1. Timber standing on lands occupied by the Indians cannot be
cut by them for the purposes of sale alone; though when it is in
their possession having been cut for the purpose of
improving the land that is to say, better adapting it to
convenient occupation -- in other words, when the timber has been
cut incidentally -- to the improvement, and not cut for the purpose
of getting and selling it -- there is no restriction on the sale of
it.
2. The Indians having only a right of occupancy in the lands,
the presumption is against their authority to cut and sell the
timber. Every purchaser from them is charged with notice of this
presumption. To maintain his title, it is incumbent on him to show
that the timber was rightfully severed from the land.
3. The United States may maintain an action for unlawfully
cutting and carrying away timber from the public lands.
The Menomonee Indians by agreement and treaty, negotiated on the
8th and 17th February, 1831, set apart and ceded to the United
States certain of their lands in Wisconsin as a home for such of
the New York Indians as might remove to and settle upon them. As
the lands were intended for a home for the New York Indians, it was
provided that the President should prescribe the time for the
removal of the Indians to and settlement upon them, and, at the
expiration of the time, apportion the lands among the actual
settlers in such manner as he should deem equitable and just. If
within the time prescribed they refused to accept the provisions of
the treaty made for their benefit, or, having accepted, refused to
remove from New York and settle on the lands, then the lands were
to be and remain the property of the United States. It was also
distinctly understood that the lands ceded were to be held by the
tribes of New York Indians, under such tenure as the Menomonees
held their lands, subject to such regulations and alterations of
tenure as Congress and the President might direct. For this cession
the United States paid the Menomonees $20,000. [
Footnote 1]
Page 86 U. S. 592
On the 3d of February, 1838, the first Christian and Orchard
parties of the Oneida Indians, to whom a part of the Menomonee
cession had been apportioned, ceded to the United States all the
lands set apart to them, except a tract containing one hundred
acres for each individual, or in all about 65,000 acres, which they
reserved to themselves, to be held as other Indian lands are held.
Of this tract some three or four thousand acres have been occupied
and cultivated as farming lands by individuals of the tribe in
severalty with the consent of the tribe. Many of the Indians,
including most of the young men, do not cultivate any of the lands
as their own. A small number of the tribe cut timber from a part of
the reservation not occupied in severalty, and made it into saw
logs, which they removed and sold to a certain George Cook. The
United States brought this action of replevin against the said Cook
to recover possession of these logs, and upon trial in the circuit
court the facts here stated were established by the testimony; and
in addition, evidence was offered tending to prove that timber on
the reservation had been cut and sold by the Indians of the tribe
continually since 1838, with the tacit consent of the officers of
the tribe.
Upon this state of facts, the counsel of the United States asked
the court to instruct the jury that the action could be brought and
maintained. Upon the question of giving this instruction the judges
were divided in opinion, and it was certified to this Court for
decision.
THE CHIEF JUSTICE delivered the opinion of the Court.
We think the action was properly brought, and that it may be
maintained.
The right of the Indians in the land from which the logs were
taken was that of occupancy alone. They had no power of alienation
except to the United States. The fee was in the United States,
subject only to this right of occupancy.
Page 86 U. S. 593
This is the title by which other Indians hold their lands. It
was so decided by this Court as early as 1823, in
Johnson v.
McIntosh. [
Footnote 2] The
authority of that case has never been doubted. [
Footnote 3] The right of the Indians to their
occupancy is as sacred as that of the United States to the fee, but
it is only a right of occupancy. [
Footnote 4] The possession, when abandoned by the Indians,
attaches itself to the fee without further grant. [
Footnote 5]
This right of use and occupancy by the Indians is unlimited.
They may exercise it at their discretion. If the lands in a state
of nature are not in a condition for profitable use, they may be
made so. If desired for the purposes of agriculture, they may be
cleared of their timber to such an extent as may be reasonable
under the circumstances. The timber taken off by the Indians in
such clearing may be sold by them. But to justify any cutting of
the timber, except for use upon the premises, as timber or its
product, it must be done in good faith for the improvement of the
land. The improvement must be the principal thing, and the cutting
of the timber the incident only. Any cutting beyond this would be
waste and unauthorized.
The timber while standing is a part of the realty, and it can
only be sold as the land could be. The land cannot be sold by the
Indians, and consequently the timber, until rightfully severed,
cannot be. It can be rightfully severed for the purpose of
improving the land, or the better adapting it to convenient
occupation, but for no other purpose. When rightfully severed it is
no longer a part of the land, and there is no restriction upon its
sale. Its severance under such circumstances is, in effect, only a
legitimate use of the land. In theory, at least, the land is better
and more valuable with the timber off than with it on. It has been
improved by the removal. If the timber should be severed
for the purposes of sale alone -- in other words, if the cutting of
the timber was the principal thing and not the incident -- then
Page 86 U. S. 594
the cutting would be wrongful, and the timber, when cut, become
the absolute property of the United States.
These are familiar principles in this country and well settled,
as applicable to tenants for life and remaindermen. But a tenant
for life has all the rights of occupancy in the lands of a
remainderman. The Indians have the same rights in the lands of
their reservations. What a tenant for life may do upon the lands of
a remainderman the Indians may do upon their reservations, but no
more.
In this case it is not pretended that the timber from which the
saw logs were made was cut for the purpose of improving the land.
It was not taken from any portion of the land which was occupied,
or, so far as appears, intended to be occupied for any purpose
inconsistent with the continued presence of the timber. It was cut
for sale and nothing else. Under such circumstances, when cut, it
became the property of the United States absolutely, discharged of
any rights of the Indians therein. The cutting was waste, and in
accordance with well settled principles, the owner of the fee may
seize the timber cut, arrest it by replevin, or proceed in trover
for its conversion.
The Indians having only a right of occupancy in the lands, the
presumption is against their authority to cut and sell the timber.
Every purchaser from them is charged with notice of this
presumption. To maintain his title under his purchase it is
incumbent on the purchaser to show that the timber was rightfully
severed from the land.
That the United States may maintain an action for cutting and
carrying away timber from the public lands was decided in
Cotton v. United States. [
Footnote 6] The principles recognized in that case are
decisive of the right to maintain this action.
The answer of the court, therefore, to the question propounded
by the circuit court, is
In the affirmative.
[
Footnote 1]
7 Stat. at Large 343, 347.
[
Footnote 2]
21 U. S. 8
Wheat. 574.
[
Footnote 3]
1 Kent. 257;
Worcester v.
Georgia, 6 Pet. 580.
[
Footnote 4]
Cherokee Nation v.
Georgia, 5 Pet. 30,
30 U. S. 48.
[
Footnote 5]
Ib. 30 U. S. 17.
[
Footnote 6]
52 U. S. 11 How.
229.
