The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1896-11-28
Homestead Cases settled.

The Grand Rapids Democrat give
the following information relative t,
the settlement of group of con
tested homestead cases effected a
that city last week:
"a decree in q noted case whicl
has extended over a period of man,
years and is of considerable interes
to certain northern peninsula resi-
dents was signediast week by Judge
Severens, by the terms of which
the title of $3.50 acres of land il
Iron county, vested in the Keweenaw
Association, limited, corporation
owning the Lake Superior and Port
age Lake ship canal grant, is quieted
and the claims of the government
and seventeen homesteaders therein
are dismissed. The full title of the
case reads as follows: The United
States VS.. the Lake Superior Ship
Canal, Railway and Iron company,
Keweenaw Association, limited,
Metropolitan Lumber company, and
the w. d. Wing company, defend
ants. and a cross bill filed by the
Lake Superior Ship Canal, Railway
and Iron company, and the Kewee-
nav Association, limited, VS.. the
United States and others. The
history of the lands affected dates
back to 1856. when the federal gov
ernment made a grant of $4,000
acres of land to the state to aid in
the construction of a railroad from
Ontonagon to the Wisconsin state
line. On July 3, 1866, a grant of
200, 600 acres was made in addition
to a like number granted in 1865,
for the construction of a ship canal
between the head of Portage Lake
and Lake Superior, The selection
of these lands was made in 1871 by
Judge p. j. Avery, president of the
ship canal company and agent for
the state, and his selection included
the l6, 200 acres which formed part
OF the railroad grant of 1856. This
latter parcel had been surrendered
to the United States by Governor
Baldwin, but, as has since been held,
his action was without authority,
and was largely responsible for the
complications of later years. The
canal was completed, but mortgages
on the land grant given by the Lake
Superior and Portage Lake Canal
company were foreclosed in 1877 by
the Lake Superior Ship Canal, Rail
way and Iron company, which thus
acquired possession. The Kewee-
nav Association, limited, was formed
in 1891 and succeeded by conveyance
to the title of the last named cor
poration.
''The railroads between Ontona-
gon and the Wisconsin state line,
not having been constructed, home
steaders some years ago began TAX
ing up claims on the land now in
dispute, under the belief that the
company had forfeited its rights to
the government. AS soon as the
homesteaders began to settle on the
property, the ship canal company
started suits in ejectment against
them and some of these were pend
ing. when on March 2, 1889, con
gress passed an act declaring the
original land grant forfeited and at
tempted to adjust the differences be-
tween settlers and the ship canal
company by providing that the
canal selections be confirmed except
in cases where there were bona-fide
pre- -emption or homestead claims
proven by actual occupancy prior
to May |, 1888.
One year later, or to be exact, in
July, 1890, three test ejectment
suits were tried in the United States
circuit court and were afterward
carried to the United States su
preme court. In December, 1890,
at the instance of the settlers, the
United States began suit in chancery
against the ship canal company and
its timber grantees to enjoin the
cutting of timber, thus laying the
basis of the proceedings which
reached partial settlement last
week. The defendant corporation
next fled cross bill to quiet title
and there the case rested for time.
I'm November, 1894, the supreme
court handed down a decision in the
ejectment suits holding that the
land selections made by Judge Avery
in 1871 were void, but that the act
of March, 1889, confirmed them with
exceptions relative to bona-fide
homesteadcrs as provided in the act.
These cases were stubbornly con-
tested, attracting widespread atten-
tion from the legal fraternity
throughout the country, and were
handled by such eminent jurists as
d. III. Ball, of Marquette, Judge
John f. Dillon, of New York, Alfred
Russell and Don M. Dickinson, of
Detroit, Judge Marston, of Bay City
and Benjamin Vosper of Ionia.
after this decision, the title
quieting proceedings were revived
by the Keweenaw Association,
whereby there were included as
parties to the suit about ninety in
tere. d pre-emption and homestead
claimants. For about year nego-
tiatiops have been pending for o