The Relicted Lands Case

Abstract

In February, 1974, Charles Fahy, a Senior Circuit Judge, concluded that the United States of America could not assert any claim against the state of Utah to the 325,000 acres of land surrounding the Great Salt Lake exposed between January 4, 1896, when the lake stood at 4,201 feet above sea level and June 15, 1967, when the lake level had receded to 4,195 feet above sea level. Judge Fahy, was appointed Special Master by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Utah vs United States (406 US 484) after the original Special Master, Judge J. Cullen Ganey, died. By coincidence, within a few weeks after Fahy's decision, the lake had risen to the 4,201 foot level. Importance of the contested shorelands became obvious during the 1960's. Development of mineral resources contained in the lake brines was held up because clear title to land needed for construction of evaporation ponds and refining plants could not be obtained. As a result, Congress passed an act on June 3, 1966, requiring the Secretary of the Interior to quitclaim to the state of Utah all United States interest in lands lying below the meander line of the Great Salt Lake excepting the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and the Weber Basin federal reclamation project. To effect this, Congress directed the Secretary to complete, within six months, "the public land survey around the Great Salt Lake in the state of Utah by closing the meander line of that lake, following as accurately as possible the mean high water mark of the Great Salt Lake used in fixing the meander line on either side of the unsurveyed area".