CASES ADJUDGED

IN THE

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES,

AT

OCTOBER TERM, 1892.

IOWA v. ILLINOIS.

ORIGINAL.

No. 5. Original. Submitted November 28, 1892. - Decided January 3, 1893.

The true line, in a navigable river between States of the Union which separates the jurisdiction of one from the other, is the middle of the main channel of the river.

In such case 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.

As the two States both desire that this boundary line be established at the places where the several bridges mentioned in the pleadings cross the Mississippi River, it is ordered that a commission be appointed to ascertain and designate at said places the boundary line between the two States, and that such commission be required to make the proper examination, and to delineate on maps prepared for that purpose, the true line as determined by this court, and report the same to the court for its further action.

THE case is stated in the opinion.

Mr. John Y. Stone, Attorney General of the State of Iowa, and Mr. James C. Davis for complainant.

VOL. CXLVII-1

1

Opinion of the Court.

Mr. George Hunt, Attorney General of the State of Illinois, for respondent.

MR. JUSTICE FIELD delivered the opinion 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 jurisdiction of the two States for the purposes of taxation and other purposes of government.

The complainant, the State of Iowa, contends that, for taxation, and for all other purposes, the boundary line is the middle of the main body of the river, taking the middle line 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 prior to and at the time of the treaty between England, France and Spain, in 1763, 3 Jenkinson's Treaties, 177, the territory now compris ing the State of Iowa was under the dominion of France, and the territory now comprising the State of Illinois was under the dominion of Great Britain, and that, by the treaty named, the middle of the river Mississippi was made the boundary line between the British and French possessions in North America.

That by the treaty of Paris between Great Britain and the United States, which was concluded September 3, 1783, 3 Jenkinson's Treaties, 410, Art. II, and 8 Stat. SO, the territory comprising the State of Illinois passed to the United States;

Opinion of the Court.

and that by the purchase of Louisiana from France, under the treaty of April 30, 1803, 8 Stat. 200, 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. 428, c. 67,) 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 and 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 2462 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 and Hamilton bridge mentioned

Opinion of the Court.

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 of the draw in the bridge, or 880 feet from the Iowa shore of the river and 2162 feet from the shore of the river in Illinois on Island No. Four; that at places in the river there are two or more channels equally accessible and useful for navigation by steamboats and other crafts carrying the commerce of the river; and that at the Keokuk and Hamilton bridge the channel used by steamboats is partly artificial, constructed by excavation of rock from the river bed to facilitate the approach to the lock of the United States canal immediately north of the bridge.

That the State of Iowa claims the right to tax all bridges across the river to the middle thereof, and does tax the Keokuk and 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 and Hamilton Bridge Company, owner of the Keokuk and 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