United States v. Elizabeth Keenan, Tomela Keenan, Kathrun Ann Keenan, Robert Keenan, Jr.

In 1940, Elizabeth Keenan et al. (the Keenans) purchased a tract of land bordering the south bank of the Arkansas River, along the horseshoe shaped Holla Bend. Although since at least 1828 the river channel had been encroaching slowly on what is now Keenan property, the rate of encroachment increased beginning in January 1951. In a period of thirty-one months thereafter, the river moved approximately 550 feet southward and westward, reducing the area of the Keenans’ land.

In 1956, the U.S. Corps of Engineers diverted the riverflow from Holla Bend to the newly completed Holla Bend Cutoff, a…