Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-02-21

mittee the senate committee held brief
| session, but took no final action upon any
OF the bills before them.
The Duluth and FROM Range.
The senate judiciary committee meeting,
Senator Castle presiding, held quite
lengthy meeting in the parIor of the Met
ropolitan hotel last evening to consider
the bill which has already passed the house
extending the grant of swamp lands in
| aid of the Duluth and Iron Range railroad,
and allowing the company to de-
fleet its line from that pre-
scribed in the original grant. The
matter comes before the Judiciary COM
mittee through antagonistic claims to the
grant, arising as follows: The grant was
made to the Duluth & Iron Range railway,
at the rate of ten sections per mile, which
was organized to tap the iron range north
east of Duluth In 1868 the legislature
transferred the grant of the Duluth & Iron
Range railroad to the Duluth & Win
nipeg Railroad company, new
organization incorporated to build
road from Duluth to the western bound
airy of the state, and both companies are
now laying claim to the grant.
At the meeting of the committe
the claims of the Duluth & Iron
Range company were represented by
Hon. Jas. Smith, Jr., who introduced and
secured the passage of the extension bill
in the house, and Judge O. P. Stearns, and
1,,4b
Hon. W. W. Billson, the senator from
Duluth and the local attorney of the road.
In his arguments in support of the JUS
tice of the claim of the Duluth u Iron
Range company, Mr.. Smith said that the
act of the legislature transferring the
grant to the Duluth 81 Winnipeg had been
secured by fraud of two corporators of
the first named road, and without the con-
cent or even the knowledge of the other
eight corporators, and these eight
corporators had never surrendered
their rights. In the meantime
they had gone forward and
made large expenditures of money in ex-
ploring the iron range with the results of
establishing the fact that the bed of ore
was of almost unlimited extent and of
superior quality, and had now secured the
promise of the necessary financial aid for
the immediate construction of the road
and the development of the mines, provi-
ded the grant made to the company, and
fraudulently attempted to be diverted
from it, was extended. In speaking of the
importance of the carly opening of
the road, Mr.. Smith said the
richness of the range it was desired to
reach, was unquestioned, and that their de-
Felopment would confer more real good
upon the state than any other road yet
constructed.
Mr.. Billson, in answer to Mr.. Smith, de-
tailed the proceedings by which the trans
fer of the grant was made, showing that
the bill by which 1t was accom- plished took
the regular course through both bodies
of the legislature, some seventeen days
elapsing from the time of its introduction
until it became law by the
signature of the governor, of
which the st. Paul papers made the usual
mention, as also the local papers of Du-
luth, so that all parties interested in the |
original grant must have known of the |
proceedings, and could have protested if |
they had desired. But no protest was made |
Subsequent to the transfer the Duluth & |
Winnipeg road has gone into the hands of |
Boston capitalists, who have surveyed and |
located the line to the western boundary |
of the state, and have partially |
constructed the road for a distance !
of ten miles and honestly contemplated !
its early completion. In answer to Mr.. |
Smith, Mr.. Billson acknowl- |
edged that there had been
a motion among these latter. parties in |
which the Boston contingent had been |
ousted, but this had now been compro-
missed and the Boston parties were in full |
control. He also acknowledged that the |
present proprietors had been in financial |
straits, and been unable to meet their OBJ |
legations, but claimed that if no cloud was
thrown upon this grant they were assured of |
sufficient means to complete the road. He
further argued that the state in its sover-
eign capacity having made the transfer of |
the grant, and innocent parties relying |
upon the good faith of that transfer, hav-
ing invested in the enterprise, the state |
could not now step in and revoke its trans |
fer.
Judge Stearns said it was correctly re-
ported and believed that the pIoprietors of |
the Duluth & Winnipeg franchise were !
holding the same for speculative |
purposes only. AS to the legal ownership |
of the grant, he held that there had been |
no forfeiture of the grant by the Duluth & |
Iron Range company, and that the act of |
the legislature making the transfer, say
ing nothing about the alleged fraud by |
which such action was secured, was nope |
rative, and of no effect, for the reason that |
the conditions specified upon which such |
transfer should issue had not
taken place when the act in question was
passed. Any way, he said, the Duluth & |
Iron Range railway were entirely willing to |
submit the question of the legal right to |
the grant to the courts, only desiring of |
the legislature that whatever rights they
had should be preserved by extending the
grant, and to be allowed to make the
detour in the line asked for from the
original location.
Without considering any of the points
raised pro and con, the committee post
poned the subject to this evening, and
turned their attention to other bills re-
ferred to it.