PUBLIC LANDS. 



rovided indeniniiie-i in such a way that nearly 1 tonagon, Ontonagon and Brule River. Bay Do Npquet 

 600,000 acres of gi>d land have been obtained so that and Marque 



certain agents could draw their percentages. A thofOUch 



investigation has. however, been ppi-i eiited by the 

 I .and Office. The United Slate- have also 

 granted lands from time to time to the several States 

 for educational purposes. At the ;>n sent tim< 

 there remain of .-noli lands I.S.",IHHM acres. The good 

 or bad use of such lands depends upon the people of 

 each State rcspoetivi ly. 



The most im|irtaiil and far-reaching grants of the 

 United States ha\c been those to railroads. Until 

 1850 tho development of the Western territory pro- 

 ceeded gradually and steadily, by normal and natural 

 methods of growth. Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois 

 had become pro-|>crous and populou- States rapidly, 

 it is true, but not by any speculative or adventitious 

 means. As emigration from the Ka.-t formed here and 

 there upon the Western prairies, and along the water- 

 courses of the great Mississippi Valley, the comforts 

 and conveniences of the Atlantic Slates soon followed 

 ill its train. Whore new railways were needed new- 

 rail ways were built, by private capital, in the ordinary 

 way. ju.-t as they had Iwen in the F.ast. But, in 184'.!, 

 the Calilbrnia gold fever quickened the pulse of the 

 nation to an unnatural degree. Ah at once a Slate of | 

 the Union loomed up in the far Wc.-t as far from ' 

 New York in one direction as Knrope was in the oppo- 

 site direction and the country awoke to realization of 

 the vast ness of its domain and its glorious possibilities 

 in the way of material wealth. Flmigration became a 

 national fever. Kvorylmdy who could do so went off to 

 Iowa, Minne.-ota. Kansas. Nebraska, California, Ore- 

 gon, and the intermediate Territories. The consequence 

 was that there was soon a great population in those 

 parts; but the inhabitants were wide !> scattered, and 

 there wore few large towns between St. Louis and 

 Sail Francisco. The several la\\s allowing grants to 

 railroads l>egan in IS.V) and ended in I.S74. Nearly all 

 the lands were taken by ISia'.. and their aggregate now 

 (lss>) is about 37.' This has been 



divided among the several Slates, in round num- 

 bers, by the thousand acres. as follows: Illinois, liiinii ; 

 Bippi, ]IKtO; Alabama. 31 too ; Florida, 17(10; 

 Ixiiiisiana, 1O71'; Arkansas. J."il7: Missouri. 1400; 

 Minnesota, 8000 ; Kan.-a-. 163X; Iowa. 47(IS ; Michi- 

 gan, 3.".l; Wisconsin. 3 KM I. I Id ween I Si,:: an. I ISr.'.l 

 a total of nearly J.Oiin.KiKi < rartod for wagon 



roads, as follows: Wis< sin, . Michigan, 



etl and North-western ; W 



sin Chicago. St. Paul. Minneapolis, and Omaha and 

 formerly \\ mri, and formerly Si. ('mix 



and Like Superior with branch to liaylield, Wis- 

 consin Kailroad Farm M i.ucl Company, 

 Chicago and North-western. Wi-cmi-in Central; 

 Minnesota St. Paul. Minneapolis, and Manitoba, 

 St. Paul and Pacific. Brainerd Branch. St. Vincent ex- 

 tension. Minnesota Central. Wiiioiia and Si. Peter. St. 

 Paul and Sioux City. St. Paul and Duluth. Southern 

 Minnesota and extension, Hasting- and Dakota; Kan- 

 sas Loavenworth. Lawrence, and < ialvcstnii. Missouri, 

 Kansas and Texas. Atchison. Toncka. and San 

 St. Joseph and Denver City, Missouri Kiver. Fort 

 Scott, and (Suit'. Corporations I'nion Paclfi. 

 tral Pacific, Western Pacific. Central Branch Union 

 Pacific. Kansas Division of Union Pacific. Burlington 

 and .Missouri Kivor in Nebraska. Sioux City an 

 cilio. Northern Pacific. Plaeorvillo and Sacramento 

 Valley of 1866 (declared forfeited in I8M), 

 Branch of Central Paeilic. Oregon and California. At- 

 lantic and Pacific. Southern Pacific and Branch Line, 

 Stockton and Copperopoli.- of Isii7 (declared fo, 

 in 1874), Oregon Central of ls7 (declared forfeited, 



as to parts, ill I >,-.">). Texas Pacific of 1S7I (declared 



forfeited in IS,-V>). New Orleans Pacific (formerly New 

 Orleans), Baton Koiiiro. and Viek.shur.ir of 1S7) (de- 

 clared forfoiled in .-mall part and continued in largo 

 part in 18H7). Of the grants to corporations the icrti- 

 lied acres were as follows, in thousands: Central I'a- 

 cilie. '.M',:; ; Central IVilic (>ucc t '->or to We.-tern Pa- 

 cilie), 4t<: Central Paeilic', Oregon Branch. 

