Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 3.djvu/276

 The question of the extent of the Des Moines River grant now became of vital interest to the various parties to whom the several grants were to inure and application was again made to the Secretary of the Interior to settle the conflicting decisions as to the northern limits of the Des Moines River grant. The Secretary referred the matter to the Attorney-General, Cabel Cushing, who on the 29th of May, 1856, gave his official opinion as follows:

Up to this time the State had been claiming the lands on each side of the river to the northern limits of the Territory, which was much further north than the northern line of the State as it was admitted into the Union. Thus the matter stood when the Seventh General Assembly took steps to terminate the contract with the Navigation Company, on the ground that it had failed to prosecute the work in good faith in accordance with the contract.

A joint resolution was passed proposing terms of settlement with the Company and instructing the Governor to enjoin the Company, in case of its failure to accept the terms of the settlement proposed, from proceeding further with the improvement of the Des Moines River. The president of the Company had brought mandamus proceedings to compel the transfer to the Company of 89,000 additional acres of land, but the Supreme Court denied the writ for the following reasons:

“I. That the Company had failed to complete one-fourth of the work each year, as required by the contract.

“II. That the Company had failed to show a readiness or willingness to perform such work as required by the contract.

“III. Because from the petition and record, it was doubtful whether any amount was due the Company.”

The Legislature at this session passed an act making