Boone County IA Archives History - Books .....History Of The River Land Grant, Chapter 9 1914
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Book Title: HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY IOWA

CHAPTER IX
HISTORY OF THE RIVER LAND GRANT

   No legislative act has ever affected the interests of the people of the Des
Moines Valley in so great a measure as the act known in history as the Des
Moines River Land Grant; nor has any land grant made to the state for any
purpose created so much excitement and sorrow.

   In the first place it was a great mistake for any one to have supposed that
the Des Moines River could have been made navigable by any process of
improvement. The only excuse which can be offered is the fact that at, and
preceding the date on which the grant was made, there was a greater volume of
water in the river than there has been since that date. All the streams of an
unimproved country contain a larger volume of water than they do after the
country is improved.

   The Des Moines River Land Grant was passed and became a law August 8, 1846.
Just who it was that formulated this act is not generally known, but as the act
was passed by Congress about four months before Iowa became a state, the grant
must first have been proposed by A. C. Dodge, who was then the territorial
delegate in Congress. Through his influence, most likely, it was placed before
the committee on territories, of which Stephen A. Douglas was then chairman, and
by him placed on its passage.

   The wording of this act was not sufficiently specific to prevent differences
of opinion as to its meaning. The language of the act first says that the grant
was made for the improvement of the navigation of the Des Moines River, from its
mouth to the Raccoon Fork; and then follows the language defining the grant to
be "a moiety in alternate sections of the public lands (remaining unsold, and
not otherwise disposed of, encumbered or appropriated), in a strip five miles in
width on each side of the river to be selected within said territory, by an
agent, or agents, appointed by the governor thereof, subject to the approval of
the secretary of the treasury of the United States."

   If the language defining the grant had been as specific as that defining the
extent of the improvement to be made, there would have been no trouble in
defining its extent. The failure to fully define the extent of the grant brought
about different opinions and different rulings by officers who had to transact
the business relating to the grant.

  On the 17th of October, 1846, a little over two months after the passing of
this act, the commissioner of the general land office at Washington made a
request of the governor of the territory that he appoint an agent to select the
land under the river grant, giving it as his opinion at the same time, that the
grant extended only to the Raccoon Fork of the Dcs Moines River. This was the
first official pinion as to the extent of the grant ever given. There is not
much doubt that this opinion was strictly in accord with the original intent of
the grant.

   On the 17th of December the territorial authorities designated the odd
numbered sections as the land selected under this soon to be vexatious grant.
This selection included every odd section in five miles of the Des Moines River
below the Raccoon Fork.

   This was the last act under the territorial government relating to the river
land grant, for eleven days from the date of its passage the territory was
admitted into the Union as a state, and the territorial officers stepped down
and out, being succeeded by the state officers. The state authorities accepted
the selection made by the territorial agent, January 9, 1847, which was the
first act done by the state authorities relating to the business of this grant,
though not the last one by any means.

   On the 24th of the February following, the state created a board of public
works and to it was assigned the work of construction and management of the
river improvement, and the care, control, sale, disposal and management of the
lands granted to the state by the act of 1846.

   This board was elected by a majority of the voters of the state at an
election held on the first Monday in August, 1847. It consisted of a president,
secretary and treasurer, each of whom took the oath of office on the 22nd day of
September, 1847. The names of those on this board were: President, Hugh W.
Sample; secretary, Charles Corkery; treasurer, Paul Brattain. After filing their
bonds and taking the oath of office on the date above named they entered upon
the discharge of their duties.

   On the 17th of February, 1848, the commissioner of the general land office,
in an official communication to the secretary of the board of public works, gave
it as the opinion of his office that the river land grant extended the whole
length of the river within the state. This was the second opinion of this same
officer, the last one being the exact opposite of the first. This ruling was the
beginning of the confusion, misery and woe of this historic land grant.

