In addition to these lands there have been donated two lots in Boonsboro, Boone county, and six lots and one block in New Philadelphia, Story county. Of these, one lot, in Boonsboro, has been patented. According to the best information I have, nearly all these lands have either been sold or leased by the agents of the College. The following is a statement of the quantity of lands of the Agricultural College grant in the several counties patented since the last report of this office: There has also been patented since the last report of this office, of the lands donated for the Agricultural College and Farm, twenty acres situated in Story county. 7TH.-THE DES MOINES RIVER GRANT. The act of August 8, 1846, granted to the Territory of Iowa, for the improvement of the navigation of the Des Moines river from its mouth to the Raccoon fork, "one equal moiety in alternate sections of the public lands, remaining unsold and not otherwise disposed of, incumbered or appropriated, in a strip five miles in width on each side of said river, to be selected within said territory by an agent or agents to be appointed by the Governor thereof, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States." This act further provided that when the territory should be admitted as a State, the lands should be the property thereof, whenever the legislature accepted the grant for said purpose. The State accepted the grant by joint resolution of January 9, 1847. The State elected to take the odd numbered sections; and this choice was approved by the Secretary of the Treasury. The agents appointed by the Governor to select the lands, selected the undisposed of odd numbered sections within the five miles limits of the river, from its mouth to the north line of the State. A Board of Public Works was created by act of the General Assembly of February 24, 1847, to have charge of the improvement, with authority to sell the lands to pay for the work. There were conflicting opinions between the government officials as to the extent of the grant. Commissioner Richard M. Young, on February 23, 1848, held that the grant was throughout the whole extent of the river in Iowa. The Secretary of the Treasury, R. J. Walker, March 2, 1849, gave a similar opinion. The Commissioner of the General Land Office, on June 1, 1849, directed the local Government Land Office to withhold from sale all lands in the odd numbered sections, above the Raccoon forks, within five miles limits of the river;-the surveys only then extending in that direction to township 83, range 26. The Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Ewing, on April 6, 1850, reversed the decision of Secretary Walker, but directed that the lands be withheld from sale until Congress could pass an explanatory act. An appeal was taken to the President, who referred the matter to the Attorney General, (Mr. Johnson.) His opinion coincided with that of Secretary Walker, that the grant extended throughout the extent of the river in Iowa. In consequence of the death of President Taylor, and the formation of a new cabinet, this opinion was not published, and no further action was taken. The question was again referred to the Attorney-General, (Mr. Crittenden) who, on June 30, 1851, gave an opinion that the grant did not extend above the Raccoon fork. The Secretary of the Interior, (Mr. Stuart) favored this decision, but consented to bring the matter before the president and cabinet, who decided in favor of the State's selections. Following this decision, several lists of lands above the forks were approved and certified, amounting in the aggregate to 271,572.24 acres. In this quantity were included 12,813.51 acres of lands that had been approved under the act of Sept. 4, 1841, (the 500,000 acre grant) but which approval was rejected by the Secretary of the Interior, because of the same being within the five miles' limits of the river. This rejection was disapproved of by the Secretary of the Interior in 1866, and the title to the lands affirmed under act of Sept. 4, 1841. On June 9, 1854, the commissioner of the Des Moines river improvement and assistant commissioners, under authority of an act of the General Assembly, made a contract with the Des Moines Navigation and Railroad company, agreeing to sell all lands donated to the State by act of August 8, 1846, which the State had not sold prior to Dec. 23, 1853, for $1,300,000; said sum to be expended on the improvement of the river, and in payment of the debts then due. This contract is published in the appendix to the House Journal of 1855. On March 21, 1856, the Commissioner of the General Land Office decided that the grant was limited to the Raccoon fork, and the matter was again brought before the Secretary of the Interior, and by him referred to the Attorney-General, (Mr. Cushing). He held that as regarded the selections already approved the action was final, and that the government was bound by it. He also advised that Secretary Stuart's decision be accepted as final on the part of the Department, provided the State would accept it, and that the residue of the lands to the northern boundary of the State should be approved and certified. The Secretary concluded to be governed by the advice of the AttorneyGeneral, and approved the lists, but directed that they be withheld until a contract was filed by the State relinquishing all claim to lands in Minnesota. This was not done by the State. 