Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 3.djvu/282

 sanction of that committee, as it was an attempt to create a title to an immense tract of land where no title had ever been granted to the claimants. He further said that a majority of the committee believed the whole proposition was wrong and that no part of the resolution ought to be passed.

The entire debate on the resolution shows that the intent of Congress was first to protect the actual settlers upon these lands and then permit the remainder of the grant to be used by the State to make good the titles given by sale of lands, by the State, to purchasers and settlers and to quiet the titles.

On the 7th of April, 1862, the General Assembly of Iowa passed a joint resolution requesting Congress to grant or confirm to the State all of the odd numbered sections known as river lands to the north line of the State to be used in paying the just claims assumed by the State against the Des Moines River improvement and in building a railroad along said river.

In compliance with this resolution Congress passed the following act which was approved on the 12th of July, 1862:

“That the grant of lands to the then Territory of Iowa, for the improvement of the Des Moines River, made by Act of August 8th, 1846, is hereby extended to include the alternate sections designated by odd numbers, lying within five miles of said river, between the Raccoon Fork and the northern boundary of the State; such lands are to be held and applied in accordance with the provisions of the original grant, except that the consent of Congress is hereby given to the application of a portion thereof to aid in the construction of the Keokuk, Des Moines and Minnesota Railroad, in accordance with the provisions of the act of the General Assembly of Iowa, approved March 22, 1858. If any of the said lands shall have been sold or otherwise disposed of by the United States before the passage of this act; except those released by the United States to the grantees of the State of Iowa under joint resolution of March 2d, 1861, the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to set apart an equal amount of lands within said State to be certified in lieu thereof. Provided, that if the State shall have sold and conveyed any portion of lands lying within the limits of this grant, the title of which has proved invalid, any lands which shall be