homesteader who had actual notice of the adverse claim of the Des Moines Navigation Company at the time of making such preëmption or homestead claim, and only paid the necessary fees to the land officers, and who made no valuable improvements on the land so preëmpted or homesteaded. Such claims and all the facts relating to them shall be reported to Congress. All other just claims shall be paid in the order of their approval, by the Secretary of the Interior; and no money shall be paid thereunder in any case until the findings of the Commissioner, in each case, are approved by the Secretary of the Interior, who shall have full authority to control all proceedings authorized by this paragraph.”
Finally a clause was incorporated in the Sundry Civil Act of March 3, 1893, in the Fifty-third Congress which read as follows:
“To enable the Secretary of the Interior to ascertain what persons made entry of lands within the limits of the so-called Des Moines River land grant for the improvement of the navigation of the Des Moines River in Iowa, the date of such entry, and the respective amounts paid to the United States and the date of such payments; also the names of the persons who received certificates of entry or patents from the United States and the date of such certificates or patents: also the sum or sums paid by the holders of such certificates or patents, their heirs or assigns, to purchase the paramount title as settled by the decisions of the courts and also the value of such paramount title in cases where such purchase has not been made by any of the holders of such certificates or patents and to ascertain such other facts as in his judgment are necessary to enable the United States to properly and equitably adjust the claims of persons who entered upon such lands, receiving from the proper officials written evidence of entry or settlement upon any of such lands, $8,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be immediately available and the said Secretary shall make report thereon at the first session of the Fifty-third Congress.”
In pursuance of this act Robert L. Berner was appointed a special agent to investigate the Des Moines River land grant claims. He proceeded to make a thorough examination of the entire complicated subject with eminent fairness and ability, and on the 7th of May, 1895, submitted to the Secretary of the Interior a comprehensive history of the original land grant with a clear statement of all of the various decisions of the officers of the Land and Treasury Departments, the different At-
