USA > Iowa > History of western Iowa, its settlement and growth. A comprehensive compilation of progressive events concerning the counties, cities, towns, and villages-biographical sketches of the pioneers and business men, with an authentic history of the state of Iowa > Part 10
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
VI. THE DES MOINES RIVER GRANT.
By act of Congress, approved August 8, 1846, a grant of land was made for the improvement of the navigation of Des Moines River, as follows:
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there be, and hereby is, grant- ed to said Territory of Iowa, for the purpose of aiding said Territory to improve the navigation of the Des Moines River from its mouth to the Raccoon Fork (so called) in said Territory, one equal moiety, in alternate sections, of the public lands (remaining unsold and not otherwise disposed of, incumbered or appro- priated), 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.
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the lands hereby granted shall not be conveyed or disposed of by said Territory, nor by any State to be formed out of the same, except as said improvement shall progress; that is, the said Terri- tory or State may sell so much of said lands as shall produce the sum of thirty thousand dollars, and then the sales shall cease until the Governor of said Ter- ritory or State shall certify the fact to the President of the United States that one-half of said sum has been expended upon said improvements, when the said Territory or State may sell and convey a quantity of the residue of said lands sufficient to replace the amount expended, and thus the sales shall pro- gress as the proceeds thereof shall be expended, and the fact of such expendi- ture shall be certified as aforesaid.
SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said River Des Moines shall be and forever remain a public highway for the use of the Government of the United States, free from any toll or other charge whatever, for any proper- ty of the United States or persons in their service passing through or along the same; Provided always, That it shall not be competent for the said Terri- tory or future State of Iowa to dispose of said lands, or any of them, at a price lower than, for the time being, shall be the minimum price of other public lands.
SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That whenever the Territory of Iowa shall be admitted into the Union as a State, the lands hereby granted for the above purpose shall be and become the property of said State for the purpose contemplated in this act, and for no other: Provided, the Legislature of the State of Iowa shall accept the said grant for the said purpose." Approved August 8, 1846.
By joint resolution of the General Assembly of Iowa, approved January 9, 1847, the grant was accepted for the purpose specified. By another act, approved February 24, 1847, entitled "An act creating the Board of Public Works, and providing for the im- provement of the Des Moines River," the Legislature provided for a Board consisting of a President, Secretary and Treasurer, to be elected by the people. This Board was elected August 2, 1847, and was organized on the 22d of September following. The same act defined the nature of the improvement to be made, and pro- vided that the work should be paid for from the funds to be derived from the sale of lands to be sold by the Board.
Agents appointed by the Governor selected the sections desig- nated by "odd numbers" throughout the whole extent of the grant, and this selection was approved by the Secretary of the Treasury. But there was a conflict of opinion as to the extent of
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the grant. It was held by some that it extended from the mouth of the Des Moines River only to the Raccoon Forks; others held, as the agents to make selection evidently did, that it extended from the mouth to the headwaters of the river. Richard M. Young, Commissioner of the General Land Office, on the 23d of February, 1848, construed the grant to mean that "the State is entitled to the alternate sections within five miles of the Des Moines River, throughout the whole extent of that river within the limits of Iowa." Under this construction, the alternate sec- tions above the Raccoon Forks would, of course, belong to the State; but on the 19th of June, 1848, some of these lands were, by proclamation, thrown into market. On the 18th of September, the Board of Public Works filed a remonstrance with the Com- missioner of the General Land Office. The Board also sent in a protest to the State Land Office, at which the sale was ordered to take place. On the 8th of January, 1849, the Senators and Repre- sentatives in Congress from Iowa also protested against the sale, in a communication to Hon. Robert J. Walker, Secretary of the Treasury, to which the Secretary replied, concurring in the opin- ion that the grant extended the whole length of the Des Moines River in lowa.
