Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1863-01-07

exception Is subsequently made by provl-
50, as follows: And provided further,
That a quantity of proper width on the
river banks, at the towns of Fort Madison.
Belview, Darlington, Dubuque, and Peru,
and running with said rivers the whole
length Of said towns, shall be .reserced
| from sale (as shall also the public sauaresl
for public use and remain forever for
public use. as public high ways and for
other public uses"
a slight transposition Of the above
language, without any change of meaning
will place. the point which | shall l''present,
| ly make, III a clear light.
Here Is the transposition:
And provided further, hat there shall
be reserved from sale for public use, and
remain forever for public use, as public
highways, and for other public uses, at
| the towns of Fort Madison Belview Bur
lington, Dubuque and Peru, quantity of
! land OF the proper width on the river
banks and running with said rivers the
whole length of said towns as also the
! public squares
! The point is, that in the first place, by
| the general language of the act all the lots
were authorized to be sold, butin the towns
Of Fort Madison, Belview, Burlington.
Dubuque, and Peru, the public squares,
and a quantity ofland on the river banks
were reserved from sale for public use for
ever. As to Mineral Point, nothing was
reserved from sale, that was, in the first
instance authorized to be sold Mineral
Point is not mentioned in the proviso =
and of consequence is not within it. but
is qcithout 1t, and subject to the general
words of the act, which provides for the
sale of all the lots In this part of the
act Mineral Point is mentioned; and all
the lots therein, were clearly subject to
be sold
The acts of the Register and Receiver
of the Mineral Point Land Office, and of
the President Of the United States, and in
exact accordance with this view Of the act
of Congress for the former sold this so.
of land and the President executed Il pa.
tent therefor.
1t by no means follows, that the United
States could not sell this square to the
couI y of Iowa, or TO any other purchas-
ers, even admitting that it must forever
remain for public use But the end of
this question is that no part of the land
within the town plot was reserved from
sale, but all the lots were to be sold, and
no part of the town was declared to be for
public use The streets and avenues were
never directed to be Sold and of course
there was no necessity of reservation as
to them There could not have been prop
erly speaking, a reservation of any prop
erty from sale, that was not authorized to
be sold 1t was the fact of general direc-
ton to- sell these squares in all the towns
that created the necessity for the reserva-
ton IN the river towns. Congress was un-,
der 60 obligation to reserve more exten-
sively than it did
When those lots We're sold and conyeyed
by patent the patentee acquired complete
title; and could SELL or appropriate the
same to such uses as they saw fit. consis-
tent with the legislation of the Territory
and state Of Wisconsin
SO much for the construction of the act
of July I'd 1896.
The act of March Sd 1887. made some
changes IN the previous act First the du-
ties wich devolYed upon the Suryeyr Gen
eral, so far not discharged, were transfer
red to three commissioners
I'd. The Commissioners were empow-
cred to hear and determine pre-emption
claims, at the respective town sites.
Sd. In this act, more liberal provision
was made, in violation to pre-emptions,
than was contained in the first act
4th. The time for making sale of the
lots, was postponed until after the Com
missionerS had heard and determined all
the cases of pre-emption, and then the
lots not awarded to pre-emptors were to
be exposed to public sale, and sold to the
nien1Sst bidder after adyertizin~ the samn
for three months in three public newspa-
pers at least three months prior TO the
day of sale, as provided for the sale of
public lands in other cases And. after
| paying the commissioners for their SER
/ vices and all other expenses incident to
the Survey and sale, the receiver of the
| land office was to pay over the residue Of
1 the money received from the sale of lots,
whether from pFe-elnptors or other pur-
chasers, TO the trustees of the respective
towns mentioned in the act of July ID
| 1886, to be expended, by them, in the
erection ofpublic buildings, suitable whar
yes and the improvement of the streets in
those towns.
1t therefore, is apparent, thatthere was
no intention to vest in any of the towns
the title to any part of the land to be laid
I.out; nor TO give the towns even an equit
able title therein. On the contrary, the
lands or lots were to be sold to pre- emp
tors and other purchasers.
The moneys received from such sales
werc to be applied to the payment of th,
Commissioners and the other expenses in
cident to the surveys and sales; and tn,
residue was paid over to the trustees o
the towns respectively. So that the only
thing that towns can be said to have ha(
an intention was this residue of mon
ey and this the trustees took for speci
fed objects. They could not pay it ava,
for such purposes as they chose, or as tn
inhabitants the represented should di
rect, without being guilty of breach o
trust; but the fund was specifically appro
priated, and it had to be applied to tn
improvement of streets, and the erection