The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-03-01
want Miss Lizzie Mutt for postmis-

tiyes. Murat Halstesd and Henry
WattersOn. Madame Wilson and Miss
Frelinghuysen.
Nearly the whole business portion
of the town of Iredell, Texas, was
burned last night:
Mrs. Mackay will be sponsor win
Goun0d at thu reception into the
Catholic Church o. Mile. Nevada, the
American prima donna.
Count Campo de Brichanton, lta-
liam vice consul In San Francisco was
arrested yesterday for slapping u
Chinaman who had insuited a lady.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25-The pleu-
rO-pneumOnid bill rs passed provides
that the commissioner OF agriculture
shall orga 'lze u bureau of animal In.
dusrry and II point u chief thereon
whose duty it shalt be to investigate
and report upon the number, value
and condition of domestic animals in
the United States and also the causes
| of contagious diseases among them,
and means for the prevention and
| cure OF the same. He Is au' horned to
appoint two competent agents whose
duty it shall be to report upon the
! best methods of treating, transporting
and caring for animals and the means
| to he adopted for the suppression and
extirpation of contagious pleurO-
pneumonia.
The bill further provides that the
commissioner of agriculture may
expend so much money appropriated
by this act as may be necessary in
paying for animals it is deemed
necessary to slaughter and in buying
such d~isinfectanls aud other means
that may be necessary to lextitpate
the disease. The state autho: tiles
shall pay One-half the expense of the
animals it is deemed necessary to
slaughter, and One-half the cost of
d~isinfecti0n and the care of herds of
cattle. 1t prohibits the transportation
from NJ stall to another of any live
stock affected with any contagious
or infectious disease and provides for
the prosecution Of any person viOlat-
ing this prohibition. Two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars was appro-
priated to carry into effect the pro-
visions Of the bill.
ST. PAUL, Feb. 28-Charles B,
LambOrn, land commissioner of the
Northern Pacific road, said when
shown the associated press account of
the action of the committee on public
lands: "The house committee seems
disposed to favor very sweeping &C |
ton, but I do not believe that any |
bill to forfeit the lands which have |
already BEEN earned by the Northern
Pacific by the actual construction of
the road will become a law. In the
possible contingency, however, that
congress should pass an act of the
character suggested in the dispatches
l think there is no doubt whatever
that the supreme court IF the United
States would decide that congress
cannot deprive the company Of any
lands earned on tn It portion of the
road which is constructed and has
been duly accepted by the president |
of the United States, In accordance
with the charter of the company, and
that 1t will not make any material
difference whether the construction
of the road and its acceptance by the
president was before or after j lily 4. !
1879. The total land grant finally
made the Northern Pacific was in
the neighborhood of 100000 acres,
being twenty sections per mile in the
states and forty sections per mile IN
the territories The grant extends
from Lake Superior to Puget Sound.
All this line as originally Gina tered
has now been constructed, excepting
about so miles in the State of Wis
consi- :, go miles III ing the Columbia
river, between Wallula and Portland,
and about 20 miles Of the Cascade
branch, a total of about 5 0 miles. A
twenty five mile branch running west
from Wallula Vas recently accepted
10y the government, and $40 miles of
the line east f,om Tacoma OIL Puget
Sound has been built AMI in O..era-
ton tor a number If years. The corn.
pany has already earned all of the
land grants to it except those $40
miles of road which have not vet been
built. If congress should pass a bill
to forfeit the land on these $40 mi rs
of road the company might lose TO-
10000 or 100000 acres. These
would be chiefly along the Columbia
river and on the Cascade branch in
Washington Territory. Should such
bill as proposed pass Congress and
be accept. d by the Supreme Court of
the United States as a legal enact
ment, the company would be de-
prived of that portion of its land
grant which it 81 inns now to have
earned by the construction and ac-
ceptance of its road between the Mis-
souri, river in Dakota Territory and
.allula Junction in Washington Ter
a distance of 1923 miles,
Owing to the character of the
country the construction of the road
has been very expensive. It is esti-
mated that there is less than 1.5OOO,-
acres of agricultural land embrace
I'd within the grant of the railway and
hat the remaining 100000 acres of
he grant consists Of inaccessible
Mountains and broken up lands suit
lble only for grazing purposes. All
II the lands In the state of Minneso-
a and In that portion of Dakota w.
ng east of the Missouri river aud also
ands adjacent to the line of the road
between Kalma on the Columbia
liver and Tacoma on Puget Sound In
Territory were earned by
he construction of the road in 1873,
As l understand by the terms of the
'ilt agreed npon by the house COM
nittee. the company's right to these
ands Is not questioned. l think SET
lers ON railway lands and in the
country adjacent to the rail way in
dontana and Washington territories
would be very seriously affected nm
|er the proposed action OF the house
1 don't see any way in !
Which the rights of those who have
purchased land from the railway
ompany can be securely protected. {
here has been over a million acres
t these lands sold to settlers. There
erta1nly exist no equitable grounds
or congress taking the hostile action
roposed. l think the passage of s
UGH a bill as proposed by the house !