homestead laws; and upon the making of fiual proof of occupation and improvement now required by law, and of good faith as aforesaid to the satisfaction of the Register of the State Land Office, the Governor is hereby authorized to execute a patent for such land to the persons entitled thereto. SEC. 8. This act being deemed of immediate importance, it shall be in force from and after its publication in the Iowa State Leader and State Register, daily papers published in Des Moines, Iowa. Approved March 15, 1876. The provisions of this act were not accepted by the McGregor & Missouri River Railway Company, nor by the Iowa, Dakota & Black Hills Railroad Company, and therefore, as by said act provided, the title to all of the unpatented lands so resumed remains in the State, to be disposed of by future legislation, for the completion of said line of road. Patents have been applied for by some of the claimants under the seventh section of said act, but, as will be observed by reference to the act, the issuing of patents to such claimants was contingent upon the acceptance of the grant by the railroad company. The interests and rights of legal claimants to any of these lands can be provided for in the disposition of the same by future legislation. There are about two hundred and eighty-two sections of lands, situated in Dickinson, O'Brien and Osceola counties, selected under the act of Congress of May 12, 1864, and patented to the State to aid in the constructon of the road from Sioux City to the Minnesota State line, which are within the twenty miles limits of the lines of both the Sioux City & St. Paul and McGregor & Missouri River Railroads, and are known as the overlapping lands. The McGregor & Missouri River Railway Company claimed title to said lands and brought suit in the Circuit Court of Osceola county to establish the same, and upon petition of said Company an injunction was granted by said Court, which issued October 11, 1873, restraining the Governor and Register of the State Land Office from conveying said lands to the Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad Company. It appears that the matters in dispute in this suit were submitted to the arbitration of Associate Justice Samuel F. Miller, who, after hearing the Counsel of the parties, made the following AWARD: The McGregor & Missouri River Railway Company vs. the Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad Company; Alexander H. Rice and E. F. Drake Trustees; C. C. Carpenter, Governor of the State of Iowa, and Aaron Brown, Register of the Land Office of the State of Iowa. The matters in dispute in the above described suit, now pending in the Circuit Court of Osceola county, Iowa, so far as they are in contest between the plaintiffs on one side, and the Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad Company, and Alexander H. Rice and E. F. Drake, Trustees, on the other, having been submitted to me, as Arbitrator, and the counsel of said parties having been fully heard by me, and the pleadings, stipulations and evidence in said cause fully heard, I do hereby make this my award in the premises: 1st. That by the Act of Congress, approved May 12, 1864, entitled “An Act for a grant of land to the State of Iowa, in alternate sections, to aid in the construction of a railroad in said State," the legal title to the lands-a schedule of which is given in the petition of plaintiffs in this suit-was vested in the State of Iowa, in trust, for the purpose of building the road from Sioux City to the Minnesota State Line, and from McGregor City westward to a junction with the said road from Sioux City, jointly and equally for the building of each of said roads; and that the State of Iowa now holds the legal title in the same manner as she then received it, except so far as the Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad Company, defendants, and the McGregor & Missouri River Railroad Company, plaintiff, have become entitled to said lands respectively by the work done in constructing the roads for which the lands were appropriated by said act of Congress. 2d. That neither the plaintiff corporation nor the defendant corporation could by any priority of location or construction entitle either of these corporations to anything more than the undivided half of said lands; nor has any act of Congress, or any act of the Iowa Legislature, nor any act of the officers of the State of Iowa, or of the United States, changed the joint character of the trust so held by the State for the benefit of these roads as to the lands within the twenty mile limits of the Sioux City & St. Paul road on the east side, and the other road on its north and south side, at the place of junction of the two roads, which are the lands in contest in this suit. 3d. That the plaintiffs, the McGregor & Missouri River Railway Company, and the defendants, the Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad Company, are entitled to the beneficial interest of each and all the sections and parts of land described in the schedule annexed to plaintiff's petition, in equal and undivided moieties or proportions. And I award, and order and direct that the Circuit Court, in which this suit is pending, enter this award and the foregoing finding as the decree of that Court, as between the plaintiff on one side, and the Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad Company and Alexander H. Rice and E. F. Drake, Trustees, on the other; and that said corporations, parties, pay jointly and equally the cost of this arbitration. 