The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1850-01-09
FHE MINNESOTA PIONEER.
st. paul, minnesota,
Wednesday Morning. Jan. 8. 1850.
school Sections.

school Sections.
The organic Act of March Sd, iS4o,
makes a resery alton of the 10th and Seth
sections in each township in Minnesota, for
school purposes. This is liberal grant, be-
ing one section more than has been granted
in other Territories; but at the date of the
organic Act, settlements had been made up
on several 36th sections--the lands were
offered for sale at public vendue and were
open to entry after the public sale, and en-
tries have been made Of portions of Seth
sections la several townships.
Are these entries validi That is the
question. If settler, by mistake, makes
an improvement upon the 10th Section, be
is authorized by law to select a claim else
where for entry. Purchases made upon seth
sections, seem to be placed upon different
footing. When the lands were proclaimed
aud offered for sale. no one contemplated
reservation Of the seth sections. In many
instances, these lands were bought before
the passage Of the organic Act. Can Gov
eminent take such lands away from the
purchaser IL so, why may not Govern
ment at any time, hereafter, declare tina,
the 29th or 3Oth section in each township,
shall be reserved for schooIs' Why not a
purchaser in any section, of any township,
be thus disfranchised?' Government is bound
by its contracts, like any body else. To
understand this matter rightly make it a
case Of purchase and sale between two in-
dividuals. No one can give a,ray that,
which, having full power aud authority to
sell, it has already sold, got pay for, and
delivered the possession Of. Congress will
probably grant alternate sections of land in
! Illinois to aid in constructing railroad
/ from Cairo northward; but it must not be
supposed that the rich farmers on The route,
who have bought and improved many Of
these alternate sections, are to be turned
out HARMLESS upon the unbroken prairie.
/ We consider the question settled in re-
gard to purchases upon Seth sections, be-
fore the Sd Of March lS49. More doubt
may exis, in regard to purchases made since
that date; but arc not even those purchases
valid? Do the reservations properly APP
ply to 36th sections, which were already
surveyed, had been offered by proclamation
for sale, and are, by an existing law, sub
iect to entry at private sals' What would
become Of the rights Of -emption set
tiers upon those sections' Is the rcserva-
ton in tho organic Act, any more valid
Would not this construction nuIlify, not on
~ the provisions of the pre-emption Act,
but right vested, contract already ra,i-
fed by all the solemnlies of law, with eve
ny presumption claimant If the pre-emp-
toner on the Seth Section, is precluded from
buying his land what recourse has he? If
, lie had entered upon the 10th section,
which is always reserved, he would have
done SO with notice and at his peril; but
even then, he would have secured right
upon any other quarter section he might Sc
lect. Not so with the settler upon the Seth
Section. There is no notice to, and no
provision for, those who happen to make
homes upon Section numbered So. JUS
ticc therefore, as well as that fair principle
of the construction Of conflicting laws, by
which both laws are to be made to stand,
il possible, seem clearly to indicate, that
the Seth section cannot be reserved from
entry and sale, where, at the date Of the
organic Act, it was already in market; al
though elsewhere it is in full force; and
that Congress ought of right, to bestow
upon each township an equivalent in such
lands as it has a r;ghtto bestow for schools.
wherever the seth Section of the town
ship had been placed in market, at the date
Of the organic Act.