Washington telegraph., 1856-06-18
The Arkansas Land Grant.

The Washington Union, of a recent date,
has the following important paragraph:
eve understand that the Commissioner
of the General Land Office will shortly take
the necessary steps for restoring to market
the lands which were heretofore Withdrawn
from sale for the Cairo and Fulton Railroad,
and the branch from Little Rock to Mem
phis, in Arkansas and Missouri, with the
exception of such as have been taken up by
the grant to aid in the construction of these
roads This action will open to sale again
very large and valuable body of land"
How is this! Have the lands been Sc
lected on our Branch Road, and are they
thus secured under the exception stated !?
Or, is our road exposed to the loss of this
fine endowment Will those who know
inform us ?-Memphis Bulletin.
We cannot give very satisfactory replies
to the above questions, but from information
derived from reliable sources, and refer
ence to such documents as we have relative
to the matter, have compiled the following
particulars concerning the nature and pro-
visions of the grant of lands BY the General
Government to the State of Arkansas for
Railroad purposes.
The original act of Congress donated six
sections of land from each mile along the
trunk Of the road, embracing tracts of six
miles in width Oh each side, with this pro-
viso: that in the event that any of the lands
inuring to the State under this grant, and
embraced in these tracts, had been previ-
ously selected as Swamp Lands, under a
prior endowment to the State of such lands,
or had been sold or donated by the Govern
ment to individuals. the original company
should have the privilege of making up the
deficit by selections from any unoccupied
lands belonging to the General Government
lying within fifteen miles of the road on
either side. The original act of Congress
granted the lands to the State of Arkansas,
to aid in the building of road from Cairo,
in Illinois, to the line dividing Texas and
Arkansas, the road to cross Red River at
or near Fulton, Arkansas, and to have two
lateral branches. one terminating at such
point as should be selected by the State on
the Mississippi river, the other terminating
at Fort Smith, Arkansas In the event
that the lands failed to be appropriated for
the purpose designated, and the roads re-
mained uncompleied at the expiration of
ten years from the date Of the act, the lands
granted were to revert to the General Gov
ernment. The date of this grant by the
General Government to the State of Ar
kansas was iu April, 1858, we think. AT
the last session of the Legislature, as all
interested are doubtless aware, an act fixing
the terminus of the Eastern Branch of the
Cairo Road at Hope6eld Ark, opposite
Memphis, Tenn, became law At the
same session of our Legislature, acts were
passed with a view of transferring the keep
ing of the lands granted to the State for
Railroad purposes, from the State to the
Cairo and Fulton Railroad Company and
the Memphis and Little Rock r. r. Co.
Owing to some restrictions upon the use of
the lands, which it seems by the inadver-
tence of the enrolling clerk of the House
were made part of the bill intending to
benefit the Cairo and Fulton Company, that
Company refused to accept the lands from
the State on the conditions offered We
are informed, however, that the Company
are now at work selecting TIE lands accru-
ing to them under the original donation act
of Congress. contending that the State only
holds them as trustee, and is bound to de-
liver them up when the conditions of the
original act of Congress shall have been
complied with. The terms of the act of our
Legislature granting to the Memphis and
Little Rock Company the privilege of Sc
lecting the lands donated for Railroad pur-
poses along the route of this road, were, as
we understand. satisfactory to the Company.
The nature of the original act of Congress
is such that 1t is by no means probable that
there can be any ground for supposing that,
AoA ooihO yS"to dI lCdSt, tlIc McupulS hOaG
will be deprived cf this endowment. We
cannot lay our hands upon the act of the
Legislature TO which we have referred, as
transferring these lands from the keeping
of the State to the NJ d L. RR RCo., but
learn from reliable sources that the Arkan.
sas Legislature interfered In no way with
the provisions of the act of Congress, and
as matter of course it is not to be pre
sumed that the company will, by sheer
negligence to select the lands accruing to
them, lose so muni6cent an aid to their
project. We have looked with interest for
some account of the movements of the gen.
tlemen connected with the road, in the
matter of selecting the lands, but have seen
none as vet. 1t is to be hoped that the
queries in the Bulletin will call forth some
satisfactory answer, or incite those interested
to Immediate action in the premises.
Fourth of July.