William Howard Taft

“ Coming then to consider the effect of the words of the Act of 1872 in bounding the Osage reservation 'by the main channel of the Arkansas river,' we are met by the argument that the United States had no power to grant the bed of the Arkansas river, a navigable stream, to the Indians, because it held title to it only in trust to convey it to the states to be formed out of the Louisiana Purchase which when admitted to the Union must, in order to be equal in power to the other states, be vested with sovereign rights over the beds of navigable waters and streams. ”

“ It is true that where the United States has not in any way provided otherwise, the ordinary incidents attaching to a title traced to a patent of the United States under the public land laws may be determined according to local rules; but this is subject to the qualification that the local rules do not impair the efficacy of the grant or the use and enjoyment of the property by the grantee. ”

“ If the Arkansas river were navigable in fact at the locus in quo, the unrestricted power of the United States when exclusive sovereign, to part with the bed of such a stream for any purpose, asserted by the Circuit Court of Appeals would be before us for consideration. ”