Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1889-02-27
rHE A1xonIrY,s DsEEscE.
Cow tho Three Aldermen who Voted
Against the Northern Pacific Right OF
wa Explain Their Action.

Cow the Three Aldermen who Voted
Against the Northern Pacific Right OF
war Explain Their Action.
BurrE CrrY, February 2o.-Iro the Edi-
tor of the Miner.]-The undersigned, q
minority of the members OF the City
Council OF Butte. present at the adjourned
meeting held Saturday evening to consider
the ordinance granting certain privileges to
the Northern Pacific Railroad Company,
feel aggrieved at the report OF the proceed
ings OF the meeting in question, as pub
lished in your issue of Sunday. You say:
aWhen it came to y vote whether the ordi-
nance granting the Northern Pacific the
right OF way asked over unopened streets
aud alleys in q lot OF placer diggings shout
pass, Messrs. Lynch, Mullsille and Ma
honey voted no, tine other i've present
voting yes. As it required q majcrity OF
the Counc ! to pass an ordinance. it Jailed
OF passage"
Further you say: FINALLY it was de-
cided that City Attorney Speersh shall appear
ON the occasion in question to carry out
the huge joke OF guarding the city's IT,
terest in streets that Lave no existence,
and in all likelihood never would be
thought Of but Tor the railroad wanting
them.
We desile to Q ate hat our action a
based purely upon legal grounds. The re-
port OF the city attorney, prepared by him
for the Judiciary Committee OF which he is
ex-oficio q member and presented to the
Council atSaturday nights meeting, quotes
the section oi the charter which specifies
how streets shall be vacated or dlscon-
- -Lsl ~..-,ltH- 80 - aan onfu hn
done upon the written request OF all the
property holders along the line Of the streets
or alleys involved, and requiring q written
notice OF the same to be posted in three
conspicuous places for one week before the
Council shall act upon the proposition.
This report, which the City Attorney
adopts as his own, concludes as follows:
First. That the title conferred by the
act OF the owner in the plating and dedica-
tion of these streets and alleys is circum-
scribed SO as to allow the city to devote
the same only to the uses aud purposes ac.
cording to the ~intendment OF such act oil
dedication.
.sSecond. To allow suchstreets and alleys
to be devoted to depot and yard purposes
of said railroad company, is in excess u
the grant conferred by the owner by the act
of dedication.
Third. That as to ~vacating the streets
and alleys in question the proper formal
ties required by the statute not having beer
observed, the Council has no jurisdictionin
this case to take any such action.
although not necessarily a part OF this
report, your committee state as to the
suggestion Of counsel for the railroad com
pany that the city pass the ordinance ano,
as is provided by it's terms, grant
such rights only as the city Gao
L. s -anlA nnonn naptaaR In naAS
an ordinance granting something
which it cannot grant,
il your committee is mistaken
as to the city's power as to what may be
granted or done in this case, in that event
it would seem unwise to pass this ordi-
nance having such uncertain terms. To
determine the extent OF the same might, IN
the future, cause much litigation. and, as Is
suggested by counsel for the company, the
law OF eminent domain is so well settled
and SO just and equitable, the whole there
OF being codified IN q mastery manner in
our statutes, and as such statutes provide
for the appropriation OF public property to
other public uses than those to which the
same may be already devoted by showing
tina the public use to which the same is to
be devoted is Il more necessary public use
than that already had, and as such COM
pany has applied to the court for the exei-
else uf this right in this case it would
seem it would obtain the power and an-
thority to occupy these streets and alleys,
as desired, and if not, the Council can Va
cate the same by complying with our char
ter iu that particular"
AS to the statement in regard TO streets
that have no existence" we assert that
the property involved is a portion OF the
City OF But tie, has been duly plated and
anrra orl No cStsrans a a Npolt M official
we believe in the future of the city. Pride
in .ur home in it's infancy, confident of it's
prosperity, with a due regard to the obliga-
tions which we assumed in accepting office,
we deny that there ere in the locality in
question, streets that never would have
been thought Of"
JAS. III. LYNCH,
SAMUEL MULvILLE,
Z, l., MAHoNEY.