Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1859-04-09

plete in itself, unconditional, without syllable
requiring the construction of any portion of
the road. 1t is clearly the intention of Con-
gress that 12O sections or 76,sOO acrss, for
each Of said roads and branches, should De
+ava liable for contingencies in advance of con-
Instruction, or, as the act expresses its own OBJ.
Ject, for the purpose of aiding in the con-
struction ?" The Legislature of Minnesota
so construed the rights of the Territory or
future State, and only required, as prelmi-
nary to the appropriation of the lands, that
twenty continuous miles should be located.
True, there is one important qualification of
the right to sell 12O sections for each of said
roads and branches, namely: that this quantity
of lands shall be "included within a continuous
length Of taoenty miles Of each Of said roads
ana branches" Except for this language,
the State or its grantee, might sell l2O sections
IN small parcels scattered along hundred
miles of road. To prevent such confusion
and also abuse, if choice lands were culled
from the mass, this clause requires that 12O
sections shall be located as nearly as possible
in a body. ogn.. n.. .".
This is in-analogy to the policy and prac-
tice of the Land Office. The holder of a
Land Warrant for 100 acres cannot enter
four separate forties-they must be contin
uous area. s. here, with this railroad right
to locate 800 acres. The law saws to its
holder-"If, on the prescribed and approv
ed route, you can find 12O sections of rail-
road land, resting on continuous length of
twenty miles-a section of that extent-there
you may locate. 1t is in the nature of a float,
subject to this condition, that if, in parelle-
osram Of twenty miles in length, and the la
teral limits of the grant, as 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 road, where
settlements are more sparse" A Company
might respond, "We grant that in a certain
continuous length of twenty miles, we can
not find the whole quantity of l2O sections
there may be only sixty sections of railroad
land or SO, 400 acres, but, on account of the
vicinity to settlements OF our initial point, we
prefer to sell this lesser body of land than to
60 further on the line of the road, and find ,h.
full quantity beyond the influence of settle
ments or railroads." -
1t is by this construction alone that the
manifest intention of the Land Grant can be
carried into effect
Observe, also, the strong corroboration,
which this construction receives from the re-
mainder of Section f. After enacting that
100 sections for each road or branch mag be
sold, the section provides, that when twenty
continuous miles of road are completed, then
another quantity of 12O sections may in like
manner be sold !; and so on from time to time,
Not a word of completion, as condition
precedent, until the second body of land
another quantity-is under consideration
Surely the English language is incapable of
expressing with greater certainty the con-
struetion for which we contend, and which
has been SO nnhesitatingly adopted by the
Legislatures of Wisconsin and Minnesota
have, in my possession, an elaborate op-
inion of Greene G. Bronson an eminent jurst |
of New York-formerly Chief Justice of the
State, sustaining this view of the subject -
but it cannot be necessary to reproduce it on
this occasion. ,. ..
1 may be allowed, however, for the sake
of illustration to cite the steps which the |
Minnesota and Pacific Railroad Company di- |
rected to be taken, for the purpose of assert
ing its own rights and transferring to the State,
a security required by the terms of the Loan
of State Credit. The Board of Directors in
structed the Chief Engineer to divide the
main line from Saltwater to Breckenridge,
and the branch line from Saint Anthony to
Grow Wing-both routes having been approx
ed by the Department Of the Interior-into
sections of twenty continuous miles. The
Officers of the Company then proceeded to
ascertain, where, on these respective lines,
quantity of railroad lands equal to 12O Sec
lions, could be found resting on a continuous
ength of twenty miles. Of course, for some
distance hardly vacant acre could be found
but at length in the Big Woods on the main
line, and between Saint Cloud and Crow
Wing on the branch line, the respective bod
les of land were found. Now, except for
The obligation to the State, the Minnesota and
Pacific Company, would have had perfect
right to sell those quantities of land-each
76,SOO acres or 1880 acres in all. They
ire, in the language of the Constitution, the
first two hundred and forty sections which I
such Company has become authorized to
sell y and the power to sell that quantity
results from the fact that the Minnesota and
Pacific Railroad Company has main line
and a branch line, and may therefore avail
Itself, in advance of construction, of the two
quantities of land of 12O sections EACH
When called upon to execute the landed Sc
,urity to the state required by the Consti-
:utional Amendment of April 10th 1858, the
Company, after executing conveyance in
general terms, obtained the consent of the
Executive of the State, to annex schedules of
he lands thus separated from the mass of the
Land Grant and transferred them to the
State, with ample covenants, of course, to
supply any deficiency which might exist after
inal adjustment with the Federal Govern
nent .........
Gov. SIBLEY did not fail to communicate to
he Commissioner Of the Land Office, not only
he legislation Of Minnesota, but the construc-
ion placed upon the jus dixponendi of the 4th
section by the Railroad Companies of the
State. No intimation has been received ad-
verse to the view here advanced, and, indeed
lnder the decision of Attorney General Black,
ba u-hn1o c,,b;oo< coo,,a