Morrison Waite

“ In such a case, the State must look for its indemnity to the provisions of sect. 7 of the act. As against all the world, except the pre-emption settler, the title of the United States passed to the State upon the completion of the surveys; and if the settler failed to assert his claim, or to make it good, the rights of the State became absolute. The language of the court is (p. 214) : 'These things [settlement and improvement under the law] being found to exist when the survey ascertained their location on a school section, the claim of the State to that particular piece of land was at an end ”

“ In 1851, the company commenced the construction of a canal upon the unoccupied and unsurveyed public lands of the United States, for the purposes of supplying water to miners and others. This canal was completed, at large expense, in April, 1853, and the premises in controversy are included within its limits. ”