On the 1st of June, 1849, the Commissioner of the General Land Office directed the Register and Receiver of the Land Office at Iowa City "to withhold from sale all lands situated in the odd numbered sections within five miles on each side of the Des Moines River, above the Raccoon Forks." March 13, 1850, the Commissioner of the General Land Office submitted to the Secre- tary of the Interior a list "showing the tracts falling within the limits of the Des Moines River grant, above the Raccoon Forks, etc., under the decision of the Secretary of the Treasury, of March 2, 1849," and on the 6th of April following, Mr. Ewing, then Secretary of the Interior, reversed the decision of Secretary Walker, but ordered the lands to be withheld from sale until Con- gress could have an opportunity to pass an explanatory act. The Iowa authorities appealed from this decision to the President (Taylor), who referred the matter to the Attorney General (Mr. Johnson). On the 19th of July, Mr. Johnson submitted as his opinion, that by the terms of the grant itself, it extended to the very source of the Des Moines, but before his opinion was pub- lished President Taylor died. When Mr. Tyler's cabinet was formed, the question was submitted to the new Attorney General (Mr. Crittenden), who, on the 30th of June, 1851, reported that in his opinion the grant did not extend above the Raccoon Forks. Mr. Stewart, Secretary of the Interior, concurred with Mr. Crittenden at first, but subsequently consented to lay the whole subject be- fore the President and Cabinet, who decided in favor of the State.
October 29, 1851, Mr. Stewart directed the Commissioner of the General Land Office to "submit for his approval such lists as had
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been prepared, and to proceed to report for like approval lists of the alternate sections claimed by the State of lowa above the Raccoon Forks, as far as the surveys have progressed, or may here- after be completed and returned." And on the following day, three lists of these lands were prepared in the General Land Office.
The lands approved and certified to the State of Iowa under this grant, and all lying above the Raccoon Forks, are as follows:
By Secretary Stewart, Oct. 30, 1851. 81,707.93 acres.
March 10, 1852 143,908.37 66
By Secretary Mclellan, Dec. 17, 1853 33,142.43 66
Dec. 30, 1853 12,813.51
Total. 271,572.24 acres.
The Commissioners and Register of the Des Moines River Im- provement, in their report to the Governor, November 30, 1852, estimate the total amount of lands then available for the work, including those in possession of the State and those to be surveyed and approved, at nearly a million acres. The indebtedness then standing against the fund was about $108,000, and the Commis- sioners estimated the work to be done would cost about $1,200,000,
January 19, 1853, the Legislature authorized the Commissioners to sell "any or all the lands which have or may hereafter be granted, for not less than $1,300,000."
On the 24th of January, 1853, the General Assembly provided for the election of a Commissioner by the people, and appointed two Assistant Commissioners, with authority to make a contract, selling the lands of the Improvement for $1,300,000. This new Board made a contract, June 9, 1855, with the Des Moines Navi- gation & Railroad Company, agreeing to sell all the lands donated to the State by Act of Congress of August 8, 1846, which the State had not sold prior to December 23, 1853, for $1,300,000, to be expended on the improvement of the river, and in paying the indebtedness then due. This contract was duly reported to the Governor and General Assembly.
By an act approved January 25, 1855, the Commissioner and Register of the Des Moines River Improvement were authorized to negotiate with the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company for the purchase of lands in Webster County, which had been sold by the School Fund Commissioner as school lands, but which had been certified to the State as Des Moines River lands, and had, therefore, become the property of the Company, under the provis- ions of its contract with the State.
March 21, 1856, the old question of the extent of the grant was again raised, and the Commissioner of the General Land Office decided that it was limited to the Raccoon Fork. Appeal was made to the Secretary of the Interior, and by him the matter was re- ferred to the Attorney General, who decided that the grant ex-
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tended to the northern boundary of the State; the State relin- quished its claim to the lands lying along the river in Minnesota, and the vexed question was supposed to be finally settled.
The land which had been certified, as well as those extending to the northern boundary within the limits of the grant, were reserved from pre-emption and sale by the General Land Commissioner, to satisfy the grant of August 8, 1846, and they were treated as hav- ing passed to the State, which from time to time sold portions of them prior to their final transfer to the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company, applying the proceeds thereof to the improve- ment of the river in compliance with the terms of the grant. Prior to the final sale to the Company, June 9, 1854, the State had sold about 327,000 acres, of which amount 58,830 acres were lo- cated above the Raccoon Fork. The last certificate of the General Land Office bears date December 30, 1853.
