That after the opening of the said book as aforesaid, and on or about the twentieth day of May, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, subscriptions were duly made upon the said books at St. Paul to the amount of two hundred dollars; and twenty dollars, being ten per cent. of the amount of the said subscriptions, was, at the time of the making thereof, duly paid by the said subscribers to the said committee. That afterwards, and on the twenty-ninth day of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, an act was passed by the Congress of the United States, and duly approved by the President thereof, and became and was, and now is, a law, in the following words-that is to say: AN ACT to aid the Territory of Minnesota in the construction of a railroad therein. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there be, and is hereby, granted to the Territory of Minnesota, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of a railroad from the southern line of said Territory, commencing at a point between township ranges nine and seventeen; thence by the way of St. Paul, by the most practicable route, to the eastern line of said Territory, in the direction of Lake Superior, every alternate section of land, designated by odd numbers, for six sections in width on each side of said road within said Territory; but in case it shall appear that the United States have, when the line of said road is definitely fixed by the authority aforesaid, sold any section, or any part thereof, granted as aforesaid, or that the right of pre-emption has attached to the same, then it shall be lawful for any agent or agents, to be appointed by the governor of said Territory, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, to select from the lands of the United States, nearest to the tier of sections above specified, so much land in alternate sections or parts of sections as shall be equal to such lands as the United States have sold, or to which the right of pre-emption has attached as aforesaid; which land (thus selected in lieu of those sold, and to which pre-emption has attached as aforesaid, together with the sections or parts of sections designated by odd numbers as aforesaid, and appropriated as aforesaid,) shall be held by the Territory of Minnesota for the use and purpose aforesaid: Provided, That the lands to be so located shall in no case be further than fifteen miles from the line of the road in each case, and selected for and on account of said road: Provided further, That the lands hereby granted shall be exclusively applied in the construction of that road for which it was granted and selected, and shall be disposed of only as the work progresses; and the same shall be applied to no other purpose whatever: And provided further, That any and all lands heretofore reserved to the United States by an act of Congress, or in any other manner by competent authority, for the purpose of aiding in any object of internal improvement, or for any other purpose whatever, be, and the same are hereby, reserved to the United States from the operation of this act, except so far as it may be found necessary to locate the route of said railroad through such reserved lands, in which case the right of way only shall be granted, subject to the approval of the President of the United States. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the sections and parts of sections of land which by such grants shall remain to the United States within six miles on each side of said road, shall not be sold for less than double the minimum price. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said lands hereby granted to the said Territory shall be subject to the disposal of any legislature thereof for the purpose aforesaid, and no other; nor shall they inure to the benefit of any company heretofore constituted and organized; and the said railroad shall be and remain a public highway for the use of the government of the United States, free from toll or other charge upon the transportation of any property or troops of the United States, nor shall any of said lands become subject to private entry until the same shall have been first offered at public sale at the in.creased price. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the lands hereby granted to said Territory shall be disposed of by said Territory only in the manner following-that is to say, no title shall vest in the said Territory of Minnesota, nor shall any patent issue for any part of the lands herein before mentioned, until a continuous length of twenty miles of said road shall be completed through the lands hereby granted; and when the Secretary of the Interior shall be satisfied that any twenty miles of said road are completed, then a patent shall issue for a quantity of land not exceeding one hundred and twenty sections, and included within a continuous length of twenty miles of said road; and so from time to time patents shall be issued in like manner upon the completion of each additional twenty miles of said road until it shall be completed; and if said road is not completed within ten years, no further sale shall be made, and the land unsold shall revert to the United States. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the United States mail shall be transported at all times on said railroad, under the direction of the Post Office Department, at such price as Congress may by law direct: Provided, That until such price is fixed by law, the Postmaster General shall have the power to determine the same. Approved June 29, 1854. That after the passage of the act last above mentioned, and on the thirtieth day of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, subscriptions to the capital stock of the said Railroad Company were duly made upon the said books which had been opened in the city of New York as aforesaid, to the amount of one million dollars, and an instalment of ten per cent. upon each share of the stock so subscribed was, at the time of the making of such subscription, duly paid by the persons making the same to the said committee. That after the said subscriptions had been made and the said instalments had been paid as aforesaid, and on the first day of July, 1854, all the persons who had subscribed to the capital stock of the said company upon the book so opened in the city of New York, met together in the said city, in pursuance of notice previously given by the said committee, and proceeded to and did duly elect twelve of the stockholders of the said Railroad Company, who were then citizens of the United States of America, and three of whom then resided in the said Territory of Minnesota, to be the directors of the said company; and that immediately thereafter, and upon the same first day of July, 1854, the said directors, so elected, proceeded to, and did organize by the election of a president and other officers, and then and there duly elected a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and counsellor of the said company; and that within ten days thereafter, each