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Resolved, That all the taxes now levied and standing against the clear list of lands in Mills county, Iowa, belonging to the Burlington and Missouri river railroad company, be and the same is hereby remitted, provided, that said company shall construct their road when extended west on the line of their road where it was definitely fixed and located by the board of directors in March, 1857.

It may be proper before proceeding further to note the incorporation of this company. The act of incorporation was commenced by a preliminary meeting of some of the principal citizens of Burlington, Iowa, January 15, 1852; but it did not complete its organization nor become an efficient company until November 22, 1853. By March 22, 1854, it had completed seventy-five miles of its road, from Burlington to Ottumwa. Meanwhile the various congressional and state acts had been passed, relative to the swamp and other lands. The Burlington and Missouri River railroad, was one of the roads specified in the several acts, and it accepted the trust imposed by the state, July 25, 1856. By this grant the company received from the state to aid in the construction of its road 287,099 acres of land. This was subsequently increased to the aggregate of 390,072.23 acres, of which there are, in Mills county, 40,613 acres. For a history of the litigation between this company, and its successor, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the county, reference may be had to the swamp land troubles.

In 1868 another railroad scheme was projected through the county, and which was made the object of action on the part of the board of supervisors. It was the Chillicothe and Omaha railroad, which however was never completed. The action referred to bears date of January, 1868, and is as follows:

Resolved, That the sum of five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as shall be required therefor, be and the same is hereby appropriated for the survey and final location of the Chillicothe and Omaha railroad centrally through the county of Mills, making the county seat a point therein, and that as soon as the president of said company shall certify to the clerk of this board, and accompany said certificate with a plat of said survey and location, to be filed in his office, stating the amount that has been used for that purpose, the same not to exceed $500, shall thereupon be paid to him.

Soon after the coming of the Burlington and Missouri called for renewed action, and in the matter of taxes on the lands of that company, received in trust from the state to aid in its construction, the following action was had, bearing date of December, 1868:

Resolved, That in consideration and on condition that the Burlington and Missouri River railroad company shall locate the line of their road and build the same through Mills county, Iowa, via Glenwood, in said county, and also locate and build a depot at said town of Glenwood, it is hereby resolved by the board of supervisors of Mills county, in the state of Iowa, that the taxes that may have been or shall be levied on the lands belonging to said railroad company in said county, shall be and the same is hereby remitted, provided that this resolution shall not be so construed as to remit said taxes for more than two years to come, including also the taxes which have been and are now levied on and standing against said lands, it being the true intent and meaning of this resolution.

This action of the supervisors was destined to become one fraught with most important results, for in the trial of the causes which grew out of the swamp land grant between the county and the railroad company, it was used as a most potent argument in relation to the attitude of the county to the railroad when making the compromise relative to the suits pending in the supreme court of the United States. The road was completed, and the first train passed through Glenwood in the year 1869. The same company, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, control the Nebraska City & Sidney railroad, built in 1878, and the K. C., St. Joe & C., B. railroad, a history of which precedes. Besides the branches above indicated as being under the control of this great corporation, there is the Hastings & Avoca branch, which runs from the first named place to Carson City.

Another road has been recently completed through the county, the Wabash, or more commonly known as the Council Bluffs, Pacific & St.Louis railroad; this road pursues a very sinuous course through the county and is destined at no distant day to command no second place among its public institutions.

Thus the advantages of excellent railroad facilities are offered to the residents of this county at their best. To arrest or to seriously impair their usefulness would be detrimental to the highest interests of the people. The days of delayed mails and express could no longer be brooked, and should they at once cease to be, the community would be remanded to comparative barbarism. The rushing of the train keeps pace with the increase of business, and the latter is commensurate with the material wealth and resources of the county, a wealth which becomes annually greater by means of ready access to important business centers.

The attention of the reader is invited to the following statistics, relative to the railways of the county:

NAMES OF RAILROADS.

TABLE I.

Statement showing the Number of Miles of Railroad in the different Townships and Cities in Mills County, in May, 1880, as Certified by the County Surveyor.

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ASSESSM❜T

PER MILE.

66

66

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. Emerson City.
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. Hastings
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. Malvern
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. Glenwood "
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. Indian Creek township.. 8.56
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. Silver Creek
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. Glenwood
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. Plattesville
Chicaga, Burlington & Quincy. Center township .
K. C., St. Joe & C. B..
K. C., St. Joe & C. B....
K. C., St. Joe & C. B...
C. B. & St. Louis.
C. B. & St. Louis.

C. C: & St. Louis.
C. B. & St. Louis.
C. B. & St. Louis..
C. B. & St. Louis..
C. B. & St. Louis..
Nebraska City & Sidney
Nebraska City & Sidney
Nebraska City & Sidney.