 I'liion Paeilic. ly.Iti; ('nion Paeilic, central branch, 

 "1>: I'nion Paeilic, Kansas divi.-ion, '.K'i4 ; I'nion Pa- 

 cific, succes.-or to Denver Pacific. lt;.~> ; Burlington and 

 Missouri Kiver, in Nebra.-ka, 'J.'17:; ; Sioux Cily and 

 1'ueifie, 41 ; Northern Pacific. 71ii; Oregon and Cali- 

 fornia, lilil' ; Atlantic and Pacific. '.i.V.i ; Southern Pa- 

 cific, 104(1; Southern Paeilic. branch line, I sS ; New 

 Orleans Pacific. l,7v : total. 13,1 



Tlicse land grants had always been given with the 

 condition attached that the roads must be constructed, 

 finished, mid put into operation before a certain .-peei- 

 tiod time, failini: which tlic grant would be inoperalive. 

 No attention, however, was paid to this part of tin; 

 matter for many years, drains were made to one 

 road after another in quick succession, and the linn; 

 had not yet arrived for inquiry as to how the beneli- 



-'-I. (MX); Oregon, l.'Ji'iO.ooo. The grants for rail- ' claries were fulfilling their side of the contract. Then 

 roads to the several States wore spoiled toward eon- came the civil war. which concentrated all the care 

 the following railroads: Illinois Illinois and energy of the nation to the exclusion of all minor 



matters; and it was not until long after the war that 

 the L'oveniment bethought iisolf of the interest it had 

 in these Western roads. The Forty-seventh Cong 

 which began in IvSI. was the first Coiigre.-., to eon - . . 

 (he question of forfeiture. The question arose in this 

 way: Some settlers who had established hour 

 in the upper peninsula of Michigan wore sudder' 

 fronted by the agents of a railway company who 

 claimed their lands under the provisions of an old land 

 grant, the terms of which had never been complied 

 with by the company. The lands had belonged to the 



Central: Mississippi Mobile and Ohio, Vicksburg 

 and Meridian, (iulf and Ship Island; Alabama Mo- 

 bile and Ohio. Alabama and Florida. Solina, Koine, 

 and Dalton. Alabama and Tennessee, Coosa and Ten- 

 nessee, Mobile and ( lirard. Alabama and I 'hatlanooL'a. 

 South and North Alabama ; Florida Atlantic, d ulf. 

 and West India Transit. Florida and Alabama. Peiisa- 

 cola and (iooigia. Florida, Atlantic, and < Milt Central ; 

 Jjonisiana North Louisiana and Te Moans. 



O|K-lou-as and (ireat Western (in 1*70. act p.i-- ( d 

 forfeiting all lands not lawful 1 ; i of by the 



Slate); Arkansas 8t. Lmis. Iron Mountain, ami 

 Southern. Little Kock and Fort Smith, Memphis and 

 Little. Kock. St. Ijoiiis and Iron Mountain of IHl'.O 

 (which was declared forfeited in 1>M): Missouri 

 South-west Branch of the Paeilic, Hannibal and St. 

 Joseph. St. I/iiiis. Iron Mountain, and Southern. St. 

 I/oiii- and Iron Mountain (forfei led) : Iowa Burling- 

 ton and Missouri Kiver. Chicago. Kock Island, and 

 Pacific, Cedar Kapids and Mi--ouri Kiver. Dubiique 

 and Sioux City. Iowa Falls and Sioux City. Dos Moines 

 Valley. M.-I Iregor and Missouri l!i\. r. Chicago. Mil- 

 waukee, and St. Paul, Sioux City ami St. Paid; Mich 

 igan Port Huron and Like Michigan, Jackson, Lan- 

 sing, and Sagin.iw. lii.md Kapids ami Indiana. Flint 

 and Perc Marquette, Manjuette, Houghton, and On- 



company at one time by the language of the grant, 

 but tin' road had not been built, and the term of years 

 in which it was ordered to ! built had expired. The 

 settlers took the mailer to the' courts, including tho 

 Supremo Court, but the decision wa.- ai-ain>t them. In 

 despair they toned to Con-ivss f>r relief, and their 

 petition wa.- referred to the House . Judiciary Commit- 

 tee Nothing was done by this Congress; but the 

 Forty-eighth ' . in I-M. took up (lie mailer 



and 

 whic 



. 



a ed a re -..lintion that all railroad land grants 

 have not been earned by the fulfilment of tho 



conditions specified in the respective acts ought to be 

 declared forfeited and restored to the public domain; 

 and that the whole system of land laws now existing 

 ought to be overhauled, and so changed as to open the 