and all the said officers so elected duly accepted their said several offices, and respectively entered upon the discharge of the duties thereof. That afterwards, and on the tenth day of October, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, these defendants caused a survey to be made of the route of the said railroad contemplated by and mentioned in the said act of the legislature of the Territory of Minnesota, and located. such railroad upon a route commencing at a point upon the southern line of the said Territory between ranges nine and seventeen, designated by the board of directors of the said company with reference to the best route to the city of Dubuque, thence running to and crossing the Mississippi river at St. Paul, and thence by the most practicable route, and by the way of St. Anthony, to the eastern line of the said Territory in the direction of Lake Superior, and thence to a point on the northwest shore of Lake Superior, in Minnesota Territory, north of the St. Louis river, opposite the entrance of Lefthand river, into Lake Superior, and near the mouth of the St. Louis river, Minnesota, on Lake Superior, being the same railroad route contemplated by and mentioned in the said acts of Congress and of said Territorial legislature, and so located the same that such location conformed and conforms, in all respects, to the route designated by the said act of Congress, and by the said act of the Territorial legislature; that such location is so made between St. Paul and the southern line of said Territory; that the said railroad is located upon, over, and across, and includes, the land upon which the alleged trespasses mentioned in the complaint in this action are therein stated to have been committed; the said land being a portion of one of the sections granted to the Territory of Minnesota in and by said act of Congress. That after such survey and location were made as aforesaid, and on the 12th day of October, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, and at divers other times between that day and the day of the commencement of this action, the defendants, by and with their necessary agents, officers, and servants, did go upon that part of the tract of land mentioned and described in the complaint in this action, upon and over which the said railroad was and is located as aforesaid, and upon no other part of the said land, for the purpose of constructing the said railroad, as the said defendants lawfully might do, and then and there, within the proper and necessary width of the tract of the said railroad, as they had the lawful right to do, did cut down and prostrate the trees in the complaint in this action mentioned, and carefully removed the same from the said track, doing no unnecessary damage to the plaintiff, such cutting down, prostration, and removal being incident and necessary to the construction of the said railroad. there, and that such cutting down, prostrating, and removing, and no other, are the several supposed trespasses in the complaint mentioned. RICE, HOLLINSHEAD & BECKER, Territory of Minnesota-District court, first district, Goodhue county. The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA against The MINNESOTA AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD COMPANY. The reply of the plaintiffs to the answer of the defendants in this action, respectfully shows to this court: That, after the directors and officers of said company were elected, and entered upon the discharge of their duties, as mentioned in the said answer, and before the said trespasses or any of them were committed, to wit: on the fourth day of August, in the year 1854, an act was passed by the Congress of the United States, and approved by the President thereof, in the following words, to wit: AN ACT for the relief of Thomas Bronaugh, and for the repeal of the "Act to aid the Territory of Minnesota in the construction of a railroad therein," approved the twenty-ninth day of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-four. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to increase the pension of Thomas Bronaugh, who is now on the rolls at four dollars, to the rate of eight dollars per month, to commence January first, eighteen hundred and fifty-four. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the bill entitled "An act to aid the Territory of Minnesota in the construction of a railroad therein," which passed the House of Representatives on the twentieth day of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, and which was approved by the President of the United States on the twenty-ninth day of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, be, and the same is hereby, repealed. Approved August 4, 1854. JOHN E. WARREN, United States District Attorney. Territory of Minnesota-District court, first district, Goodhue county. The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA against The MINNESOTA AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD COMPANY. The defendants demur to the reply of the plaintiffs in this action, and say, that the matters therein alleged are not sufficient to entitle the plaintiff to maintain this action against the defendants, because they say that the act of Congress mentioned and set forth in said reply is void and of no effect, so far as it relates to the repeal of the act of Congress approved June 29, 1854, mentioned and set forth in the answer of the defendants. RICE, HOLLINSHEAD & BECKER, Territory of Minnesota-The district court, first judicial district, Goodhue county. The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA against The MINNESOTA AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD COMPANY. This cause having been argued by Mr. Wilkinson and Mr. Rice, of counsel for the defendants, in support of the demurrer to the plaintiff's reply in this action, and by Mr. Brisbin, of counsel for the plaintiff, in opposition thereto, and due deliberation being had by the court It is ordered that said demurrer be, and the same is hereby allowed, and that judgment be entered for the defendants herein. Dated November 4, 1854. W. H. WELCH, Territory of Minnesota-The district court, first judicial district, county of Goodhue. The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA against The MINNESOTA AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD COMPANY. This cause having been tried by the court, the Hon. William H. Welch, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and judge of the said district court, presiding, on the issue of law joined by the demurrer of the defendants, and the decision in writing of the said chief justice, &c., in favor of the said defendants, and allowing such demurrer, having been filed— Now, on motion of Rice, Hollinshead & Becker, attorneys for said defendants, it is adjudged that the United States of America, the plaintiff, take nothing by this action, and that the Minnesota and Northwestern Railroad Company, the defendants, go thereof without day. Dated November 9, 1854. P. SANFORD, Clerk. |