St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-08-09

acres). When Mr.. Braden turned over
the office to me he kindly invited me TO
confer with him whenever L was in
doubt, stating that he would "deem 1t a
pleasure to give me the benefit of his
experience" l often availed myself
of his courteous offer. At this confer
ence | told Mr.. Braden that l would
gladly avail myself of his advice In this
important matter. but as he was land
commissioner of the Great Northern,
and the land commissioner Of the state,
| the Interests might clash, and l request
! ed Mr.. Braden to address me letter Oh
the subject. setting forth his
| Arguments in Full.
following correspondence took place:
ST. Paul. Minneapolis & Manitoba
Railway Company. Land Department,
! St. Paul. Mimi, Sept 3. 1s9l.-Hon. A.
I Biermann, State Au0itor-Dear Sir:
lands of the Minneapolis & st. Cloud
Railway company, Hinckley branch.
seems to bs somewhat in doubt.
therefore take the liberty of addressing
you, hoping to clear up, or aid in so
doing, the obscuri:y surrounding it.
The act of FeD. II, 1865, was a grant
of four a. sections per mile of swamp
lands to aid the Minneapolis & St. Cloud
Railway company in building branch
lines to connect with the Lake
Superior & Mississippi Railway
Peter Railroad company etc. Section
three OF this act provided for selection
by the company. The act of March 5,
1862 was amedatory Of the act of 1865,
and increased the grant to ten (10) Sec
tions per mile. The law of 1869 was
silent as to the manner Of selection,
merely providing (see section p that it
shall be the duty Of the governor to eX.
ecute, on behalf Of the state, the full
quota of said lands for tho portion of
said road so completed"
Under the operation of the above acts
the company went on and completed its
about one hundred and twenty five
thousand acres of Its lands.
In a Controversy.
between the Minneapolis & Saint Cloud
Railway company, the Duluth & Iron
: Range, and the Duluth & Winnipeg as
. 10 the respective rights Of these com.
, panies, our supreme court, In 45th Min
nesota, page 104, held that the Mime
apoIis & St. Cloud Railway company
| was, by the amendatory act of 1863
excluded from the counties of Lake, St
Louis and Cook. and In the course of its
, observations incidentally alluded to the
5 popularity of the law of 1869 in that nc
| provision was made for the selecting
and that the state might make the selec
, tions. This the Minneapolis & st
Cloud objected to because 1t would bt
, an innovation, plan not adopted
hitherto, and one that would not benef
: the state.
D At the present moment there are just
1 enough swamp lands surveyed to fill
! the various railroad grants. Should tn,
q state arbitrarily set apart all the SWAMP
lands In given territory, 1t would only
give other companies who have thu
right to select, corresponding advan
tage, and l wish to lay especial stres'
9 Oh this fact, r
d The stafe4an only select even-num
bered sections for its grant to state in
IS stitutiOns, limitation from whic
n there is no escape. AS l have befor
# observed, the law provides: "That
:, shall be the duty of the governor to ez
y ecute on behalf of the state deeds 9
Y. conveyance, etc." The respensibilit
10 is placed on him by the law.
90 The company now desires to 60 or