4th. And because neither the State of Iowa, nor the Governor of said State, nor the Register of the Land Office of said State, have agreed to submit themselves to my award in the premises, I make no award as to any decree against them, and the rights, duties, and powers of the State of Iowa, as regards said lands, are unaffected by t is award, save as it decides the conflicting claims of the two railroad corporations w ose rights are herein decided and adjusted. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 24th day [L. 8.] of May, A. D. 1876. SAMUEL F. MILLER. We learn that the Sioux City & St. Paul railroad company takes exceptions to this award, and that the dispute between the two companies has not been settled. There have been patented to the State by the United States, to aid in the construction of the McGregor & Missouri River Railroad, lands as follows: Patent No. 1, March 8, 1871........................... Patent No. 2, January 15, 1874............ .*133,274.53 acres. 4,297.74 acres. The lands embraced in the first named patent were all patented by the State to the McGregor & Missouri River Railway Company on April 8, 1871. The lands embraced in the second patent have been resumed by the State. The lands patented are situated in the following counties: *This quantity is erroneous. The Government plats make the amount embraced in the patent, 133,958.81 acres. There are a few tracts so patented that conflict with other grants, and some of them have been relinquished by the railroad company. There have been patented to the State by the United States to aid in the construction of the Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad, lands as follows: Of these lands there have been certified to the Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad Company by the State as follows: In Lyon county, June 15, 1874........ Total.......... $3,934.25 acres. 91,996.99 acres. 200.00 acres. 23,206.44 acres. 4,996.01 acres. 320.00 acres. 3,196.65 acres. 120.00 acres. 80.00 acres. ........208,050.34 acres. The balance of the lands patented to the State for said road, are withheld from certification to said company for three reasons: 1st. On account of conflicts. 2d. In respect for the injunction of the Circuit Court of Osceola county. 3d. On account of the non-completion of the road from Sioux City to the State line, as required by the act of Congress of May 12, 1864, making the grant. The following tract of land, to-wit: The se qr of sec. 28, town 100, range 40 west, situated in Osceola county, was patented to the State by the United States, for the Sioux City & St. Paul railroad company, on June 2, 1877, under act of Congress of June 22, 1874, in lieu of a tract of railroad land occupied by a settler, and which was relinquished to the United States by the railroad company for the settler's benefit. RECAPITOLATION. Showing the Total Number of Acres of lands the State has received by Certificate, Patent, &c., under the several Acts of Congress, granting the same. May 15, 1856. Burlington & Missouri River Railroad. 292,806.41 May * 15, 1856. Mississippi & Missouri (now Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific) 482,374.36 May 15, 1856.* Iowa Central Air Line now Cedar Rapids & Missouri River) 735,997.80 May 15, 1856.* Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad, Iowa Falls & Sioux City 1,232,359.15 137,572.27 May Aug July 12, 1864. Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad. 8, 1846. Des Moines River Railroad.. 12, 1862. Des Moines River Railroad. March 3, 1845. 5 Section in Jasper county. Sept. 28, 1850. Swamp Land (patented) March 2, 1855. Indemnity swamp Land. 407,910.21 592,760.57 512,619.86 3,200.00 869,805.18 324,234.18 March 2, 1855. Swamp lands for which cash Indemnity has been allowed. 373,998.74 Total........ 7,811,167.15 Under the act of June 2, 1864, the Department of Interior approved and certified lands to the following named Railroad Companies, which are in addition to those they received under the act of May 15, 1856, given in the foregoing, as follows: Cedar Rapids & Missouri River Railroad Company. *NOTE-In the quantities given in the foregoing recapitulation, as received under the Railroad grant of 1856, are included the odd sections in five mile limits of the Des Moines river, which were certified under said grant on April 7, 1863; this certification has been annulled by the Supreme Court of the United States, and hence should be deducted from said quantities. They belong to the Des Moines River grant, and are included therein in said recapitulation. They are as follows: Mississippi & Missouri, (or C., R. I. & P.) R. R....... |