After June 9th, 1854, the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company carried on the work, under its contract with the State. As the improvement progressed, the State, from time to time, by its authorized officers, issued to the Company, in payment for said work, certificates for lands. But the General Land Office ceased to certify lands under the grant of 1846. The State had made no other provision for paying for the improvements, and disagree- ments and misunderstanding arose between the State authorities and the Company.
March 22, 1858, a joint resolution was passed by the Legislature submitting a proposition for final settlement to the Company, which was accepted. The Company paid to the State $20,000 in cash, and released and conveyed the dredge boat and materials named in the resolution; and the State, on the 3d day of May, 1858, executed to the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company fourteen deeds or patents to the lands, amounting to 256,703.64 acres. These deeds were intended to convey all the lands of this grant certified to the State by the General Government not pre- viously sold; but, as if for the purpose of covering any tract or parcel that might have been omitted, the State made another deed of conveyance on the 18th day of May, 1858. These fifteen deeds, it is claimed, by the Company, convey 266,108 acres, of which about 53,367 are below the Raccoon Fork, and the balance, 212,741 acres, are above that point.
Besides the lands deeded to the Company, the State had deeded to individual purchasers 58,830 acres above the Raccoon Fork, making an aggregate of 271,571 acres, deeded above the Fork, all of which had been certified to the State by the Federal Government.
By act approved March 28, 1858, the Legislature donated the re- mainder of the grant to the Keokuk, Fort Des Moines & Minne- sota Railroad Company, upon condition that said Company assumed all liabilities resulting from the Des Moines River improvement operations, reserving 50,000 acres of the land in security for the
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payment thereof, and for the completion of the locks and dams at Bentonsport, Croton, Keosauqua and Plymouth. For every three thousand dollars' worth of work done on the locks and dams, and for every three thousand dollars paid by the Company of the lia- bilities above mentioned, the Register of the State Land Office was instructed to certify to the Company 1.000 acres of the 50,000 acres reserved for these purposes. Up to 1865, there had been presented by the Company, under the provisions of the act of 1858, and al- lowed, claims amounting to $109,579.37, about seventy-five per cent. of which had been settled.
After the passage of the Act above noticed, the question of the extent of the original grant was again mooted, and at the Decem- ber Term of the Supreme Court of the United States, in 1859-60, a decision was rendered declaring that the grant did not extend above Raccoon Fork, and that all certificates of land abore the Fork had been issued without authority of law and were, therefore, void (see 23 How., 66).
The State of Iowa had disposed of a large amount of land with- out authority, according to this decision, and appeal was made to Congress for relief, which was granted on the 3d day of March, 1861, in a joint resolution relinquishing to the State all the title which the United States then still retained in the tracts of land along the Des Moines River above Raccoon Fork, that had been improperly certified to the State by the Department of the Interior, and which is now held by bona fide purchasers under the State of Iowa.
In confirmation of this relinquishment, by act approved July 12, 1862, Congress enacted :
That the grant of lands to the then Territory of Iowa for the improvement of the Des Moines River, made by the act of August 8, 1846, is hereby extended so as include the alternate sections (designated by odd numbers) lying within five miles of said river, between the Raccoon Fork and the northern boundary of said State; such lands are to be held and applied in accordance with the provis- ions of the original grant, except that the consent of Congress is hereby given to the application of a portion thereof to aid in the construction of the Keokuk, Fort Des Moines & Minnesota Railroad, in accordance with the provisions of the act of the General Assembly of the State of Iowa approved March 22, 1858. And if any of the said lands shall have been sold or otherwise disposed of by the Un'tel States before the passage of this act, except those released by the United States to the grantes of the State of Iowa, under joint resolution of March 3, 1861, the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to set apart an equal amount of lands within said State to be certified in lieu thereof; Provided, that if the State shall have sold and conveyed any portion of the lands lying within the limits of the grant the title of which has proved invalid, any lands which shall be certified to said State in lieu thereof by virtue of the provisions of this act, shall inure to and be held as a trust fund for the benefit of the per- son, or persons, respectively, whose titles shall have failed as aforesaid.
