The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-30
LAND GRANT is SOLD
GREAT NORTHERN SWAMP LAND
GRANTS FINALLY DIS
POSED OF
WERE LONG IN CONTROVERSY
Auditor Dunn Carries Through Ne.
gOtiatiOns With Railroad Com
panies Which Will Relieve
Many Counties.

State Auditor Dunn has just completed
negotiations which finally close up two
old railroad grants of swamp lands, which
have been in controversy for years.
The larger and more important of
these was the grant of the state to the
Minneapolis &c st. Cloud Railway COM
pany which is a branch of the Great
Northern company. This road received
from the state originally a grant of 425.-
664 acres, and prior to 1894 the state had
decided to the company $4,000 acres, which
had been selected by the company.
In October, 1884, Adolph Bierman. who
was then state auditor. became involved
in some controversy with the Great
Northern officials and arbitrarily selected
272,6G0 acres of land, which amount was
necessary to fulfill the original grant, and
made a deed to the company for the lanI
thus selected by him. This deed the rail-
road company refused to accept on the
ground that it had the right under the
grant to select it's own land. and in
due time would do 50. In that condition
the transaction has ever since remained
until the present time. The state having
parted with it's title to the land, and
the railway company refusing TO accept
it, left it practically without an owner
and at the disposal of all sorts of tres
passers who took advantage of the opp r.
tunity.
This condition of affairs worked great
detriment and hardship to the counties
of Aitkin, Itasca. Crow Wing. Cass and
Beltrani, In which the disputed lands
were situated for it not only made tho
collection of taxes impossible but in many
instances proved a bar to public i'm
provements
Determined to bring this unsatisfactory
situation to a decisive issue of some kind.
State Auditor Dunn some time since
took the matter up with the Great North
ern Railway company, and the deeds,
as executed by Mr.. Bierman. were,
through some oversight, 500 acres short
of the amount of the original grant. The
railway company agreed to accept tho
property originally comprised in the deed
executed by Mr.. Bierman, as stated
above. with the addition of the 500 acres
which had been omitted and Mr.. Dunn
made new deed accordingly, which has
been accepted by the company.
Has Been Disposed of.
1t is unofficially stated that the land
has already been sold by the railroad
company to a private land company and
that the purchase price was more than
$780, 0e0
The second Of the disputed land grants
closed UP by Auditor Dunn is that of the
Little Falls & Dakota road, which is a
branch of the Northern Pacific
The state granted to the Little Falls
& Dakota road 230 400 acres Of swamp
lands on condition that the company
would construct line of road from Lit
tie Falls to the western boundary OF
the state near Big Stone lake. BY the
terms of the contract the grant was to
attach separately to each thirty-mile d.
vision OF the road as it should be con-
structed. The road was not continued
to the state line and construction was
stopped at Morris, Stevens county, the
last division being but 27.7 miles, Instead
of thirty
The company contended that in consid-
Grafton of this last division of 27.7 miles
it should receive a proportionate tract
of land, and on that assumption made
claim to 10000 acres; but Mr. Dunn held
that under the contract the company not
having completed the thirty-mile division
was not entitled to any land for the Dor
ton of the division which had been COM
pleted.
AS result of the negotiation. the rail-
road has accepted IS, 456 acres In consider
alton OF the last division of its road
The legislature, last winter, confirmed
this agreement by the enactment of chap
ter 1873 at that session This includes H.
765 acres already decided to the company.
4.179 acres which the company has select
ed and contracted to convey to other par
ties, and Eli acres which it was agreed
should be fairly selected by the state au-
ditor. This entire amount was conveyed
in deed Of Nov. 16.
This closes all the swamp land grants
in the state, with the exception of that
of the Duluth & Iron Range road.