Joseph P. Bradley

“ The railroad company having claimed the right to appropriate certain of the lands in Mills county, which the county authorities claimed to be swamp and overflowed lands, the county, in December, 1863, commenced a suit in chancery against the railroad company to establish its title to the lands in question between them. The county court and the supreme court of the state decided in favor of the county, and the railroad company brought the case to this court by writ of error, where it was pending when the compromise agreement in question was entered into. ”

“ Upon further consideration of the whole subject we are convinced that the suggestion then made, that the application of the proceeds of these lands to the purposes of the grant rests upon the good faith of the state, and that the state may exercise its discretion as to the disposal of them, is the only correct view. It is a matter between two sovereign powers, and one which private parties cannot bring into discussion. Swamp and overflowed lands are of little value to the government of the United States, whose principal interest in them is to dispose of them for purposes of revenue ”

“ And as we have paid you all the land we have, we offer you for this balance $10,000 in money.
'The company should understand that the balance of 9,576 acres is the land, portions of which it has been settling with our individual citizens for, and there is included in the 9,576 acres all the lands the company has sold to citizen settlers at $1.25 per acre. ”