Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1904-10-28


.;overed and had now come In Is
just the matter without suit. MI.
Dunn asked me what i thought about
the propriety Of doing 50. ]. answered
that under the law this: matter was
wholly in his hands, and suggested
that he confer with the attorney GEN
seral: I added, however, that,son gem
$eral principles r always favored D an IN
5amicable adjustment, OF differences
rather than litigation, and that &c a
fair settlement could be made + i
thought livery desirable. Is That az the
last and~the only thing that + have
heard Of known about the Buchanan
timber trespass until the appearance
of the public examiners report. ~
= e. DUNN TOO RECKLESS. o. y
yRecklessness is the marked char
acteristic of Mr. Dunn's official con-
duct, ind this, in my Judgment, un-
fits him for the high office OF COVER
nor. In the pamphlet issued by his
committee entitled ''Hon. r.. C. Dunn's
Record as State AUDITOR find
among numerous other: claims put for
ward in behalf of his candidacy the
following. read from page 80: II
''The litigation over the swamp land
grant of the Duluth & Iron Range
Railroad company is. well known to
most citizens Of the state, but it is
not so well known that at the time
Judge Lochren filed his decree affirm
ing the validity of the company's grant
that there was included in that de-
cree a list of lands to which the court
declared the company was rightfully
entitled, and that included in that list
was some $4,000 acres of state in
stitutions lands on which are located
at least three very valuable iron
mines. When. the attention Of Mr.
Dunn was drawn to this fact the time
for appealing the case had gone by,
and the state was threatened with a.
loss WHICH would have not been less
than $5,000,000. But by the use of
considerable diplomacy and fir1mness
the Duluth & Iron Range railroad
people were induced to consent to the
decree being amended, so as to ex-
N4ouC OLA IAAC SkdlS A11SLltul1OllS 1dnOS,
which Judge Lochren very promptly
did when the proper application was
made-by the attorneys for the railroad
company"
Let us examine the facts in regard
to- this claim:
On Feb. Is, 1865, long before any
grant of lands had been made to the
Duluth & Iron Range Railroad COM
pany, the legislature of the state of
Minnesota granted 100000 acres of
swamp land for the support Of the in
sane asylums, the institutions for the
deaf, dumb and blind at Faribault
and for the support Of the state pris-
on, and 375;O00 acres for the support
of the normal schools then and there
after Ito be esta blished in the state.
Under this grant by the legislature
Mr.. Dunn's predecessors in office had
selected lands, from. time to 1time,.
referred to by Mr.. Dunn, and which
are located in st. Louis county and
along the iron range. The selection
of these lands was a matter of record
in the Office Of the state auditor, and
they were the property of the state in
trust for those institutions as much as
our school lands are the property of
the state in trust for our schools.
BIG SWAMP LAND GRANT.
On March o. 1876, the legislature
of the state of Minnesota, desiring to
procure the construction of railroad
from Duluth to some point on the iron
range, granted to the Duluth & Iron
Range Railroad company from the
swamp lands located in the counties of
st. Louis, Lake and Cook counties
ten sections to the mile of road built
" to be selected within ten miles on
each side of the road and, if there
should not be enough swamp lands
unsold and unappropriated within
each ten-mile section of the road as
completed, then the company had
the privilege of locating the defic-
iency an any of the swamp lands be-
longing to or to accrue to the state
not otherwise disposed of, within the
counties named"
This was the language Of the act,
and quote 1t as construed by the
supreme court Of this state in As Min
nesota, on page 10.
Under this. grant the st. Paul &
Duluth Railroad company built 94.8
miles of railway and became entitled
to 606,720 acres of swamp land. Prior
to 1897 the state had decided to the
Duluth & Iron Range Railroad COM
pany 2O1,7S9.82 acres In part salts
faction of the, grant. The company
had also selected some 10000 acres
Of swamp land, which had not been
decided by the state. This selection
by the company included the same
Landslide $4,000 acres which have
heretofore referred to and which had
been previously selected by the state
for the state institutions.
STARTED TO BUST GRANT. 81
This was the condition Of affairs
when Mr.. Dunn started out to bust the
Duluth & Iron Range railroad grant.
In his report to the legislature that
convened fn:January, 1897, Mr.. Dunn
urged in the strongest language that
he be authorized to institute suits to
procure the cancellation Of the grant.
The attorney general, in an official
opinion which is: on record, had al
read Nv advised that the grant was va1iA