The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-10-25
MORE ''OFFICIAL
RECKLESSNESS'
HOW THOSE PUBLIC LANDS CAME
TO BE RESTORED.
Dunn Had Nothing to Do With It, and
Furthermore Made No Effort to Pro-
tect States Interests, Altho He Had
Known of Mistake for a Year.

Some new light on the famous Duluth
q iron Range controversy is thrown by
letter received today from M. w. Nc
Donald, proprietor Of one of the mines
on the state land decided to the railroad
company by Judge Lochren's decree.
Mr.. McDonald's statement takes all
the wind out of the sails of former
Auditor Dunn, who has claimed the sole
credit for getting these lands restored.
MT: Dunn says that he discovered the
inclusion OF state lands in the decree
six months after it was entered, which
was Jan. 8, 1900. ~, g
Mr.; Mcdonald shows that when he
called the matter to the attention of At:
torney General Douglas in August, 1901;
and showed that valuable mineral
wf Bum n' eaasdssd the dseres
IN the matter. and does not seem to
have done anything to straighten it out,
tho according to fis*own statement he
had known &of the mistake for a full
| year. ss+ :. = :
II The = account giyen.by Mr.. Mcdonald
was made by Attorney General Douglas
and +. B. Kellogg, counsel for the Du-
luth y Iron Range, and that the hold
ers of leases on the state institution
land also took an active part. Accord
ing to MI. Dunn s account he alone
| VIZ hCSOtAdC1UuS duu was en-
titled to the credit. /. Mr.. Mcdonald s
letter follows: <lt !: scE b. e. EE-.'
To the Editor of The Journal:
| nave read In your paper, as we'll as
other papers, the: claims of the former
land commissioner Of the state in his
claims regarding the As, 800 acres of state
swamp lands located in ST.. Louis county.
Whlch ne claims to have caused to be re-
stored to the state, by reason of the modi-
hcatlon of the Judge Lochren decree
dated Jan. s, 1900. =*t"
wish to state that was somewhat in
terested In this matter. In the first place,
was the owner of a flfty-year contract
covering one of the descriptions of the
aboVe-decreed lands. I had taken active
interest In exploring and developing the
southwest quarter of the northwest quar-
ter of section 2,.stownship 81, range 21
west. This description joins the famous
Mahoning mine on the west side of sec
ton 2, and is in the center of a large
group of mines. During my four months
of exploring of this property discovered
and showed up on the property of good
shipable iron ore about 800 900 tons, This
mine now is known as the Decree minc,
and contains 1000, 900 tons in all
All this work was done in developing
under a ffty-year contract executed by
r. G. Dunn, land commissioner of the
state at that time. This contract was
made in 1900, and took effect from the
decree on those lands was filed Jan. g.
l. 1900 Therefore, you will plainly see that
there. could be some knowledge of the
condition Of those lands at the date the
above ffty-year contract was signed
When T. discovered the title Of those
lands was in the Duluth & Iron Range
Railroad company decree, it was in the
month of September of 1901, while I was
, developing the mine on this land now
known as the Decree. mine. at once
:. called on F. B. Kellogg at his office ir
ST., Paul. who at that time represented
the United States Steel corporation and
Il Oliver Iron Mining com any, successors
Of the land grant and all interests of the
: Duluth & Iron Range Railroad company
I made an appointment with Mr.. Kellogg
and met IT. F. Cole, president of the
Oliver Iron Mining company, which holds
4 the iron ore interests for the Steel cor
pOration, at his office in Duluth. Myself
and Mr.. Kellogg and Mr.. Cole talked the
matter over, with regard to getting the
lands restored to the state got ve~y
little satisfaction at that meeting, but lei
with the understanding that we should
meet again. H. ...... 80.
However, during the time the SECOND
meeting was engaged went to st. Pau
and called on w B. Douglas, at that time
the attorney general of the state, and
laid the matter before him. I stated to
, the attorney general that I owned a
:, ! ifty-year contract on one of the de-
scriptions of the >decreed lands, and
stated to him that I had discovered a
large deposit of very valuable iron ore
on the land at that time. This piece,
, the N. E. of the NJ E. of section 8,
|, township So, range IT., was in the decree,
and now contains a large mine. l also
Estated to him that the N. IL of the N. e.
! II Of section IL in 1921 was in the de-
cree, which is now known as the Eliz-
| - ,41s,,
tons of ore. X - ~,
I also stated that the E. IL of the
s. E. "A of section 6 in 57-20, was in the
decree, which now contains large mine.
The attorney general at once promised
me that he would take UP the matter
and file a lis pendcns against the rail-
road company, and at once start suit.
In this meeting at the attorney gen
erals office in August Of 1901 we called
in Mr.. Dunn from his office, and myself
: and the attorney general talked the mat
ter over with him. I stated to Mr.. Dunn
that I had found the lands which I was
developing in the decreed lands and also
} the above named lands and which now
J contain the other three large mines. In
his conversation with myself and Mr.
, Douglas he stated that he did not know
that those descriptions were in the de-
cree list, and at the same time asked
the attorney general, rs it possible. thai
the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad COM
pany can take away from the state un-
der their old contract made in 1875 any
Q swamp land selections which they wish
I to choose?' H.,
= I again had a meeting with Mr. KEEL
lcgg and Mr.. Cole, and Mr.. Kellogg and
, MIR. Cole stated to me that if by any
! reason they were not entitled to the
= above-n lands and mines that the,
? were willing to adjust the matter. i
: After this meeting I called on Mr.
! Douglas again. Mr.. Douglas told me
that he had already started the action
! against the railroad company to restore
/ the lands to the state and requested a
f modification Of the decree on all of those
lands from the railroad company. Then
t Mr.. Kellogg and Mr.. Douglas stipulated
r to come to an agreement, which agree
ment was afterwards fully carried out by
both parties, Mr.. Kellogg for the railroad
l company and Mr.. Douglas as the attor-
ney general for the state. Mr.. Dunn had
, taken no active interest in having those
? lands restored to the state during all
my negotiations with the attorney gen
eral and Mr.. Kellogg, therefore do not
see why he should make any claim that
he had benefited the general public by
his good service in getting the state into
, such a tangle with the railroad COM
pany. From all the conversations which
had with Mr.. Kellogg and Mr.. Cole
! they did not appear in any respect what
, soever to want to take the advantage of
J any innocent party who held fifty
g year contract from the state, and who