Edward Osborn v. Peter Froyseth
Decision Date | 14 March 1910 |
Docket Number | No. 395,395 |
Citation | 54 L.Ed. 619,216 U.S. 571,30 S.Ct. 420 |
Parties | EDWARD C. OSBORN and Joseph J. Slocum, as Trustees of the Hastings & Dakota Railway Company, Plffs. in Err., v. PETER FROYSETH |
Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
This was an action of ejectment to recover the southeast quarter of section 7, township 119, range 40, in Chippewa county, Minnesota. A jury was waived and the case tried by the court, which made a finding of facts upon which judgment was entered for the defendant. Upon appeal to the supreme court of the state, this judgment was affirmed. 107 Minn. 568, 119 N. W. 1135. Thereupon, in due course, this writ of error was sued out by the original plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs claim title under a land grant made by Congress, July 4, 1866 [14 Stat. at L. 87, chap. 168], known as the Hastings & Dakota Railway land grant. The premises are not within the place limits of that grant, but are included within the indemnity limits of the line of railroad as located, and were withdrawn from a settlement for the benefit of the grant on July 12, 1866, and again by a modified order of April 22, 1868. On May 26, 1883, the Hastings & Dakota Railway Company, for whose benefit the grant was made, and hereafter referred to as the railway company, attempted to select the land in question, together with other lands within the indemnity limits of the grant, but the selection was rejected by the local land office of the district. Upon appeal, this action was affirmed by the Secretary of the Interior on October 23, 1891. This attempted selection was refused, because not made in accordance with the rules of the Department, requiring, as a condition precedent, that there should be furnished by the railroad company a list of the lands lost within place limits for which lands in lieu were selected. On July 22, 1890, under the land grant adjustment act of March 3, 1887 (24 Stat. at L. 556, chap. 376, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 1595), said land grant was adjusted in the Land Department of the United States, and it was found that there existed a deficiency in the place limits of the grant of 922,182 acres, and that all of the lands within the indemnity limits applicable to cover such loss aggregated less than 100,000 acres. On May 28, 1891, pursuant to instructions from the Secretary of the Interior, the Commissioner of the General Land Office directed the officers of the proper local office that, after giving notice, they should restore to the public domain and open to settlement all the lands in the indemnity limits of said land grant, 'not embracing selections heretofore made and applied for by said company.'
After the final rejection, on October 23, 1891, of the original selection made in 1883, the predecessor of the plaintiffs in title made a second selection on October 29, 1891, of the land in suit, together with other lands, which last selection was in due form and in full compliance with the rules of the Department, and thereafter, through steps not necessary to be stated, the title acquired by this second selection under said grant was vested in the plaintiffs in error.
The tenth, eleventh, and twelfth findings of fact are in these words:
Messrs. Aldis B. Browne, Alexander Britton, and Evans Browne for plaintiffs in error.
Mr. C. A. Fosnes for defendant in error.
Mr. Justice Lurton, after making the foregoing statement of facts, delivered the opinion of the court:
The facts found show that on May 15, 1889, the defendant in error, being in every way qualified, entered upon the land in question with the intention of claiming it as a homestead, and has ever since continued in possession, residing thereon with his family, and that his improvements have at all times been such as to comply with the homestead laws, and exceeded in value $700 when this action of ejectment was started. On November 3, 1891, he offered at the proper land office a homestead entry, in due form, for said land. This was rejected. Upon appeal the decision was affirmed by the Secretary of the Interior on September 11, 1894. But the facts found in the trial court, and upon which the supreme court of Minnesota made its decision, show that this entry was refused by the local land office 'solely on the ground that said land was withdrawn from settlement by the executive withdrawal of April 22, 1868.' A rejection upon the ground stated was not authorized, for the Secretary of the Interior had no authority...
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