The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-12-03

~A~D~
ebrated swamp land case which has been
in our courts for ten years, was tried three
years ago, but never decided until now
The article in Tuesdays ARGUS, togetner
with Judge Pleasants's reasons TOT MS oe-
cisiou, give the people more informauon
on the subject than they ever had before.
There we're one or two clerical errors in
th.t article which are corrected in The
WEEKLY ARGUS. One was an error OF
the Judge in referring to the article in the
constitutional 1Sis-he wrote it Art.Vlll
it should have been Art. VII, as we lind
BY reference to the constitution OF ls4S.
But that is Of no consequence,
1t seems that the legislature, in 1881 In
the act organizing this county. described
portion of the dividing line between our
county and::Whiteside as bounded by the
Meredosia lough.-which was such an
indefinite and unascertainable boundary
that constant disputes arose as to which
county had jurisdiction over some 1000
acres of perfectly level swamp. 1t was
about as unascertainable as to have de-
scribed it by last years fox or deers
tracks. Nobody ever pretended to know
where the line was-and if it could be
found it would probably be as crooked as
rams horn, and utterly impracticable as
between property owners. Up to Ia Ger
tain point from Rock river there is per-
fectly well,known channel. So, in passing
from the Mississippi towards the Rock riv-
er. up to q certain point there is SINH
lar channel But between these two points
the thread of no channel can be found.
For miles, the surface is so level that no
body can tell any difference in it. When
it is dry you can ride all over it in buggy
and never find gulley or run or low place.
unless it be ditch made by human hands
We rode over it once, the way being point
ed out to us by the kindness Of Mr.. Ralph
Sage, when the surface was just covered
with water. There,was nocurrent--it was
as level as mill pond. When the Missis-
sippi is high and the Rock river lower, then
water flows overimilesG Of a dead level
into the Rock river. When the Rock
river is high and the Mississippi lower Their
great fiat sheet of water moves gentl,
and silently the other way. There is no
channel over the space we speak of. The
surface for miles is as fat aud even as ;
mill pond.
In order to settle the question of the di
vision line between the counties our legls
lature, in 1854, passed an act to define the
boundary by section lines and a commission
was appointed which went upon the ground
and staked out the line. 1t is against this
line that Whiteside, through Mr.. Sage,
fights. Aud Mr.. Sage's reliance is on See,
tions 2 and 4, of Art, VII, of our consttu-
ton of 1913, or Sections 2 and 0! Art. \
of our present constitation-they are ex
actly the same, and are ,as follows:
50. No county shall be divided. or have any plri
stricken thcrctrom, without submitting the qnes-
Iion to vote of the people OF the county, nor un
Jess Il majority of all the legal voters Of the count!
voting Oh the question, ehall vote for the same
4 There shall be no territory str. cken from any
county, unless a majority OF the voters living in
such territory shall petition for such division; and
no territory shall be added to any county without
the consent Of the majority of the voters OF the
county to which it Is proposed TO be added.
There are no. inhabitants in all thisiterri.
tory to petition. Its occupants are musk
rats and ducks. No territory was stricken
from one county or added to another by
the legislature, for no mortal man ever
knew i'm which county it was until after
the act of 1854. To whom did the proper
ty belongl To the United States; and
the United States. by act of congress, gave
all the swamp land in Illinois to our state,
and the state gave it to the counties in
which it lay. Judge Peasants says White
side had no vested right in it as. against the
power of the legislature to change or define
the boundary. And he says the constitu-
tional provisions only apply to counties
having definite aud ascertained boundaries.
He also says it is for the courts and not the
legislature to say whether the act organ
izing the county fixed definite boundary;
and also for the courts to say whether that
boundary can be ascertained. And then
he proceeds to find a boundary other than
the one fixed by the act of our legislature
upon section lines, aud by which our county
loses some 1000 acres of swamp land, as
we'll as iurisdictionsover the territory, and
future taxes from the property. Public
opinion may be selfish in our county, but
we think it is against the decision of Judge
Peasants, We think. that people acquaint-
ed with the locality will say that, over a
large portion of the route no man can find
where the water first trickles through from
one river to the other; that it is impossi-
bic to determine definitely where that takes
place. Judge Peasants says: IF impcs
sible to find or determine the legal etfec
would be the same as fit did not exist
there would be no boundary, aud the legis
lature er necessitdte, nigh. establish one
and it would relate back
The Judge says he cannot go into de
tail and compare the evidence but he i
satisfied that ON this question the prepon
derance is with the complainant. o
course he must be satisfied or he woul
not so decide-but the fact that in tn
large mass of evidence here was at leas
room for doubt as to where the divide
was to be found; the fact that competer
and reliable witnesses never could an
probably never can iud it, seems to us {
admit of reasonable doubt where it is, c