William O. Douglas

“ Their forcible removal in 1874 was not pursuant to any mandate of Congress. It was a high-handed endeavor to wrest from these Indians lands which Congress had never declared forfeited. [13] No forfeiture can be predicated on an unauthorized attempt to effect a forcible settlement on the reservation unless we are to be insensitive to the high standards for fair dealing in light of which laws dealing with Indian rights have long been read. Certainly a forced abandonment of their ancestral home was not a 'voluntary cession' within the meaning of § 2 of the Act of July 27, 1866, 14 Stat. ”

“ They say that the Railroad is now coming which will require more water, and will bring more men who will take up all the small springs remaining. They urge that the following reservation be set aside for them while there is still time; that the land can never be of any great use to the Whites ”

“ But such generalizations have been so often and so long repeated as respects land under the prior sovereignty of the various European nations including Spain, [3] that like other rules governing titles to property (United States v. Title Insurance & Trust Co., 265 U.S. 472, 486, 487, 44 S.Ct. 621, 623, 68 L.Ed. 1110) they should now be considered no longer open. ”

“ This is a suit brought by the United States, in its own right and as guardian of the Indians of the Walapai (Hualpai) Tribe in Arizona, 28 U.S.C. § 41 (1) , § 24, Judicial Code, 28 U.S.C.A. § 41 (a) , to enjoin respondent from interfering with the possession and occupancy by the Indians of certain land in northwestern Arizona. Respondent claims full title to the lands in question under the grant to its predecessor, the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Co., provided for in the Act of July 27, 1866, 14 Stat. ”

“ Between 1875 and that date there were rather continuous suggestions for settling the Walapais on some reservation. [14] In 1881 the matter came to a head. A majority of the tribe, 'in council assembled', asked an officer of the United States Army in that region 'to aid them and represent to the proper authorities' the following proposal: [15] 'They say that in the country, over which they used to roam so free, the white men have appropriated all the water; that large numbers of cattle have been introduced and have rapidly increased during the past year or two ”