The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1858-04-08

Act of Congress, OF March 5, 1891, winch Is
follows
"SDcriox 4. .iad BE- i fgta1 osssed. Tha
the land hereby granted 70 said Territor
or future State. shall be disposed OF by sal
Territory or future State, only in the manne
following, that is to say that quantity
land not exceeding one hundred and twent
sections for each of said roads and branches
and included within Q continuous length
twenty miles of each of said roads an'
branches, may be sold; and when the Gov
ernor of said Territory or future Staas khal
certify to the Secretary of the Interior tina
any twenty continuous miles of any OF sait
roads or branches is completed. then anothe
quantity of land hereby granted, not to ex
coed one hundred and twenty sections o
land for each of said roads and branche
having twenty continuous miles completes
as Aforesaid, and included within continu
Gus length of twenty miles of each of suci
roads or branches. may be sold (; and 80 from
time to time until said roads and branche,
are completed, and if any of said roads o.
branches is not completed within ten years
no further sale shall be made, and the land
unsold shall revert To the United States"
Section 3 enacts that the lands hereby
thereby granted TO the said Territory OF
future State. shall be subject to the futur,
disposal Of the Legislature thereof, for the
purposes herein Ithersinl expressed and nc
other" and, accordingly, in the Act Of
the Minnesota Legislature, approved May
%, 1857, the trust created by the Act OF
Congress was executed by disposing of the
grants of land to the companies named
above. In the chapter of that Act incor.
porating and vesting the lands pertaining
to the northern routes in the Minnesota and
Pacific Railroad Company. we find q signif-
can't provision furnishing legislative con-
struction Of the meaning of Section Four OF
the Congressional Act After transferring
the lands to the Company, Section l6 pro-
ceeds a. follows:
land provided, that the title Of said land
shall vest in said Minnesota and Pacific Rail
road Company in the manner following, that
is to say: Whenever twenty OF more con-
tinuous miles of said road shall have been
located, the Governor of the Territory or
future State shall certify the same to the
Secretary of the Interior, and thereupon the
title to one hundred and thirty sections of
said lands shall vest in the said company
and when twenty continuous miles of said
road shall have been completed 30 as to cd
NIT Of running regular trains on the same,
the Governor shall certify the same to the
Secretary Of the Interior. and therenpan q
Jt~tAe- quantity Of one hundred and twenty
sections of said lands shall vest in said COM
pany, until said roads are completed"
In Wisconsin, under . Railroad Land
Grant, identical with that of Minnesota in
this respect, the Legislature requires twenty
miles Of construction, instead of location, but
allowed the Companies, when said twenty
miles were completed, to sell two hundred
and forty sections OF land
Recall, now, the language of Section Four
of the Act of Congres. 1t enacts THAT .
quantity of land not exceeding one hundred
and twenty sections for each Of said roads AID
branches, and included within q continuous
length Of twenty miles Of each of said roads
and branches, NAY BR Sold"
This is the first clause of the section. CON-
plets in itself, unconditional, without a
syllable requiring the construction of any
portion of the road. 1t is clearly the inten-
ton Of Congress that 100 sections. or &c 800
acres for each of said roads and branches
should he available for contingencies in ad-
vance of construction. or, as the Act ex-
presses its own object, "for the purpose Of
aiding in the construction ?" The Legisla-
ture of Minnesota so construed the rights Of
the Territory or future State. and only re-
quired, as preliminary to the appropriation
of the lands, that twenty continuous miles
should be located
True. there is one important qualification
of the right to sell 40 sections for each Of
said roads and branches, namely; That
this quantity of lands shall be - Included
,ithin continuous length Of t,ras,y naIes Of each
Of SAID roads and bra,.eh,.'' Except for this
language, the State or its grantee might
sell 120 sections in small parcels scattered
along hundred miles of road To prevent
such confusion and also abuse, if choice
lands were culled from the mas. this clause
requires that 40 sections shall be located as
nearly as possible N body.
This is in analogy to the policy and prac-
tice of the Land Office The holder of a
land warrant for leo acres cannot enter four
separate forties; they must be continuous
area So here, with this railroad right to
locate IS, 500 acres. The Law says TO its
holder. III, on the prescribed and approved
route, you can find 100 sections of railroad
land, resting on q continuous length of
twenty miles, q section Of that extent. there
you may locate. 1t is in the nature Of a
float, subject to this condition, that il, in a
paralleiogram of twenty miles in length, and
the lateral limits of the grant, a. adjusted
by the General Land Office, you cannot make
up your quantity of railroad lands, You must
either submit to the sale of the lesser
amount, or 60 further on the line of the