Bonelli Cattle Co. v. Arizona

Opinion of the Court by

Mr. Justice Marshall, announced by Mr. Justice Brennan.

The question for decision is whether title to land abandoned by the stream of the Colorado River as a *315result of a federal rechanneling project vests in the State of Arizona, as owner of the beds under navigable streams within its borders, or in petitioner cattle company, as the owner of land riparian to the river at the time of the rechanneling.

The circumstances that give rise to this case are as follows. In 1910, the subject land was conveyed by federal patent, as part of a larger parcel, to the Santa Fe Pacific…