Talk:Wisconsin Central Company v. Price County

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Edition:	Wisconsin Central Company v. Price County, under the laws of Wisconsin, was the owner of certain lands situated in the town of Worcester, in the county of Price, in that state, and had a patent for them from the state bearing date on the 25th of February, 1884, upon which taxes had, in the year 1883, been assessed by that county, although, as claimed by the plaintiff, the title to a part of these lands was at that time in the United States, and to the remainder of them in the state of Wisconsin Upon a claim that the lands were thus exempt from taxation, the plaintiff, in April, 1884, brought the present suit in a circuit court of the state, to obtain its judgment that the state taxes were illegal, and to enjoin proceedings for their enforcement The facts out of which this claim that the lands were exempt from taxation arose, are briefly these: On the 5th of May, 1864, congress passed an act making a grant of lands to the state of Wisconsin to aid in the construction of three distinct lines of railway between certain designated points 13 St 66 One of these lines is now held by the plaintiff The grant in aid of it is in the third section of the act, the language of which is as follows: 'That there be, and is hereby, granted to the state of Wisconsin, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of a railroad from Portage City, Berlin, Doty's Island, or Fond du Lac, as said state may determine, in a north-western direction, to Bayfield, and thence to Superior, on Lake Superior, every alternate section of public land designated by odd numbers, for ten sections in width on each side of said road, upon the same terms and conditions as are contained in the act granting lands to said state to aid in the construction of railroads in said state, approved June three, eighteen hundred and fifty-six But in case it shall appear that the United States have, when the line or route of said road is definitely fixed, sold, reserved, or otherwise disposed of, any sections, or parts thereof, granted as aforesaid, or that the right of pre-emption or homestead has attached to the same, that it shall be lawful for any agent or agents of said state, appointed by the governor thereof, to select, subject to the approval of the secretary of the interior, from the lands of the United States nearest to the tier of sections above specified, as much public 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 right of pre-emption or homestead has attached as aforesaid, which lands (thus selected in lieu of those sold, and to which the right of pre-emption or homestead has attached as aforesaid, together with sections and parts of sections designated by odd numbers as aforesaid, and appropriated as aforesaid) shall be held by said state, or by the company to which she may transfer the same, for the use and purpose aforesaid: provided, that the lands to be so located shall in no case be further than twenty miles from the line of said road' The seventh section enacted 'that whenever the companies to which this grant is made, or to which the same may be transferred, shall have completed twenty consecutive miles of any portion of said railroads, supplied with all necessary drains, culverts, viaducts, crossings, sidings, bridges, turn-outs, watering places, depots, equipments, furnitu e, and all other appurtenances of a first-class railroad, patents shall issue conveying the right and title to said lands to the said company entitled thereto, on each side of the road, so far as the same is completed, and coterminous with said completed section, not exceeding the amount aforesaid, and patents shall in like manner issue as each twenty miles of said road is completed: provided, however, that no patents shall issue for any of said lands unless there shall be presented to the secretary of the interior a statement, verified on oath or affirmation by the president of said company, and certified by the governor of the state of Wisconsin, that such twenty miles have been completed in the manner required by this act, and setting forth with certainty the points where such twenty miles begin, and where the same end; which oath shall be taken before a judge of a court of record of the United States' The ninth section declared 'that if said road mentioned in the third section aforesaid is not completed within ten years from the time of the passage of this act, as provided herein, no further patents shall be issued to said company for said lands, and no further sale shall be made, and the lands unsold shall revert to the United States' By the act of congress of April 9, 1874, the time for the and for the reversion of the lands was extended to December 31, 1876 18 St p 28, c 82 .
Source:	Wisconsin Central Company v. Price County from http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/US/133
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