66

St. Marys
Plattesville "
Lyons township.
Oak

$12 200

.44

.40

12,200

.59

12,200

.60

12,200

12,200

66

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Statement showing the length in Miles of the several Railroads in Mills County, Iowa, December 31, 1879, and the Assessed value thereto per Mile, as fixed by the Executive Council, March 18 to 29, 1880:

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THE SWAMP LAND TROUBLES.

For the purpose of enabling the reader to intelligently follow the history of the titles to the lands known as "Railroad lands" within the county the congressional and assembly acts relative thereto are transcribed as introductory to the several suits which have been instituted. The remarks following the acts are to be taken independently of them:

Following is the act of congress known as the

RAILROAD GRANT.

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 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 Platte River, from the city of Davenport, via. Iowa City and Fort Des Moines to Council Bluffs; from Lyons City northwesterly to a point of intersection with the main line of the Iowa Central Air Line Railroad, near Maquoketa; thence on said main line, running as nearly as practicable to the forty-second parallel; across the State of Iowa to the Misouri 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. But in case it shall appear that the United States have, when the lines or routes of said roads are definitely fixed, sold any sections or any part thereof, granted as aforesaid, or 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 State to select, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, from the lands of the United States nearest to the tiers 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 otherwise appropriated, or to which the rights of pre-emption have attached as aforesaid; which lands, (thus selected in lieu of those sold and to which pre-emption rights have attached as aforesaid, together with the sections and parts of sections by odd numbers as aforesaid, and appropriated as aforesaid) shall be held by the State of Iowa, for the use and purpose aforesaid:

Provided, That the land to be so located shall in no case be further than fifteen miles from the lines of said roads and selected for and on account of said roads: Provided further, that the lands hereby granted for and on account of said roads severally, shall be exclusively applied in the construction of that road for and on account of which such lands are hereby granted, 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 any 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 from the operations of this act, except so far as it may be found necessary to locate the routes of said railroads 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 grant shall remain to the United States, within six miles on each side of said road, shall not be sold for less than the double minimum price of the public lands when sold, nor shall any of said lands become subject to private entry until the same have been first offered at public sale at the increased price.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted; That the said lands hereby granted to the said state shall be subject to the disposal of the legislature thereof, for the purposes aforesaid, and no other; and the said railroads shall be and remain public highways, 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.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted; That the lands hereby granted to said state shall be disposed of by said state only in manner following, that is to say, that a quantity of land not exceeding one hundred and twenty sections for each of said roads, and included within a continuous length of twenty miles of each of said roads, may be sold; and when the governor of said state shall certify to the Secretary of the Interior that any twenty continuous miles of any of said roads is completed, then another quantity of land hereby granted, not to exceed one hundred and twenty sections for each of said roads having twenty continuous miles completed as aforesaid, and concluded within a continuous length of twenty miles of each of said roads, may be sold; and so from time to time until said roads are completed, and if any of said roads are not completed within ten years, no further sale shall be made, and the lands unsold shall revert to the United States.

SEC. 5. (Transportation section.)

The general assembly of the state of Iowa July 14, 1856, passed, among others, the following sections relative to the land hereinafter mentioned as the subject of litigation:

SEC. 2. That so much of the lands, interest, 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 in Missouri near the mouth of Platte river, are hereby disposed of, granted and conferred upon the Burlington & Missouri River railroad company, a body corporate, created and existing under the law of the state of Iowa.

SEC. 10. All persons, who at the time said grant was made, held valid claims of actual occupation and improvement upon any of the lands embraced in said grant, shall be protected in the same, and entitled to purchase and enter the same upon the terms and conditions hereinafter provided.

SEC. 11. Any person, wishing to avail himself of the provisions of this act, shall within three months of the passage thereof file his application for that purpose with the judge of the county where such lands may be situate, and shall prove to the satisfaction of said judge, that his claim is valid, and that the same existed at the time said grant was made; and upon such proof being made, such judge shall give to the applicant a certificate of the fact, and such certificate shall entitle the holder, or his bona fide assignee, to enter such land at two dollars and fifty cents per acre; Provided, That no person, claimant or assignee of a claim, shall be entitled to more than one hundred and sixty acres of land, under this act; And provided further, that the person asserting a claim, whether as claimant or assignee, shall file his affidavit that he has not, either directly or indirectly received the benefits of the provisions of this act. Before any rights shall be acquired under such certificate, a copy of the same, together with the evidence, shall be served on the secretary of the company interested, and such company shall have the right to appeal from the decision of such judge to the district court, in the same manner as appeals are taken from the decisions of the justice of the peace, at any time within ninety days after the service of such paper, and the same shall be tried as other appeal cases, and an appeal may be taken to the supreme court by either party, in the same manner as appeals in other cases.

By an act of Congress approved 28th September, 1850, all the overflowed and swamp lands within the state were granted to her, and the

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