   On the 19th of June, 1848, the President of the United States, without regard
to these rulings, if he knew that such rulings existed, placed on the market, by
proclamation, some of the lands above the Raccoon Fork. Here were the acts of
two officials relating to the extent of the river land grant. This conflict of
opinions led to a correspondence between the officers of the state and the
United States, which resulted in the promulgation of an opinion of the secretary
of the treasury of the United States, on March 2, 1849, to the effect that the
grant extended to the source of the river. The secretary of the treasury, who
rendered this opinion, was Hon. Robert J. Walker, in the last days of the
administration of President Polk.

   By reason of this ruling, on the 1st of the following June, the commissioner
of the general land office directed the receivers of the local land offices to
withhold from sale all the odd numbered sections within five miles of the river
above the Raccoon Fork.

   Up to this time, March 2, 1849, four rulings or conclusions had been made and
acted upon. As has already been stated the commissioner of the general land
office had decided first that the river land grant extended only to the Raccoon
Fork; but in a subsequent ruling decided that the grant extended to the north
line of the state. President Polk's proclamation of June 19, 1848, placing the
odd sections north of the Raccoon Fork upon the market, shows that he did not
think the grant extended above the fork. But the official opinion of his
secretary of the treasury, Robert J. Walker, given March 2, 1849, to the effect
that the grant extended to the north line of the state seems to have changed his
views so much that his proclamation was withdrawn and the sale of the odd
sections above the Raccoon Fork by the government discontinued.

   The ruling was made by Gen. Thomas Ewing, who, under the new administration
of President Taylor, was appointed to fill the office of secretary of the newly
created department of the interior, to which all matters pertaining to the
public lands had been assigned by law.

   On the 6th of April, 1850, Mr. Ewing declined to recognize the grant as
extending above the Raccoon Fork, without an explanatory act on the part of
Congress. The state appealed from this ruling to President Taylor, who turned to
the matter over to Reverdy Johnson, his attorney general. Mr. Johnson decided
that the grant extended to the north line of the state and that the ruling of
Robert J. Walker, on the 2nd of March, 1849, was a final adjudication of the
subject. This decision settled the question until the death of President Taylor,
which occurred July 10, 1850. Mr. Fillmore, the vice president, was sworn in and
a new cabinet was chosen.

   On the 29th of October, 1851, the question of the extent of the river land
grant came up again. It was discussed by Fillmore's cabinet, which decided to
recognize the claim of the state, to approve the selection of the odd sections
above the Raccoon Fork and to permit the state to go on with disposal of the
lands without prejudice to their claimants. After this ruling the question of
extent of the grant rested until i860, of which more will be said further on in
this article.

   Up to December, 1853, the state, through its board of public works, carried
on the work of improving the river, and the sale of the lands included in the
grant. A land office for the sale of these lands had in the meantime been
established at Ottumwa, Iowa.

   On January 15, 1849, an act passed the Legislature to reorganize the board of
public works, making their official terms three years instead of two, but the
first term of the secretary was to be two years and that of the treasurer one
year. This would bring about the election of one of the three members of the
board every year instead of electing all three of them at one time. The election
was held on the first Monday in August, 1849, and the following gentlemen were
chosen: President, William Patterson; secretary, Jesse Williams; treasurer,
George Gillaspy.

    The wording of this reorganizing act shows that the law makers of 1859 were
not altogether satisfied with the doings of the board of public work for the
preceding years.

   The next two years' experience with the reorganized board was little more
satisfactory than that of the first board. The result was that in February,
1851, an act of the Legislature abolished the board of public works, and in lieu
of it the offices of commissioner and register of the Des Moines River
improvement were created and filled by appointment of the governor. The
gentleman appointed to fill the new offices were: For commissioner, Ver Plank
Van Antwert; register, George Gillaspy. The Legislature seems to have been very
hard to please or else the men so far chosen were very unsatisfactory. At all
events the Legislature of 1853 made a law providing that the commissioner and
register should be elected by the voters of the state at an election to be held
on the first Monday in April, 1853. The gentlemen elected were: For
commissioner, Josiah H. Bonney; register, George Gillaspy. In 1855, William
McKay was elected commissioner; in 1858, William C. Drake was elected, and in
i860 the office was abolished. In 1855, John C. Lockwood was elected register,
and in 1857 that office was abolished.

