File v. State

OPINION

Before RABINOWITZ, C. J., and CON-NOR, BOOCHEVER, BURKE and MATTHEWS, JJ. MATTHEWS, Justice.

This is a land dispute. The land in question consists of approximately 117 acres added by accretion to the shoreline of the Gastineau Channel over the last fifty years. The appellants claim that Daniel Pederson, their predecessor in interest, homesteaded the shoreline to which the land accreted, and that the land belongs to them. The state claims that the federal government retained its interest in the shoreline and that the state now owns the accreted land by virtue of selection made under the…