The grant of lands by the above act of Congress was accepted by a joint resolution of the General Assembly, Sept. 11, 1862, in extra ses- sion. On the same day, the Governor was authorized to appoint one or more Commissioners to select the lands in accordance with the
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grant. These Commissioners were instructed to report their selec- tions to the Registrar of the State Land Office. The lands so se- lected were to be held for the purposes of the grant, and were not to be disposed of until further legislation should be had. D. W. Kilburne, of Lee County, was appointed Commissioner, and, on the 25th day of April, 1864, the General Land Officer authorized the selection of 300,000 acres from the vacant public lands as a part of the grant of July 12, 1862, and the selections were made in the Fort Dodge and Sioux City Land Districts.
Many difficulties, controversies and conflicts, in relation to claims and titles, grew out of this grant, and these difficulties were en- hanced by the uncertainty of its limits until the act of Congress of July, 1862. But the General Assembly sought, by wise and ap- propriate legislation, to protect the integrity of titles derived from the State. Especially was it the determination to protect the actual settlers, who had paid their money and made improvements prior to the final settlement of the limits of the grant by Congress.
VII .- THE DES MOINES RIVER SCHOOL LANDS.
These lands constituted a part of the 500,000 acre grant made by Congress in 1841; including 28,378.46 acres in Webster County, selected by the Agent of the State under that grant, and approved by the Commissioner of the General Land Office February 20, 1851. They were ordered into the market June 6, 1853, by the Superin- tendent of Public Instruction, who authorized John Tolman, School Fund Commissioner for Webster County, to sell them as school lands. Subsequently, when the act of 1846 was construed to extend the Des Moines River grant above Raccoon Fork, it was held that the odd numbered sections of these lands within five miles of the river were appropriated by that act, and on the 30th day of December, 1853, 12,813.51 acres were set apart and ap- proved to the State by the Secretary of the Interior, as a part of the Des Moines River grant. January 6. 1854, the Commissioner of the General Land Office transmitted to the Superintendent of Public Instruction a certified copy of the lists of these lands, in- dorsed by the Secretary of the Interior. Prior to this action of the Department, however, Mr. Tolman had sold to individual pur- chasers 3,194.28 acres as school lands, and their titles were, of course, killed. For their relief, an act, approved April 2, 1860, provided that, upon application and proper showing, these purchas- ers should be entitled to draw from the State Treasury the amount they had paid, with 10 per cent. interest, on the contract to pur- chase made with Mr. Tolman. Under this act, five applications were made prior to 1864, and the applicants received, in the aggre- gate, $949.53.
By an act approved April 7, 1862, the Governor was forbidden to issue to the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad Company any cer- tificate of the completion of any part of said road, or any convey-
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ance of lands, until the company should execute and file, in the State Land office, a release of its claim-first to certain swamp lands; second, to the Des Moines River Lands sold by Tolman; third, to certain other river lands. That act provided that "the said company shall transfer their interests in those tracts of land in Webster and Hamilton Counties heretofore sold by John Tol- man, School Fund Commissioner, to the Register of the State Land Office in trust, to enable said Register to carry out and per- form said contracts in all cases when he is called upon by the parties interested to do so, before the 1st day of January, A. D., 1864.
The company filed its release to the Tolman lands, in the Land Office, February 27, 1864, at the same time entered its protest that it had no claim upon them, never had pretended to have, and had never sought to claim them. The Register of the State Land Of- fice, under the advice of the Attorney General, decided that pat- ents would be issued to the Tolman purchasers in all cases where contracts had been made prior to December 23, 1853, and remain- ing uncancelled under the act of 1860. But before any were issued, on the 27th of August, 1864, the Des Moines Navigation & Rail- road Company commenced a suit in Chancery, in the District Court of Polk County, to enjoin the issne of such patents. On the 30th of August, an ex parte injunction was issued. In Janu- ary, 1868, Mr. J. A. Harvey, Register of the Land Office, filed in the court an elaborate answer to plaintiffs' petition, denying that the company had any right to or title in the lands. Mr. Harvey's successor, Mr. C. C. Carpenter, filed a still more exhaustive answer February 10, 1868. August 3, 1868, the District Court dissolved the injunction. The company appealed to the Supreme Court, where the decision of the lower court was affirmed in December, 1869.
