pracel, and all lands within the limits of any incorporated city, or within two miles of the boundary of any incorporated city, where the valuation of such lands shall be found by appraise.. ment to exceed one hundred dollars ($100) per acre, shall, before the same be sold, be platted into lots and blocks of not more than five acres in a block, and not more than one block shall be offered for sale in one parcel. Sale of school and granted lands. §§30 et seq., Laws post. ARTICLE XVII. TIDE LANDS. SECTION 1. The State of Washington asserts its ownership to the beds and shores of all navigable waters in the state up to and including the line of ordinary high tide, in waters where the tide ebbs and flows, and up to and including the line of ordinary high water within the banks of all navigable rivers and lakes : Provided, That this section shall not be construed so as to debar any person from asserting his claim to vested rights in the courts of the state. The state owns the tide lands: Shively v. Bolby, 152 U. S. 1, and notes in Rose's Notes, Vol. 12, p. 516; Mann v. Tacoma Land Co., 153 U. S. 273; Baer v. Moran Bros., 153 U. S. 287, and see Index to Rose's Notes, Vol. 13, p. 691, "Lands Under Water"; also Cent. Digest, Vol. 37, cols. 161-241, and Vol. 41, cols. 938 to 942. Tide lands defined, see Words and Phrases, Vol. 8, p. 6970. Statute regulating sale of, generally, §68 et. seq., Laws post. See, also, $$76, 77, 78, Laws post. Tide lands belong to the state with full power of jurisdiction and control, restricted only by the constitution of the United States, and of the state: Eisenbach r. Hatfield, 2 Wash. 236; Harbor Line Comm'rs. v. Yesler, 2 Wash. 530; State v. Harbor Line Comm'rs., 4 Wash. 816. No individual can claim any easement in or impose any servitude upon tide lands in the state without the consent of the state. Id. Injunction will not issue against owners of improvements in actual use for commerce made on tide lands in front of owner's premises, for such owners have 1 preferred right of purchase. Id. The shores of lands of fresh water lakes belong to the state: McQue v. Bellingham Bay etc. Co., Wash. 156. A littoral owner cannot maintain ejectment against persons occupying the premises between him and low water when he has no lease for the same from the state: Pirce v. Kennedy, 2 Wash. 324; and see Van Siclen v. Muir, 89 Pac. The right of the state is subject to paramount right of the government to regulate commerce and navigation: H. L. Commission v. State, 2 Wash. 530; and see Remington's Notes, p. 36. Riparian owner can assert no valuable rights below ordinary high tide against the state: H. L. Com. v. State, 2 Wash. 530. This section has reference to a stream navigable for commercial purposes generally, and not those which are public highways merely for the floating of logs. Watkins v. Dorris, 24 Wash. 636. Tide lands in one sense are state lands: Seattle & Mont. Ry. Co. v. State, 7 Wash. 150. Tide lands became the property of the state upon the admission of the state into the Union: West Seattle v. West Seattle Land etc. Co., 38 Wash. 539. State Tide lands of the first class extend from the inner harbor line to line of ordinary high tide, or patent line where same is below line of high tide: ex rel. McKenzie v. Forrest, 11 Wash. 227. The public corporation has no right to interfere with the flow of an unnavigable stream to the detriment of a riparian owner, even though such stream has its source in a navigable body of water: New Whatcom v. Fairhaven Land Co., 24 Wash. 493; as to littoral owners on lake, see, Kalez v. Spokane Land etc. Co., 42 Wash. 43. The state is not required to sell tide lands merely because of the improvements thereon: State ex rel. Bartlett v. Forrest, 12 Wash. 483.. The sale of tide lands by the state is subject to the paramount rights of the public to the waters thereon and confers no right to obstruct navigation therein : Dawson v. McMillan, 34 Wash. 269. A riparian owner has no interest in the land under water in a slough that is navigable even though such slough is not meandered: Lounsdale v. Grays Harbor Boom Co., 21 Wash. 542. The vested right granted by the statute may be taken away if not exercised : Hellen v. Forrest, 8 Wash. 700. When a person has complied with all the requirements to purchase tide lands he has a vested right which cannot be taken away: State er rel. Billings v. Bridges, 22 Wash. 64. The state may use the funds from the sale of tide lands as it sees fit: Tacoma Land Co. v. Young, 18 Wash. 495. The state may create liens on tide lands, see note to $1, Art. 15, Const., supra. Tide lands sold as second class tide lands cannot be again classified and sold as a different class: Welsh v. Callvert, 34 Wash. 250. A railroad across tide lands is not such an improvement as to give a preference right: Lake Whatcom Logging Co. v. Callvert, 33 Wash. 126. The fact that certain tide lands afford a passage way over which logs may be floated confers no preference right of purchase: Globe Mill Co. v. Bellingham Bay Co., 10 Wash. 458. The Board of Land Commissioners is not required to re-appraise and re-offer for sale merely because some one will make a better offer: State ex rel. Bussell r. Bridges, 30 Wash. 268. SEC. 2. The State of Washington disclaims all title in and claim to all tide, swamp, and overflowed lands patented by the United States: Provided, The same is not impeached for fraud. Swamp and overflowed lands were not granted the state: Baer v. Moran Bros., 2 Wash. 608. The disclaimer while not in itself confirmatory of patented lands is in effect a grant by the state to the patentees: Scurry v. Jones, 4 Wash. 468. The state has no title to tide lands included within an upland survey, which lands were patented before statehood: Cogswell v. Forrest, 14 Wash. 1. This includes grants in praesenti made before statehood though patented after the admission of the state: Kneeland v. Korter, 40 Wash. 359. Tide lands as claimed by the state do not extend above the patent line of the upland owner at time of statehood where such patent line is below the line of high tide: State ex rel. McKenzie v. Forrest, 11 Wash. 227. A grant of tide lands does not convey tide land above the meander line: Shelton Logging Co. v. Gosher, 26 Wash. 126. A federal