Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 3.djvu/271

 F all the various grants of public lands made by Congress to aid works of internal improvement in the several States, probably none has been the subject of so much and long continued litigation as the grant of 1846, to aid in the improvement of the navigation of the Des Moines River. No land grant failed more signally in accomplishing the purpose for which it was made and none inflicted greater wrongs or hardships upon the pioneers who, in good faith, settled upon the public lands. The early history of the grant and the extravagant expectations indulged in by the projectors of the scheme to make the Des Moines River navigable for steamers, has been given in another place.

A summary of the conflicting claims to portions of the lands embraced in the grant and the diverse decisions of government officials and courts in relation thereto, reflects little credit upon these representatives of a great Nation. The grant was made by an act of Congress on the 8th of March, 1846, for the purpose of aiding the Territory of Iowa to improve the navigation of the Des Moines River from its mouth to the Raccoon Fork of said river. The grant embraced each alternate section, on both sides of the river, for a distance of five miles including such lands as had not been otherwise disposed of, the lands to be selected by agents to be appointed by the Governor of the Territory. Iowa became a State on the 28th of December, 1846, and the Legislature in January, 1847, by joint resolution accepted the grant. Jesse Williams and Josiah Bonney were the Commissioners appointed by Governor Briggs to select the lands. The Commissioners selected the odd numbered sections within the limits of the grant