Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-02-14
THAT LAND GRANT.
New Light on an Interesting
Question.
IRoNroN. Mo. Feb. 7th. Is

| Luo 6ts LoaiS h6Du'tLcttb III IoiciShS
to the grant Of. land made to the State
of Missouri to aid in extending the
Railroad fromsPilot Knob south to the
State line, which article is intended to
convey the idea that the forfeiture OF
this grant, or its recovery by the gov
ernment, is not only desirable but a
matter of great Importance and value.
Since the assembly of Congress in De-
cember last, every few days special
dispatches have been sent to the st.
Louis papers from Washington, setting
forth in glowing terms the great SER
vices being rendered the country by
| some Congressman who was urging
| the passage of the bill forfeiting this
grant and restoring the lands to mar
ket. There pretensions have amazed
me, and will any one who understands
this whole matter, for there is no ques-
ton but that this grant presents the
only instance in all the history of Rail.
road grants where the government has
the best of the bargain.
The Act of Congress of Jolly 4th, 1866,
granting there lands to the State of
Missouri specially provides that when
the grant is accepted by railroad
Company, the road becomes public
highway, over which troops and sup
plies shall forever be transported free
of charge. You will remember tina
soon after the completion of the road
south from here an Indian outbreak
occurred in Texas, and number of
troops, and large quantities of supplies
were sent over the road. On the por-
ton of the road provided for in this
grant I am informed the railroad
charges in this instance amounted to
about $4,000, for which amount the
late Thomas Allen presented a bill.
but was informed that under the pro-
visions of the granting act payment
could not be made. Mr.. Allen denied
having accepted the grant, but an ex-
animation of the plats and filings in
the Office of the Secretary of State at
Jefferson City, the General Land Office
at Washington City, and the local
Land Office at this place, demonstrated
the fact that the Company had accept
ed the grant, and that it could be held
to its bargain. The Company at once
saw it had very large and losing con-
tract on its hands, and has been doing
all in its power to have Congress de-
clare the grant forfeited, so that it may
be relieved from the conditions of the
grant. and unwittingly, or because of
the prevalent desire to aid corporations,
Congress and the public press is doing
the very thing the Company so greatly
desires, and at the same time the pub
lie is made to believe the measure is
one of great merit, But what are the
facts? The grant EN- braces all the gov
ernment land in the sections bearing
an odd number within limit of ten
miles On each side of what is known as
the st. Francois river route, and all
the government land within the in
demnity limit of ten miles ON each side
of the granting limit, making the grant
extend over strip of country forty
miles wide from here to the State line,
the old st. Francois river survey being
the center of the strip. The road as
built and now operated passes down
near the western line of the granting
limit, and most of the land embraced
in the grant lies from 20 to 80 miles
east OF the road. The grant embraces
about $4,000 acres, scattered over a
territory 40 miles wide and over 100
in length, and the lands are isolated
tracts. In the entire grant think it
will be impossible to find a single tech
nical section in body. These lands
are those which were passed over by
spectators and settlers because of
their inferiority, aud when we remem-
Der these lands were offered for a
number of years at 121 cents per acre,
and not taken even at that price, their
real value can be estimated. A very
careful investigation has forced me to
the conclusion that much of the land
is really of very little value, as the
timber 1t yielded and for which alone
it was of any value, was long since
stolen. But even supposing the gov
ernment could dispose of every acre at
the legal rate, it would bring about
$50, 900, and the government already
owes the road fully this sum. It is
useless. however, to even suppose that
one-half of the land can be made to re-
alize legal rates. Supposing difficulties
should arise between our government
and Mexico, or a general Indian war
occur in Texas and the southwestern
Territories, when it would be necessa-
ry to send large numbers of troops and
great quantities of supplies over the
road, it would soon be found that this