreme Court.

Reasoning

The Court considered whether the patent covered all land within the township’s exterior boundaries or only lands outside the meander lines shown on the plat. In denying leave to file a petition for rehearing as meritless, the Court relied on the uncontradicted General Land Office certificate and the record showing the selection list and approved list described the acreage. The Court also noted the record and historical statements that the meandered "Sunk Lands" had been left unsurveyed, supporting the view that those areas were not treated as surveyed sections in the patent accounting.

Real world impact

This order refuses further review and reaffirms the Court’s earlier treatment of the patent and the factual accounting of acres. It clarifies that contemporary official records and certificates control how swamp-land patents were measured, and that meandered water areas may be treated as unsurveyed for ownership purposes. The denial is procedural and does not reopen the earlier merits analysis, so the earlier decision stands unless further lawful steps are taken.