patent to public lands bordering on a navigable stream conveys title to the meander line though the same is below high water line: Washougal Tr. Co. v. Dalles Nav. Co., 27 Wash. 490. The state cannot assert title to lands in front of a private claim which lands are by acretions deposited by the stream: Washougal Tr. Co. v. Dalles Nar. Co., 27 Wash. 470. The meander line is the boundary of a private claim patented prior to statehood when such meander line is below the ordinary high water line, but is not a boundary when above the line of ordinary high water. Id, and see also, Johnson r. Brown, 33 Wash. 588. This disclaimer extends to lands in front of an Indian reservation: r. Calirert, 32 Wash. 610. Jones A grantee of a designated strip of tide lands or an upland owner of lands patented prior to statehood is not entitled to the remaining tide lands lying below his grant by virtue of this disclaimer: Denny v. N. P. R. Co., 19 Wash. 298. The title to the shores and beds of a non-navigable stream goes to the littoral owner: Griffith v. Holman, 23 Wash. 347. Whether a patent to upland conveys tide land is a federal question: Kenyon r. Squires, 1 Wash. 9; same v. Knipe, 1 Wash. 11; same v. Squire and Williamson, 1 Wash. 12. For additional references to this section see: Eisenbach v. Hatfield, 2 Wash. p. 245, 259, and 729; Baer v. Moran Bros., 2 Wash. p. 615; Seattle & Mont. Ry. Co., 7 Wash. p. 152; State ex rel. McKenzie v. Forrest, 11 Wash. 233. ARTICLE XXI.-WATER AND WATER RIGHTS. SECTION 1. The use of the waters of the state for irrigation, mining, and manufacturing purposes shall be deemed a public use. Cited Prescott Irrigation Co. v. Flathers, 20 Wash, on p. 458. The principle applied in Kalez v. Spokane Valley Land etc. Co., 42 Wash. 43. ARTICLE XXIV.-BOUNDARIES. SECTION 1. The boundaries of the State of Washington shall be as follows: Beginning at a point in the Pacific ocean one marine league due west of and opposite the middle of the mouth. of the north ship channel of the Columbia river, thence running easterly to and up the middle channel of said river and where it is divided by islands up the middle of the widest channel thereof to where the forty-sixth parallel of north latitude crosses said river, near the mouth of the Walla Walla river; thence east on said forty-sixth parallel of latitude to the middle of the main channel of the Shoshone or Snake river; thence follow down the middle of the main channel of Snake river to a point opposite the mouth of the Kooskooskia or Clear Water river; thence due north to the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude; thence west along said forty-ninth parallel of north latitude to the middle of the channel which separates Vancouver's Island from the continent, that is to say to a point in longtitude 123 degrees, 19 minutes and 15 seconds west; thence follow the boundary line between the United States and British possessions through the channel which separates Vancouver's Island from the continent to the termination of the boundary line between the United States and British possessions at a point in Pacific ocean equidistant between Bonnilla point on Vancouver's Island and Tatoosh Island lighthouse; thence running in a southerly course and parallel with the coast line, keeping one marine league off shore, to place of beginning. ARTICLE XXV.-JURISDICTION. Section 1. The consent of the State of Washington is hereby given to the exercise, by the congress of the United States of exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such tracts or parcels of land as are now held or reserved by the government of the United States for the purpose of erecting or maintaining thereon forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, lighthouses, and other needful buildings, in accordance with the provisions of the seventeenth paragraph of the eighth section of the first article of the constitution of the United States, so long as the same shall be so held and reserved by the United States: Provided, That a sufficient description by metes and bounds, and an accurate plat or map of each such tract or parcel of land be filed in the proper office of record in the county in which the same is situated, together with copies of the orders, deeds, patents, or other evidences in writing of the title of the United States: And pro vided, That all civil process issued from the courts of this state, and such criminal process as may issue under the authority of this state, against any person charged with crime in cases arising outside of such reservations, may be served and executed thereon in the same mode and manner, and by the same officers, as if the consent herein given had not been made. ARTICLE XXVI.-COMPACT WITH THE UNITED STATES. The following ordinance shall be irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the people of this state: Second: That the people inhabiting this state do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within the boundaries of this state, and to all lands lying within said limits owned or held by any Indian or Indian tribes; and that, until the title thereto shall have been extinguished by the United States, the same shall be and remain subject to the disposition of the United States, and said Indian lands shall remain under the absolute jurisdiction and control of the Congress of the United States, and that the lands belonging to citizens of the United States residing without the limits of this state shall never be taxed at a higher rate than the lands belonging to residents thereof, and that no taxes shall be imposed by the state on lands or property therein belonging to or which may be hereafter purchased by the United States or reserved for use: Provided, That nothing in this ordinance shall preclude the state from taxing, as other lands are taxed, any lands owned or held by any Indian who has severed his tribal relation, and has obtained from the United States or from any person a title thereto by patent or other grant, save and except such lands as have been or may be granted to any Indian or Indians under any act of Congress containing a provision exempting the lands thus granted from taxation, which exemption shall continue so long and to such an extent as such act of Congress may prescribe. |