And for the purpose of granting
all claim or right of the Government to said lands for the benefit of
the grantees of the State of Iowa, Congress, on the 2d day of March,
1861, passed a joint resolution providing that all the title still
retained by the United States in the lands above the Raccoon Fork, in
the State of Iowa, "which have been certified to said State improperly
by the Department of the Interior as part of the grant by act of
Congress approved August 8, 1846, and which is now held by _bona
fide_ purchasers under the State of Iowa, be, and the same is hereby,
relinquished to the State of Iowa."
Afterwards, and on the 12th day of July, 1862, an act of Congress was
passed extending the grant of 1846 so as to include lands lying above
the Raccoon Fork.
The joint resolution and act of Congress here mentioned have been
repeatedly held by the Supreme Court of the United States to supply a
title to the lands mentioned in the deed from the State of Iowa to the
Navigation and Railroad Company, which inured to the benefit of said
company or its grantees.
No less than ten cases have been decided in that court more or less
directly establishing this proposition, as well as the further
proposition that no title to these lands could prior to said
Congressional action be gained by settlers, for the reason that it had
been withdrawn and reserved from entry and sale under the general land
laws.
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