Phelps v. Hanson

HEALY, Circuit Judge.

Appellants brought this suit to quiet title to the waters of the south fork of Dry Head Creek in the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana. The stream has its source off the Reservation but flows into it and upon appellants’ lands. Appellants, who are white grantees or successors in interest of a Crow Indian allottee, claim a prior right to the use of its waters as an appurtenance to their lands situated within the Reservation. Their complaint was dismissed by the trial court on motion of the defendants (appellees) for lack of the necessary jurisdictional averments.

It…