403 U.S. 9
91 S.Ct. 1775
29 L.Ed.2d 279
State of UTAH, Plaintiff,
v.
UNITED STATES.
No. 31, Orig.
Argued April 26, 1971, on Exceptions to Report of Special Master.
Decided June 7, 1971.
This suit was brought to settle an argument between the State of Utah and the United States of America over which of them owned the bed of the Great Salt Lake and controlled the lake shore. The whole case hinged on whether the Great Salt Lake was navigable at the date of Statehood. If it was, Utah owned it; if it was not, the United States got it.
The documentary evidence was a little vague, because it mostly dated to the 1870s and 1880s, not 1896. This suit was argued 75 years after Statehood — it’s not like there were a lot of people around who were old enough to have clear memories of 1896, and who were also still so clear-minded in 1971 that they made credible witnesses.
The State of Utah found one, though.
Joseph Fielding Smith gave an affidavit that not only was he a young adult on the date of Statehood and therefore had been old enough to understand what he saw and participated in, but as Church Historian for much of the 20 century, he had gathered and read and preserved and held custody of and become intimately familiar with records that “include[d] historical matters of interest to people generally, including records concerning Great Salt Lake and social, commercial and recreational activities on Great Salt Lake.”
And his personal testimony? “I have a personal recollection of events and activities which I witnessed on Great Salt Lake during a period of time which was prior to statehood. Utah became a State on January 4, 1896, when I was about nineteen and one-half years of age. From about 15 years of age I visited Great Salt Lake along with other people. I remember when Saltair was built. I also remember Garfield Beach, and the boats which operated from that beach out on Great Salt Lake, prior to statehood as well as after statehood. My recollection of activities on the Great Salt Lake dates back to about 1893.
“I not only visited Great Salt Lake for bathing, but for other recreational purposes. From 1893 on I saw a number of boats operating on the lake. Some were sail boats. Some were row boats which operated from Garfield Beach and from Saltair. There were some motorized boats. While I cannot give the details, there were boats used to haul cattle from one or more of the islands as far back as 1893. I remember a pleasure boat which took people on excursions across the lake.”
And that’s one reason why Utah controls the Great Salt Lake, and has responsibility for what is left of a dying ecosystem.
Interesting tidbit; thx [again] for posting these.
Wow! That’s fascinating. One wonders how history could have gone differently.
Wow, you don’t see many original jurisdiction cases at the Supreme Court. Fascinating that JFSJr ended up giving evidence in one.
Brigham Young used Antelope Island as a natural corral for horses, cattle and sheep. As the lake level went up, and animals could no longer be driven through the shallow water at the south shore, he had a boat constructed to transport the animals, which also enabled Fielding Garr to continue operating the tithing ranch on the island. The name of the transport boat was “The Timely Gull.” Since Brigham Young died in 1877, this would have most certainly preceeded statehood.
Yes, there are many records demonstrating that the Lake was navigable in Brigham Young’s lifetime, and into the 1880s as well.
The lawsuit hinged not on whether the Lake had ever been navigable, though, but on whether or not it was navigable at the time Statehood was granted (1896). We all know the Lake level fluctuates, making it sometimes navigable and sometimes not. The State needed a witness, or some documentary evidence, that it was navigable in 1896. Joseph Fielding Smith Jr. provided his eyewitness testimony.
I wasn’t familiar with the name “The Timely Gull” — thank you for providing that tidbit!