Mills Iowa v. Burlington Same v. Chicago

• Decision Date: 23 April 1883
• Citation: 2 S.Ct. 654,27 L.Ed. 578,107 U.S. 557
• Parties: MILLS Co., IOWA, v. BURLINGTON & M. R. R. Co. and others. SAME v. CHICAGO, B. & Q. R. Co
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

107 U.S. 557

2 S.Ct. 654

27 L.Ed. 578

MILLS Co., IOWA, v. BURLINGTON & M. R. R. Co. and others.

SAME

v. CHICAGO, B. & Q. R. Co.

April 23, 1883.

C. B. Lawrence and D. H. Solomon, for plaintiff in error.

S. Shellabarger and J. M. Wilson, for defendant in error.

BRADLEY, J.

These cases were consolidated and heard together in the state courts, both relating to the same subject-matter, viz., the validity of a compromise agreement made on the twenty-seventh of October, 1868, between Mills county, in the state of Iowa, and the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company, in reference to certain lands lying in said county, claimed by the county as swamp and overflowed lands, and claimed by the railroad company as railroad grant lands. The claim of the county was based on the act of congress approved September 28, 1850, entitled 'An act to enable the state of Arkansas and other states to reclaim the swamp lands within their limits;' and an act of the general assembly of the state of Iowa, entitled 'An act to dispose of the swamp and overflowed lands in the state of Iowa, and to pay the expenses of selecting and surveying the same,' approved January 13, 1853; and other acts of the general assembly of said state. The claim of the railroad company was based upon the act of congress of May 15, 1856, granting to the state of Iowa certain lands for the purpose of aiding the building of a railroad from Burlington, Iowa, to a point on the Missouri river, at or near the mouth of Platte river in Nebraska. The act of congress first referred to (9 St. 519) declared in effect 'that to enable the state of Iowa to construct the necessary levees and drains to reclaim the swamp and overflowed lands therein, the whole of those swamp and overflowed lands, made unfit thereby for cultivation, which shall remain unsold at the passage of this act, shall be, and the same are hereby, granted to said state.' And, after providing for listing and patenting the lands, it was, by section 2, enacted that 'the fee-simple to said lands shall vest in the state of Iowa, subject to the disposal of the legislature thereof: provided, however, that the proceeds of said lands, whether from sale or direct appropriation in kind, shall be applied exclusively, as far as necessary, to the purpose of reclaiming said lands, by means of the levees and drains aforesaid.'

The general assembly of Iowa, by an act passed January 13, 1853, declared 'that all swamp and overflowed lands granted to the state of Iowa by the act of Congress (September 28, 1850) be, and the same are, hereby granted to the counties respectively in which the same may lie or be situated, for the purpose of constructing the necessary levees and drains to reclaim the same; and the balance of said lands, if any there be, after the same are reclaimed as aforesaid, shall be applied to the building of roads and bridges, when necessary, through or across said lands, and if not needed for this purpose, to be expended in building roads and bridges within the county.'

On the twenty-second of March, 1858, the general assembly passed another act containing, among others, the following provisions:

(1) 'Be it enacted by the general assembly of the state of Iowa, that it shall be competent and lawful for the counties owning swamp and overflowed lands to devote the same, or the proceeds thereof, either in whole or in part, to the erection of public buildings for the purpose of education, the building of bridges, roads, and highways; for building institutions of learning, or for making railroads through the county or counties to whom such lands belong: provided, that before any of said lands, or the proceeds thereof, shall be so devoted to any of the purposes aforesaid, the question whether the same shall be so done shall be submitted, at some general or special election, to the people of the county.'

(2) 'The proper officer or officers of any county may contract with any person or company for the transfer and conveyance of said swamp or overflowed lands, or the proceeds thereof, or otherwise appropriate the same to such person or company, or to their use, for the purpose of aiding or carrying out any of the objects mentioned in the first section of this act, which said contract shall be reduced to writing and signed by the respective parties or their lawful authorized agents.'

