Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-01-21
AT IT AGAIN.
STILL FIGHTING FoR BROAD ACRES.
Northern Pacific as. st. Paul G. Pacifc--
Goo. Pillsbu,y's Deed Leads to a Ne,c
Phase Of the St1ife--Brief Outline of the
Case.

Reference was made in the GLOBE, a day
or two ago, to the fact of the delivery by Gov
ernor Pillsbury to the st. Paul and Pacific
Railroad Company of deed of over 7OO, 900
acres of land. These lands, it appears, lie in
seven different counties, VIZ: Douglas, Todd,
Otter Tail, Wilkin, Clay, Becker and Polk.
On Friday last, Gen. J. B. Sanborn, of this
city, local attorney for the Northern Pacific,
forwarded for filing in the
Office of the Register
of deeds of the several counties named,
notices of us pendens, in accordance with
the provisions of Section 16 of Chapter rs
Of the General Statutes of Minnesota. The
notice of us pendens is given in actions
efecting the title to, lien upon, or interest in
real property, and is fled for record in the
Office of the Register of deeds of the county
where the lands lie, or the property effected
is situated. In other words it is
simply notification that the title
to the lands is in dispute,
and Is intended to put purchasers on their
guard.
The notice served in this case covers 5OO.-
600 out of the 100000 acres decided by Gov
ernor Pillsbury, the lands lying in strip 80
miles in length by 40 in width. The belt
extends 40 miles on each side south of Glyn-
don towards st. Cloud, and 40 miles south of
Glyndon towards St. Vincent.
The present proceedings, it appears, are an
ofshoot of the suit commenced about year
and a half ago, in the State Courts and after
wards transferred to the United States Cir
and but for the action
of the Governor (Which was not anticipated
by the N. P.) would not have been resorted
to. The action of the Governor, however,
while not affecting the legal status Of the
honal proceedings necessary to the more
surely guarding of the interests of the N. p.
claimants.
A brief history of this somewhat remarka-
BILE litigation may not be out of place in the
columns of The GLOBE. In 1857 Con
gress made grant of lands
to construct a line of road
from Saint Anthony yia St. Cloud and Grow
Wing to Saint Vincent-a portion of which
is now known as the Branch Line. The orig
inal line was to cross the Mississippi River at
Grow Wing, and thence strike off northwest
to Saint Vincent.
It stood that way until 1871. In 1864
Congress passed land grant for the construc-
ton of railroad from Lake Superior west
ward, which road is now the Northern Pa
cifc. This latter road was constructed as far
as the Red River, in the years 1867, '68, go,
20 and I'll, reaching Moorhead
about the same time that the
st. P. & P. got to Breckenridge, which
was in the fall of 1871.
That same year Congress passed an act
changing the line of the st. p. g. P. from
its crossing of the Mississippi River at Grow
Wing, to line which was to start from st.
Cloud, thence up the Sank Valley to Sank
Center, Alexandria, Fergus Falls, Glyndon,
and Crookston to Saint Vincents, thereby
bringing the new line of 1871 about hun
dred miles west of the old line of 1857.
Because this line was thus changed by act
of Congress, the N. P. r. r. claim that it is
new grant, and in that view, have been sus-
tanned by the Department. of the Interior,
and being new grant docs not carry the
land with it.
This land the N. P. r. r. claim to hold
and to have patented to them by virtue of
their first location Of, and actual construction
of their line.
The st. Paul & Pacific railroad claim the
same by virtue of the original grant of 1857
This is the question that ultimately, the
Supreme court of the United States,
for this litigation will not receive
its quietus short of that tribunal,
will have to settle and determine.
as different Secretaries of the Interior have
arrived at different conclusions and conflict
ing decisions upon the same state of facts. 1t
is question of the legal operation Of the
two Congressional grants as to the date when
the rights of the respective claimants at
tached, and being of such weighty import
and decidedly knotty in all its phases, may
not be finally settled for years to come.