St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-08-21
MUCH LAND INVOLVED,

an Old Land Deal.
The st. Paul & Northern Pacific Rail-
way company has filed in the United States
circuit court bill in equity against the St.
Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway
company, Adam L. Mobler, land commits
sioner of the company, l.. T. Hubbard,
governor of Minnesota. and the Central
Trust company of New York, and John S.
Kennedy. John S. Barnes, James A. Roose-
welt and Samuel Thorne of New York.
The bill of complaint, which is lengthy
one, is In book form and consists of forty
tive pages of printed matter, including
Gables giving descriptions of the land
claimed by plaintiffs. The complaints sets
up that by act of congress March 5, 1857,
there was granted to the territory of
Minnesota certain lands to aid in
the construction of certain railroads.
Among those specified was a certain
a railroad from Saltwater via st. Paul and
st. Anthony to a point between the foot of
Big Stone lake and the mouth of the Sioux
river with a branch from ST. Clond
and Crow Wing to the navigable waters of
the Red River of the North, at such points
as the legislature might determine Every
alternate section of land designated by odd
numbers for six sections in width on each
granted to the road. Another section
enacted that the lands so granted could be
disposed of by the secretary or future state
in the following manner: That land not ex-
eeeding 100 sections for each of said roads
and branches might be sold, and when the
governor of the territory and state should
certify to the secretary of the interior that
twenty continuous miles of the road was
completed then another quantity of such
granted lands not to exceed 100 sections
could be sold.
By an act of the legislature, approved
March 1, 1877, all the privileges, fran
ehiSes rights. grants of land and property
held by the st. Paul & Pacific company,
sppertaining to its line of road
FROM WATAB TO BRAINERD,
we're forfeited to the state without meyer
sr extinguishment, but were by the act
preserved, continued and conferred upon
the terms and conditions named. That in
1877 the complainant under its then cor
porate name, the Western Railroad COM
pany, acquired the right to build and oper-
ate a line from Watab to Brainerd and be-
came entitled to rights, privileges and
lands formerly held by or granted to the
St Paul & Pacific company. That right
Included all the lands within the ten-mile
limit of the original branch of railroad
mentioned as definitely located from st.
Anthony to Crow Wing in 1857. The length
of the road from Watab to Brainerd
is sixty-one miles and the shortest distance
between the two points is fOrty-nine miles,
and the full quantity of lands to which the
company is entitled is 610 sections or
800, 400 acres of land. On April 21, 1879.
by patent issued to the company, there
was conveyed to the company by the
United States 121, SOP acres lying within
the ten-mlle limit of its line of road. from
Watab to Brainerd; that the balance of the
land has been lost to the company and has
been sold or otherwise disposed of by the
United States to persons other than the
company. The lands so lost are IL, 346
acres lying within and constituting a part
of the Fort Ripley reservation; ,764 re-
leased and conveyed to the United States
by the state of Minnesota for the benefit of
settlers, and 45, 600 acres between Crow
Wing and Brainerd, which fall within the
limit OF land grants made by congress to
the Northern Pacific Railroad company to
and in the construction of its
roads. The remainder of the lands
lost aggregates $4,000 acres. That
under provisions of acts of congress and
general land laws and under its name the
Western Railroad company. on September
%. 1877, selected lands within the twenty
miles limit aggregating 1873, OS9 acres, but
no patent has been issued or made by the
United States to the company or to the
state of Minnesota for the benefit of the
company. That by reason of trust
or deed mortgage, executed to the
Central Trust company of New
York by the Manitoba company
dated May, 1888, the complainant believes
some interest in the lands mentioned was
covered. That by mortgages executed by
the Manitoba road to j. S. Barnes, j. S.
Kennedy and James A. Roosevelt dated
June 81, 1879. and October, 1879, some in
tereSt in the lands is also covered. That at
divers times since the completion of the
road as set forth the interior department at
Washington has refused to issue a patent
or certification. That the stockholders of
the Western Railroad company changed
the name of the company to the Northern
Pacific Railway company on May 8, 1888
and that the defendants, the St. Paul, Min
neapolis IL Manitoba Railway company and
Adam Mohler, land commissioner, may if
they can show why your orator should not
have the relief prayed for. A series of in
terrogatorieS are filed for them to answer.
The questions
DEMAND A FULL ACCOUNTING
from the land commissioner of the Mani
toba road concerning the lands in question
as to their ownership and the amount of tim
Der cut or sold on said land. The complaint
asks that the Manitoba company be re-
quired to transfer to the complainant by
deed all lands so unsold or disposed of, or
to pay to it the full and true value thereof
in money. The complaint also asks for an
injunction restraining defendants from
selling, or incumbering in any way. the
lands contained in the lists. A writ of
subpoena is also asked for. commanding the
defendants to appear before the court and
abide by the order and direction as the
court shall hold consistent with equity.
COLLECTING THE NIAEL.