The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-10-19

nlete it's grant, but I insisted that the road
should be required to make Its seiectaon ana
fill the grant within one year from the Time OF
the completion of the surveys Of the unsurveyed
Mr.. Lind is simply talking for effect, and he
knows full well that the state has sunered no
loss and suffer no loss under the amended
decree. If he had insisted or urged that an |
appeal be taken, as Mr.. Warner Of counsel for
the state suggested, an appeal to higher court
would have been taken. ! want to say right |
here and that was never In favor OF ac- |
cepting Judge Lochren's decision as final:
There was no negligence on my part or on
the part of anyone In the auditors Office, and
Mr. Lind, as lawyer, knows that 1 state the
truth. But believe, in fact know, that Mr.
Lind as ignorant of the fact that supple
mental decree had been made by the court, us
was. If I were in st. Paul and had access
to the records, could make more detailed
statement.
contested several railroad grants and saved the
state 100000 at least in the Little Falls & Da-
| kota grant, and If my predecessors had been as
reckless as 1 the state of Minnesota would
lave been several million dollars richer than 1t
is today. and of the railroad companies
| several million dollars poorer.
Only One Decree.
The facts stated by Mr.. Lind in his
speech, and as shown by the records OF
the litigation, do not bear out Mr..
Dunn s statement.
In the first place, there, never was
but one decree, The Tsupplemen7tal 9;S
not exist. The decree, as stated in
Mr.. Dunn's report for 1900, held the
Duluth & Iron Range to be the owner
in fee simple of the POI, 1882 acres al
ready decided by the state, and these
to the decree. The company was also
held to be the owner Of call lands here,
tofore selected by it, which embraced
some 100000 acres the state had re-
fused to deed.
Now the railroad company had made
eight or nine years before, It included
the $4,000 acres of which Mr.: Dunn
speaks, and for that reason he had re-
fused to grant the selection. Ordinary
care Of the state s interests would nave
led the auditor to look over the list OF
to in the body Of the. decree to see
What it included. His failure to do SC
is evidence of the recklessness OF
r which Mr. Lind complains. He had not
E even informed the attorneys in the case
of this matter.
g the unanimous decision of Attorney
t General Douglas, former Attorney Gen
. . eral Childs and Governor Lind, all at
g torneys, that the decision of judge
5 Lochren would stand, Mr.. Dunn VIII WI!
\, dissents, believing that Judge Lochre1
1t and the three attorneys are in error
Mr.. Dunn gives no credit to Govern
s s or Lind for the attempt to close up tn
a selection, and complete the filling o
~ the grant. The fact is that, Governo,
, IT Lind called his attention to the import
IT ance Of closing up the grant, and a
" his urging the notice was issued to tn
er railroad company to complete their sc
lection. Governor Lind also drew tn
s. deed and signed it, turning E, 1t over 7
v the auditor to close up; The ra1lroa
10 sthe grant was not filled during m
& administration because the Unite
not been completed.'
!, Dunn Said There Was Enough.
That made no difference, if there ";
C. time. Mr.. Dunn in his 1900, repoe,
said that there was sufficient. TT
report was written after the deer!
~ was fled but before Mr., Dunn had di
Il, covered the character Of the lands $
lected in exhibit B. He said in tn
g, report 1t" that on the date Of the deer
or there were 319,11s43 acres of swan
IS, land in St. Louis, Lake and Cook cou
gs ties. vacant and patented to the stat
3d. There were also S6,38946 acres +
N which the state had reeelv ze1ao Payer
he the company, leaving. surplus
a. e4e.o6 acres - after filing. the graz
it However, Mr.. Dunn continues in
H. report:
In addition to this, the Duluth 4 Iron Ran
IT, Railroad company had filed selections on
mt S44 SO acres Of swamp land for which the ST.
jv had not received patent. Under Judge Lo
80 ren's decree, the state Is held bound to give
10 10 deed and convey to the company all lands W
tie which the company had fled selections, and
10 company is decreed to be the owner In Zee 81
on ple of all lands selected
M How could Mr.. Dunn have escap
me the conclusion that this included t
ap' 43, 900 acres of state institution Ian
est the company had previously selec + e
90 Ordinary caution would at least ma
'cn led him to find out.
&c. Mr.. Dunn continues in his report
10 10 Therefore. these unpatented swamp lands,
az az ownership Of which is decreed to be IN the
lees luth & Iron Range Railroad company IN
sla simple would necessarily be contained IN
,d1- deed from the state of Minnesota to said c.
ETY. pany Thus the surplus acreage Of swamp la
lite in the three counties named over the amount
CIR | Guired to completely fill the grant, was, on
s. 1900, the date of the decree. eo,7915e ac
n, the total acreage required to fill the grant be
404 SCI s3 acres, and the total acreage ava1lt
lon therefor, including swamp lands vacant and ]
the ented, patented and selected, and unpatented
OF selected, being 495, 1853 AZ.
pol And yet Mr.. Dunn did not requ
ing them to fill the grant, because tn
me were some townships unsurveyed!
the Mr.. Dunn skips over the reasons
pre- the COMPROMISED to which he allut
ca but they were given in Governor Lin
TO- speech. When the inclusion Of the
tier 900 acres Of the state, institution Ia
)ys- was at last discovered, the railroad
pro- tornevs we're appealed to to correct
EEL error and thew agreed to do so. BET
and = was done Mr., Dunn collided v
the etatad and the railroad officials br
sim IF NEGOTIATIONS. The state t
for broupht suit and before the suit c,
of 70 trial the compromise' was effec
ach, finder this compromise the decree
J. amended, as Mr.. Lind stated.
. compromise gives the RAILROAD comp
an extension of time to fill their 81
until one year after the unsurve
l towns have all been surveyed, and