1 In accordance with the terms of a joint resolution of the General Assembly approved March 22, 1858, a settlement was affected between the State and the Des Moines Navigation and Railroad Company. under which the State deeded to said company all the lands certified under said grant, not previously sold or disposed of, amounting to some 266,239.04 acres. These deeds, fourteen in number, were dated May 3 1858, and described the land by section, township and range. There was, also, a deed made May 18, 1858, which described the lands in general terms, without particular description, and was, no doubt, intended to cover any tracts that may have been omitted or overlooked. The Supreme Court of the United States, at the December term, 1859 decided that the grant was limited to the Raccoon fork, and declared all certificates for land above the fork issued without authority and void. By a joint resolution of Congress, of March 2, 1861, the lands improperly certified above the Raccoon fork, which were held by bona fide purchasers from the State, were relinquished to the State. As the act of Congress of September 28, 1850, granted all the swamp and overflowed lands to the State, and as the grant by said act was held by the Supreme Court of the United States to be a present grant, did the relinquishment by this joint resolution include any legal sub-division, the greater part of which was so far swamp or overflowed as to be too wet for cultivation ? By act of July 12, 1862, the grant was extended from the Raccoon fork to the northern boundary of the State. Said act also provided that indemnity be given for all of said lands sold by the Government. The lands so granted to be held and applied for the purposes of the original grant, except, that consent was given to apply a portion of them to aid in the construction of the Keokuk, Ft. Des Moines & Minnesota Railroad, (otherwise the Des Moines Valley Railroad.) Under this act there have been approved and certified to the State : Lands in place... ............ 213,700.41 acres. 298,919.45 acres. The quantity of indemnity lands here given is taken from the list certified by the Department to the State, but it is not strictly correct, as fractional sections on the north and west lines of townships are accounted as full, whereas they are usually less than 640 acres. The State has disposed of these lands as follows: Patented and certified to the Des Moines Valley R. R. Co.....493,346.22 acres. Patented to S. H. Taft......... Patented to settlers Released to United States........... Lands in place withheld on account of conflicts............ 6,363.48 acres. 1,429.13 acres. 320.00 acres. 11,161 03 acres. The Des Moines Valley Railroad Company, the successor to the Keokuk, Ft. Des Moines & Minnesota Railroad Company, having assumed and paid the existing liabilities on account of work done on the Des Moines River Improvement, was, under the provisions of the act of the General Assembly of March 31, 1868, entitled to these lands, or the proceeds when any had been disposed of to other parties; the money, therefore, received from S. H. Taft, and from the settlers, was paid over to said Company. In accordance with law, Mr. Taft received his lands at $1.25 per acre, and the settlers theirs at $2.50 per acre. After the decision of the Supreme Court was rendered, that the grant only extended to the Raccoon fork, and that the certification of lands above that point was erroneous and void, the Department of the Interior considered that these lands had passed to the State under the act of May 15, 1856, (the railroad grant), and accordingly approved and certified them to the State under said act. In the Walcott case decided at the December term 1866, of the Supreme Court of the United States, it was held that these lands did not pass under the Railroad grant of May 15, 1856, because of the reservation by the Secretary of the Interior for the purposes of the river improvement, and that title had passed to the State and its grantees under the Joint Resolution of March 2, 1861, that the certification under the Railroad grant was void. In May, 1866, while these lands were held to be a part of the railroad grant of 1856, Hon. J. A. Harvey, commissioner for the State, made an adjustment with the commissioner of the general land office of this grant, which was approved by the State Census Board on June 20, 1866, by which the State was awarded indemnity for said lands amounting to 298,921.06 acres. The State, by her agent, Hon. D. W. Kilbourne, subsequently selected the amount of lands due under this award, which were approved and certified to the State by the department, and by the State conveyed to the Des Moines Valley Railroad Company. But, as it was held by the court in the Walcott decision, |