The oasis., 1899-02-04
Saturday, Feb. 4, 1899.
lADvKRTIsENENT l
Shall Nogales Win or Loser

has received the patent for the $40
 acres of land comprising the townsiCe,
 and as that patent includes the en-
 tire acreage for whichapplication was
 made, without reservation of one sim
 gle solitary acre for the railroad or
 for any other purpose whatever, and
 as the town board has by the issuance
 of that patent become the first judge
 of the validity of the claims of all
 persons holding any lot, block or area
 whatever within the specified tract
 of land, there arises the question
 whether in distributing the land as
 provided by the law the town board
 shall pass title so all the people shall
 be benefited, or whether the rail-
 road company shall unjustly, and
 without giving reasonable compensa-
 tion, absorb large, and the best,
 portion of the townsite.
 First, we wish to impress as strongly as possible (so strongly that no one
 will forget the fact) that the town council has the alienable right to pass title to those actually in possession of and using the various parcels of property included within the lines of the townsite as surveyed. They will probably have to grant the railroad company the right of way through the townsite, including an area one hundred feet each side of the center of the main trach. But that grant of right of way should be an easement, not fee simple, such as will be given holders of building and residence lots l The town can grant only the right of way, and for RAILROAD PURPOSES. | The same way the twenty acres claimed by the railway company for station grounds That is likewise and should be an easement only, and for railroad purposes only. So when the railroad company leases MT. Cat anich bit of ground upon which to | put his store, to MT. Beck another small area upon which to put his butcher shop, or to Roy & Titcomb a larger area for a lumber yard, the land is not used for railroad purposes within the intent and meaning of the law, and the railroad company cannot continue to hold the same, nor can the town give the railroad a patent for the land to do with it as it pleases. All the town can do is to grant an easement for the purposes recited in the law-and the town is not com pelled to grant that easement where the railroad company selects; but where the town may be willing to give. Nor can the railroad claim aud hold all of twenty acres. The law grants the railroad two hundred feet for right of way, and every ten miles land 'for station grounds" "not ex- ceeding twenty acres.n But the law also provides how the railroad com pany shall secure these easements granted. Failing to do this, as it has done, and the town having secured it's patent, the railroad company must secure the necessary easements from the town. But the town is not obliged to give easement upon all the rail- road company claims, but only for that area which to the town seems ft-and for railroad purposes only.
 Nor is the town obliged to cut out and grant easement to the railway company upon the best part of the site, but upon any part which will as l, well serve the purpose intended (
 Now this brings us to our propo- 2 sition: Land below the roundhonse 2