The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-10-18

| Duluth IL Iron Range land grant closed.
The correspondence on file in the gov
ernorS office shows my efforts IN that
behalf. and finally. on the 18th day of De-
cember, $780, almost my last official act,
prepared the form of a deed The de-
scription of the land was supplied by the
auditor conveying to the Duluth & Iron
| Range Railroad company the balance of
the acreage required to fill its grant. This
/ deed is on record in the state auditor
Office, The deed was delivered to the
railroad company but as I afterwards
learned it refused to accept it. The COM
pany wanted to keep the matter open so
| that when new lists of land came. it would
! be in position to select such as We're likely
to contain iron. as it had done thereto
/ fore
DUNN's ERROR DISCOVERED
About this time Mr.. Dunns error in
/ permitting the 43 600 acres of state insti-
tuition land to be included in the judg-
1 ment in favor of the railroad company was
| discovered. Those lands contained min
/ eral of probably greater value than stated
/ by Mr.. Dunn.
Application was made by Mr.. Dunn and
| by the attorney general to the railroad
company to release these lands from
/ Judge LochrenS decree and reinstate the
/ title to them in the state. / called on
Mr. Kellogg in regard to the matter long
after had retired from office Mr.. KEEL
| logg was counsel for the railroad com
] pany. He indicated to me that on account
! Of Mr.. Dunn's oversight he would be will
ling to recommend to the company to re-
| tease lie ldilUS- lie maze the same state
ment to Judge Douglas, then attorney
/ general, and presumably to Mr.. Dunn.
Subsequently Mr.. Dunn advertised GER
tain timber on some of these lands claim
ed by the company for sale at Duluth.
/ The company had its representative at
the sale and objected. This angered Mr..
Dunn, as I am informed, and he proceed
ed to pay his respects to the officers and
counsel of the railroad before the as
| sembled public at the sale in language
more characteristic than chaste.
f7fNrlf 1sraIrl Ii
promptly withdrawn by the officers of
| the company and their attorneys. This
compelled the attorney general, Judge
Douglas, to bring an. action in the Unit
ed States circuit court before Judge
Lochren to have Mr.. Dunn's error reeti-
/ fed. This action was brought on May 6,
! 1901. The excuse set out by Mr. Douglas
in his complaint for the amendment of
! the Judgment is:
That 1T was necessary for counsel to
| procure and rely upon the services of
others in selecting and identifying the de-
scrfption of lands proper TO be embraced
| within or affected by said decree; that
said list was prepared by clerical assist
! ance and confidently relied on as con-
tanning no descriptions of land which had
| been selected by the state
The railroad company answered and
denied that there was any mistake and
stated:
"That copy of said decree with the
list of lands annexed thereto was serv-
| ed upon the counsel for the state of Min
4
entry Of the decree in such cause
| And they further allege ON information
/ and belief,
THAT the said list of lands, with a
| copy of said decree, was by the counsel
for the state of Minnesota in said original
/ causes delivered to the land commissioner
| of the state of Minnesota and was ex-
amined by the land commissioner, or his
assistants in his office in the state of
| Minnesota, and consented to, and that no
| objection was made to the said descrip-
i fi0nS Of lands a NJ mr.
/ ed claim of the state of Minnesota by
reason of the said pretended grants to
/ said Institutions
DUNN MAKES APOLOGY
This undoubtedly placed Mr. Dunn in a
very embarrassing position to have this
important question come to trial in the
circuit court of the United States on ac-
! count of his errors or error of his Of
| flee. 1t is presumed that he did not relish
! the ventilation of this matter. He now
! became more docile and applied to the
4 railroad company for a compromise. This
was finally agreed upon, and its terms
| were embraced in a decree of Judge
Loehren, from which will read the ma
| 1902, and can be seen in the circuit court
+, at st. Paul and copy in the state audiz
| tors Office. AS a part of this compromise,
| however, Mr.. Dunn had to consent to an
| abject apology to the officers and counsel
of the railroad company and take back
over his signature all the things that he
| had said derogatory of and concerning
them, OF these matters have no per-,
sonal knowledge. but the statement will
1 not be denied by either Mr.. Dunn, Judge
| Douglas or Mr. Kellogg.
| Now let us look at the compromise as
| set out in the decree 1 quote:
United States Circuit Court-State of
Minnesota, Complainant, VS.. Duluth &
Iron Range Railroad Company ct al,
Defendants. Decree. January Term,
| 1902
/. This cause came on to be heard upon
| the bill of complaint, the answer thereto,
and the stipulation of the parties, and the
court having duly considered the matters,
and the parties in open court conserving
| thereto it is
Ordered, adjudged and decreed that the
lands described in schedule A, hereto at
| tached situated in the counties of st.
! Louis, Lake and Cook, in the state of Min
nesota. be and the same are hereby except
| ed from the effect of the original decree,
made by the court, bearing date the Sth
day OF January. A. d. 1900, referred to
| in said complaint, wherein said lands
We're .decreed to be the property of the
Duluth & Iron Range Railroad company,
| and that the same be and hereby are de-
/ creed to be the property of the state Of
Minnesota, its grantees and assigns clear
from any claim Of the Duluth & Iron
Range Railroad company, the said Walter
| F. Cobb. or either their grantees or as
signs.
/ Note: Schedule A contains de-
scription of the forty-three thousand
/ acres.)
\ 1t IS IurCler~ O6Cr0eQ TQdt7 the DuluIn
| Iron Range Railroad company shall not
| have a right to select any of the swamp
! lands in said counties to fill its grant.
which have heretofore been duly selected
/ by the state auditor and commissioners
! of the land Office of the state of MinneSO-
ia to fill the grant or appropriation to
certain state Institutions provided for by
an act of the legislature entitled IAN act
| to appropriate swamp lands to certain ed
vocational and charitable institutions there
in named, and for the purpose of erecting
a state prison., approved Feb. 13, 1865.
and amended by that certain act of the
! legislature of said state entitled An act
to amend chapter of the General Laws
/ of 1866" approved March 9, 1875, but it
is further deereed that the state of Min
neSota and the officers of said state shall
| not until the expiration of the time for
/ the selection of lands to fill the grant of
| the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad COM
! pany make any further selections of lands
to fill the said grant or appropriation to
| the state institutions from the swamp
/ lands situated in the said counties of ST.
| Louis, Lake and Cook, and it is hereby
/ decreed that the Duluth & Iron Range
Railroad company has the prior right Of Sc
/ lection in said counties to fill it's said grant
/ but that the said Duluth & Iron Range
Railroad company shall proceed with rea-
| Sonable pronptness to fill its grant, using
due diligence in inspecting lands to I'LL the
same, and it shall have until six months
! after all the swamp lands in the unsuryey-
! ed townships in the three counties afore-
said are surveyed and patented to the
| state of Minnesota by the United States
government to select lands to fill its said
/ grant That should the Duluth & Iron
! Range Railroad company fail within the
time provided to select lands within said
counties to fill its grant, then the auditor