St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Co. v. Greenalgh

delivered the opinion of the court.

The plaintiff, the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company, is a corporation created under the laws of Minnesota. The defendants are citizens of that State; and James Gfreenalgh, the grantee of his co-defendant, Charles W. Greenalgh, who received a patent of the United States, claims title to the land covered by that patent. The controversy in the case is over the ownership of this land, the plaintiff contending that it is a part of the grant made by Congress to the State of Minnesota on the 3d of March, 1857, to aid in the construction of certain railroads, and by the State conveyed to the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company, to the rights of which the plaintiff has succeeded. The defendants controvert this position, contending, first, that the premises in controversy were never covered by the grant to the State, and therefore never passed by its conveyance to the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company; and, second, that if they were a part of that grant, and by the conveyance of the State passed to that railroad company, the extension of the time to complete the road, which it was authorized to construct, released them from its claim.

In the case of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company v. The Northern Pacific Railroad Company, ante, 1, we had occasion to consider somewhat at length the grant of Congress to the State of Minnesota by the act of March 3, .1857, and the changes in it by subsequent legislation, particularly by the joint resolution of Congress of July 12, 1862, authorizing a change in the line of one of the branch railroads, and by the act of March 3, 1865, increasing the alternate sections granted on each side of the road from six to ten sections, and-enlarging the indemnity limits from fifteen to'twenty miles, and the act of March 3, 1871, authorizing a change of certain designated lines in consideration of the relinquishment of lands along them.

- In the year 1871 the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. Com

On February 15, 1872, after the map of definite location was filed, the Secretary of the Interior ordered a withdrawal from sale'or other disposition, of the odd-numbered sections within twenty miles. On June 18, 1872, the Secretary directed the vacation of this order. On the 26th of June the defendant, Charles W. Greenalgh, settled on the land in controversy, which is within ten miles of the line of the road* and within its place limits. See Barney v. Winona & St. Peter Railroad, 117 U. S. 228 , 231, correcting in this particular the decision in 113 U. S. 618 . After the settlement, he resided upon the land and made improvements thereon. He subsequently filed and proved up his claim, and obtained a patent of the United States. On September 4, 1872, the order of vacation was duly revoked. As thus seen the settlement of this defendant was commenced during the period when the withdrawal of the lands from sale or other disposition was not in force.

The act of Congress of June 22, 1874, 18 Stat. c. 424,' p. 203, in its first section declares that it extends to the St. Paul and Pacific Pailroad Company the time for the completion of its roads to March 3, 1876, and “no longer, upon the following

In its second section it required the company, as a condition of acquiring any rights under the act, to sign a formal acceptance of its conditions, and file such acceptance in the Department of the Interior for record and preservation. It does not affirmatively appear that any such acceptance was ever signed; but as the company continued to assert and exercise ownership over the road and other property, after the expiration of the time for completing the road, to the same extent as previously, it will be considered, in the absence of proof to the contrary, as having in fact accepted the conditions imposed, and relinquished all claim to the lands thus settled upon and occupied.

It seems also that the State of Minnesota, on the first of March, 1877, enacted that the railroad company should not, “ in any manner, directly of indirectly, acquire or become seized of any right, title, interest, claim or 'demand in- or to any piece or parcel of land . . . upon which any person or persons have in good faith settled, and made or acquired valuable improvements thereon, on or before the passage of the act.”

The road of the plaintiff under consideration here was not completed till November, 1878, and consequently the rights granted to the company were subject to forfeiture, or at least the company was subject to hostile proceedings, for breach of this condition attached by law to the grant. A mere breach of condition does not of itself work a forfeiture of a grant; some other proceeding must be taken by the grantor to indicate his dissatisfaction with the breach and his intention to exercise his rights to revoke the grant and take ■ possession of the property in consequence thereof. While, in this case no specific action was taken by Congress to work a forfeiture of

We think, therefore, that the defendant James W. Greenalgh, under the patent issued to his co-defendant Charles, upon proof of the latter’s settlement and subsequent improvements, had the better right to. the land in controversy, and the decree of the court below is

Affirmed.