   The legislative act of 1853, providing for the electing of these officers,
also empowered them to enter into a contract with some individual or company to
complete the improvement of the river, and thus relieve the state of the
prosecution of the work. To assist these officers in making and entering into a
contract of this kind, Hon. George C. Wright, of Van Buren County, afterwards
United States senator, and Uriah Biggs, of Wapello County, were chosen as
assistants. These were the officers who entered into the historic contract,
first with Henry O. Reiley, and then with the Des Moines Navigation and Railroad
Company, to complete the work of the improvement of the river.

   For its services the navigation company was to have all the lands included in
the original land grant not already disposed of by the state. This contract was
made June 9, 1854. It was no doubt entered into with good intentions on the part
of the state officers, but before the state got rid of the company it was
woefully swindled. In fact, the whole river land business from start to finish
was poorly managed by the state officers.

   The company took charge of the work of the river improvement on the date of
their contract, and continued it until March 22, 1858, at which time
disagreements and misunderstandings arose between the state and the company.

   Prior to the time of entering into the contract with the Des Moines
Navigation & Railroad Company the state had sold 327,314 acres of the river land
grant, the proceeds of which were paid out for salaries, work and material
furnished during the time the state board of public works had charge of the
improvement. Of the amount of land above named, 48,830 acres were above the
Raccoon Fork. These 327,314 acres of land were sold at $1.25 per acre, the
proceeds amounting to $409,142. It is a well settled fact that the state was
never benefited a single dollar for all this outlay of money. That any set of
men should fritter away such a sum of money without any visible results seems
incredible.

   The Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company had charge of the improvement
from June 9, 1854, to March 22, 1858, a period covering nearly four years.
During this time little progress was made on the work of the improvement, and it
was this slow andj dilatory progress that caused the disagreement between the
company and the state.

    In pursuance of this contract the state on the 14th of May, i855, conveyed
to this company 88,853 acres of the land grant, and again on the 6th of May,
1856, conveyed 116,636 acres more, making in the two conveyances 205,489 acres.
At $1.25 an acre, this amounted to $256,788. It is not to be wondered at that
the state should be dissatistied over the expenditure of this amount of money
with nothing, or next to nothing, accomplished.

   On the 22nd day of March, 1858, a proposition for settlement was made by the
state, bv the terms of which the company was to execute to the state a full
release of all contracts, agreements and claims against the state, including
water rents and dredge boat and pay the state $20,000, the state agreeing to
convey to the navigation company all of the lands granted by Congress in the act
approved August 8, 1846, which, up to that time, had been approved and certified
to the state by the general government, except such as had been sold.

   Although the state gave the company sixty days in which to accept this
proposition, it was accepted on the double quick, and the $20,000 was paid. In
pursuance of this settlement the state deeded to the navigation company 256,703
acres of land on the 3rd day of May, 1858, and again on the 18th of May, 1858,
another patent was issued to the company by the state conveying 9,303 acres,
making a total of 266,108 acres.

   As already stated, 205,489 acres had been conveyed to this company on May 14,
1S55, and May 6, 1856, and in these two conveyances 266,108 acres more, making a
total of lands received by this company from the state of 471,597 acres of land,
which, at $1.25 an acre, amounted to $589,311. This settlement was one of the
most colossal swindles or blunders which, up to that date, had taken place in
the state. The navigation company seems to have had the Legislature completely
under its control.

   In this settlement the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company clims to have
expended on the improvement from first to last $554,547.84. The state
commissioner on examination of the work figured the amount expended at $274,542.
A joint committee of the Legislature had also reported upon this expenditure,
making it about the same as the state commissioner had figured it. These figures
are given in the special message of Governor Ralph P. Lowe to the Legislature,
dated February 16, 1858, only one month and six days before making the
settlement with the company. The surprising part of this settlement is that the
Legislature gave to the company lands amounting in cash to many thousands of
dollars more than it claimed to have expended, as the figures given show.

   At the conclusion of this settlement all further thought of making the Des
Moines River navigable was abandoned. By this time the people were completely
disgusted with the navigation scheme and had turned their thoughts toward a
railroad.