Another section prescribed the mode in which elections should be called and held, and without which any contract should be void, and concluded with the following proviso:

'Provided, that no sale, contract, or other disposition of said swamp or overflowed lands shall be valid, unless the person or company to whom the same are sold, contracted, or otherwise disposed of, shall take the same subject to all the provisions of the acts of congress of September 28, 1850, and shall expressly release the state of Iowa, and the county in which the lands are situated, from all liability for reclaiming said lnad.'

The Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company was incorporated under the laws of the state of Iowa, January 23, 1852, for the purpose of constructing a railroad from Burlington to the most eligible point on the Missouri river. The act of congress under which said company claimed the lands, passed May 15, 1856, (11 St. at Large, 9,) granted to the state of Iowa, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of railroads 'from Burlington, on the Mississippi river, to a point on the Missouri river near the mouth of the Platte river,' etc., 'every alternate section of land, designated by odd numbers, for six sections in width on each side of said roads;' but it was provided that if any sections should be sold, or become subject to pre-emption, before the lines of the roads should be definitely fixed, other lands might be selected in lieu thereof, nearest to the tiers designated, but not to exceed 15 miles from the lines of the roads. It was further provided that the lands thus granted to the state should be subject to the disposal of the legislature thereof, for the purpose aforesaid, and no other. The general assembly of Iowa, by an act dated June 3, 1856, accepted this grant, and enacted (section 2) 'that so much of the lands, interests, rights, powers, and privileges as are or may be granted and conferred, in pursuance of the act of congress aforesaid, to aid in the construction of a railroad from Burlington, on the Mississippi river, to a point on the Missouri near the mouth of the Platte river, are hereby disposed of, granted, and conferred upon the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company, a body corporate, created and existing under the laws of the state of Iowa.' The acts and clauses of acts referred to are sufficient to show the general nature of the litigation which sprang up between the parties now before the court. The railroad company having claimed the right to appropriate certain of the lands in Mills county, which the county authorities claimed to be swamp and overflowed lands, the county, in December, 1863, commenced a suit in chancery against the railroad company to establish its title to the lands in question between them. The county court and the supreme court of the state decided in favor of the county, and the railroad company brought the case to this court by writ of error, where it was pending when the compromise agreement in question was entered into. That agreement consisted of a proposition made by the county authorities to the railroad company, which was accepted by the latter. The following is a copy of the papers which passed between them:

PROPOSITION OF THE COUNTY.

'In order to settle and finally adjust the lawsuit now pending in the supreme court of the United States, wherein Mills county, in the state of Iowa, is plaintiff, and the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company is defendant, and secure the completion of said road through Mills county, via Glenwood, in said county, we, the undersigned, agents of said county, submit the following proposition to the board of directors of said railroad company, to wit:

'There are in dispute between the parties to the said lawsuit 23,316 acres. For the purpose of having our proposition understood, we acknowledge that we owe you acres of land to the amount of 23,316; to pay which we have and offer you odd sections, vacant, (most of which is a part of the 23,316 acres,) and even sections patented to the county and unsold, in the aggregate 9,080 acres; balance of the land due you, 14,236 acres. For further payment we have and offer to you of the odd sections, (about all of which is of the 23,316 claimed by you,) subject to pre-emption made through the county, acres to the amount of (on which nothing has been paid to the county) 4,660. Of these pre-empted lands we estimate that about one-half of the pre-emptions are fraudulent, and ought not to be recognized; but the county must ask that where bona fide improvements have been made on the same, the pre-emptors must be secured in their right to the same, and have the privilege of purchasing at $1.25 per acre of the county or company, which amount shall, in any event, go to the railroad company. Now you will have land for land, subject only to the pre-emptor's claims, until there will be due you in acres 9,576.

'The remainder, 9,576 acres, belong to bona fide settlers and purchasers, who, we must insist, shall be protected by the county....