VIII. SWAMP LAND GRANT.
An act of Congress, approved March 28, 1850, to enable Ar- kansas and other States to reclaim swampy lands within their lim- its, granted all the swamp and overflowed lands remaining unsold within their respective limits to the several States. Although the total amount claimed by Iowa under this act does not exceed 4,000,000 acres, it has, like the Des Moines River and some of the land grants, cost the State considerable trouble and expense, and required a deal of legislation. The State expended large sums of money in making the selections, securing proofs, etc., but the General Government appeared to be laboring under the impression that Iowa was not acting in good faith; that she had selected a large amount of lands under the swamp land grant, transferred her interest to counties, and counties to private speculators, and the General Land Office permitted contests as to the character of the lands already selected by the Agents of the State as "swamp lands."
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Congress, by joint resolution Dec. 18, 1856, and by act March 3, 1857, saved the State from the fatal result of this ruinous policy. Many of these lands were selected in 1854 and 1855, immediately after several remarkably wet seasons, and it was but natural that some portions of the selections would not appear swampy after a few dry seasons. Some time after these first selections were made persons desired to enter parcels of the so-called swamp lands and offering to prove them to be dry. In such cases the General Land Office ordered hearing before the local land officers, and if they decided the land to be dry, it was permitted to be entered and the claim of the State rejected. Speculators took advantage of this. Affidavits were bought of irresponsible and reckless men, who, for a few dollars, would confidently testify to the character of lands they never saw. These applications multiplied until they covered 3,000,000 acres. It was necessary that Congress should confirm all these selections to the State, that this gigantic scheme of fraud and plunder might be stopped. The act of Congress of March 3, 1857, was designed to accomplish this purpose. But the Commis- sioner of the General Land Office held that it was only a qualified confirmation, and under this construction sought to sustain the action of the Department in rejecting the claim of the State, and certifying them under act of May 15, 1856, under which the rail- road companies claimed all swamp land in odd numbered sections within the limits of their respective roads. This action led to serious complications. When the railroad grant was made, it was not intended, nor was it understood that it included any of the swamp lands. These were already disposed of by previous grant. Nor did the companies expect to receive any of them, but under the decision of the Department adverse to the State the way was opened, and they were not slow to enter their claims. March 4, 1862, the Attorney General of the State submitted to the General Assembly an opinion that the railroad companies were not entitled even to contest the right of the State to these lands, under the swamp land grant. A letter from the Acting Commissioner of the General Land Office expressed the same opinion, and the Gen- eral Assembly by joint resolution, approved April 7, 1862, expressly repudiated the acts of the railroad companies, and disclaimed any intention to claim these lands under any other than the act of Congress of September 28. 1850. A great deal of legislation has been found necessary in relation to these swamp lands.
IX. THE RAILROAD GRANT.
One of the most important grants of public lands to Iowa for purposes of internal improvement was that known as the "Railroad Grant," by act of Congress, approved May 15, 1856. This act granted to the State of Iowa, for the purpose of aiding in the con- struction of railroads from Burlington, on the Mississippi River, to a point on the Missouri River, near the mouth of Platte River;
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from the city of Davenport, via Iowa City and Fort Des Moines to Council Bluffs; from Lyons City northwesterly to a point of inter- section with the main line of the Iowa Central Air Line Railroad, near Maquoketa; thence on said main line, running as near as practicable to the Forty-second Parallel; across the said State of Iowa to the Missouri River; from the city of Dubuque to a point on the Missouri River near Sioux City, with a branch from the mouth of the Tete des Morts, to the nearest point on said road, to be completed as soon as the main road is completed to that point, every alternate section of land, designated by odd numbers, for six sections in width, on each side of said roads. It was also provided that if it should appear, when the lines of those roads were definitely fixed, that the United States had sold, or right of pre-emption had attached to any portion of said land, the State was authorized to select a quantity equal thereto, in alternate sections, or parts of sections, within fifteen miles of the lines so located. The lands remaining to the United States within six miles on each side of said roads were not to be sold for less than the double minimum price of the public lands when sold, nor were any of said lands to become subject to private entry until they had been first offered at public sale at the increased price.
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