   March 22, 1858, an act passed the Legislature granting to the Keokuk, Fort
Des Moines & Minnesota Railroad Company all the lands included in the River Land
Grant not then sold by the state or pledged to the navigation company in the
settlement just made. This grant was made to aid in the construction of a
railroad from the mouth of the Des Moines River to the north line of the state,
provided Congress would consent that the remainder of such lands should be used
for that purpose.

   At the fall election in 1858, the proposition to so divert the remainder of
these lands from the original purpose of improving the navigation of the river,
to the building of the railroad, was submitted to the people of the state and a
large majority voted in favor of it. After this decision of the people, Congress
gave its consent that the remainder of the lands might be so diverted.

   As it afterwards developed the navigation company was really the Keokuk, Fort
Des Moines & Minnesota Railroad Company, and instead of improving the river it
had been devoting a portion of its time to the building of the railroad which,
at the time of the settlement, was completed from Keokuk to Benton's Port, a
distance of about forty miles.

   Work on the railroad continued, and it was completed to Ottumwa early in the
year 1860. About this time another conflict of rulings took place in the land
department at Washington. In 1859 the Dubuque & Pacific Railroad Company claimed
a part of the lands conveyed by the state to the navigation company, and a case
entitled "Dubuque & Pacific Railroad Company vs. was tried in the Supreme Court
in April, 1860.

   The court decided that the original river land grant did not extend above the
Raccoon Fork. This decision brought the sale of the "river land," as it was then
called, and the further extension of the railroad, to a standstill. As a
pacification to the settlers on a considerable portion of these lands, the
commissioner of the general land office at Washington gave notice that none of
the land would be sold by the Government until the matter was thoroughly
considered by Congress.

   On the 2d day of March, 1861 (112 stat. 251) Congress passed a joint
resolution to quiet title to lands in the State of Iowa. This joint resolution
was simply intended to confirm the title of all bona fide purchasers claiming
title of these lands above the Raccoon Fork, to whom the state, or any of its
grantees, had conveyed title.

   After the passage of this resolution, the river company claimed title under
it, but the courts decided that titles to real estate could not pass by
resolution, and that an act of Congress would be necessary to pass title.

   On the 12th of July, 1862, Congress passed an act extending the river land
grant of August 8, 1S46, from the Raccoon Fork to the north line of the state.
This act confirmed the title of the river company and the railroad company,
giving them the privilege of selling their lands to the settlers at an
exorbitant price, a thing that greatly troubled and discouraged the settlers on
these lands. It was thought when this act passed Congress that it would settle
forever the question of title to the land in dispute, but it worked such a
hardship to the settlers that further litigation followed.

   From first to last this land grant seems to have been a stumbling block among
the officials at Washington. As late as 1863 a patent was issued to Hannah J.
Riley for 160 acres of land in Webster County, signed by Abraham Lincoln. It
seemed to the settlers that this patent would hold the land, and that if it held
good the Government could convey also in like manner any of the lands claimed by
the river company.

    In 1868 a man named Wells, who was a grantee of the river company, brought
action to dispossess Mrs. Riley of the home on which she held the patent
referred to. The court decided that the river land title was good and assessed
the cost against Mrs. Riley, after which papers for her eviction were issued and
executed. This was the last of the court decisions and under it most of the
settlers, who did not buy their homes at an advanced price, were forced off of
them by orders from the courts. Finally in 1894 an act to indemnify the settlers
was passed and the few remaining ones received a small compensation for the home
they were forced to leave. This ended the historic river land troubles,
extending over a period of forty-eight years, beginning in 1846 and ending in
1894.


Additional Comments:
Additional Comments:

[Transcriber's note: The first 5 chapters have to do with a brief and very
general history of Iowa, geology, and Native American sociology. These chapters
will not be transcribed.]

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF BOONE COUNTY
IOWA
N. E. GOLDTHWAIT
SUPERVISING EDITOR
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME I
CHICAGO
PIONEER PUBLISHING COMPANY
1914

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