147 Iowa 441 | Iowa | 1910
This is a suit for the recovery of real property; the plaintiff alleging that he is the absolute owner thereof, and that the defendant unlawfully keeps him out of possession. The land in controversy is within the limits of the grant by act of Congress approved May 12, 1864, chapter 84, granting lands to the state of Iowa “for the purpose of aiding in the construction of a railroad from Sioux City, in said state to the south line of the state of Minnesota at such point as the said state of Iowa may select, also to said state, for the use and benefit of the McGregor Western Railroad Company for the purpose of aiding in the construction of a railroad from a point at nr near Main street, South McGregor, in a westerly direction .. ... until it shall intersect with the sáid road running from Sioux City to the Minnesota state line.” The grant was of every alternate odd-numbered section for ten sections in width on each side of the. roads, and provides that the lands thereby granted should be subject to the disposal of the Legislature of
Section 1. That the Secretary of the Interior be and is hereby- authorized and directed to immediately adjust, in accordance with the decisions of the Supreme Court, each of the railroad land grants made by Congress to aid in the construction of railroads and heretofore unadjusted.
Sec. 2. That if it shall appear upon the completion of such adjustments respectively, or sooner, that lands have been, from any cause, heretofore erroneously certified or patented by the United States to or for the use or benefit of any company claiming by, through or under grant from the United States, to aid in the construction of a railroad, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Interior to thereupon demand from such company a relinquishment or reconveyance to the United States, of all such lands, whether within granted or indemnity limits. ...
Sec. 4. That as to.all lands which have been so erroneously certified or patented as aforesaid, and which have been sold by the grantee company to citizens of the United States, or to persons who have declared their intention to become such citizens, the person or persons so purchasing in good faith, his heirs or assigns, shall be entitled to the land so purchased, upon making proof of the fact of such purchase at the proper land office, within such time and under such rules as may be prescribed by*446 the Secretary of the Interior, after the grants respectively shall have been adjusted.
At the time of the passage of this act, there were lands in O’Brien and Dickinson Counties that had been patented to the state, but never to the railroad company, and which the state still held, amounting to twenty-one thousand six hundred and ninety-two and eighteen one-hundredths acres. At this time also the Sioux City Company had received from the state patents for all of the lands it had earned or was entitled to under the grant. On August 11, 1887, the United States requested the state to reconvey to it the twenty-one thousand six hundred and ninety-two and eighteen one-hundredths acres, which included the land in controversy. On the 11th day of September, 1888, one Ellen M. Childs entered into a written contract with the Sioux City Company for the purchase of the land in controversy, making a small payment in cash and agreeing to pay the balance in installments. On the 4th day of October, 1889, the United States commenced an action against the Sioux City Company and others asking that its title to the twenty-one thousand six hundred and ninety-two and- eighteen one-hundredths acres be quieted. Such action was finally tried, and resulted in a decree in favor of the United States. Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad Company v. United States, 159 U. S. 349 (16 Sup. Ct. 17, 40 L. Ed. 177). On October 8, 1889, the plaintiff took an assignment of the Childs contract, and on the same day entered into an agreement with the railroad company as follows:
That in the event of a decision in the above-entitled action in the United States Supreme Court adverse to said Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad Company as to the title to the said lands above described, the said parties' of the second part will within ninety days thereafter surrender said original agreement and this modification thereof to the parties of the first part, at St. Paul, Minnesota, and re*447 ceive therefor from the said parties of the first part, or either of them, the amount which has been paid on the said agreement on account of principal and interest mentioned in said original agreement, and the same to be received and accepted by said second parties in full settlement of all their rights under said original agreement and this modification thereof, and as a release of any and all claims suffered by said parties of the second part, their heirs, executors, administrators or assigns, by reason of the failure of the title of said parties of the first part to said land.
It was also agreed between-the plaintiff and the company that the time of the payments would be extended, and that the company would pay the taxes.
The facts relative to the possession are as follows: Up- until 1884 it' was unimproved, vacant, wild prairie. In that year one Bierbower broke a few furrows around the entire half section, but did not reside on the land. In the same year one Peterson broke four or five acres along the south line of the land, but left during the same year, and made no claim to it. In the same year one Fitzgerald, who lived on adjacent land, broke six or seven acres in the northeast corner, and in' 1885 cropped the land broken and continued in possession until 1890, except as hereinafter stated. In 1887 one Weir built a small house on the south half of the northwest quarter of the section, moved into the house with his family, and cultivated a part of the land. On the 1st of April, 1888, the defendant bought Weir’s improvements and his interest in the land and moved into the house with his family, where he has lived up to the present time. Early in 1888 ' Fitzgerald leased the land of the Sioux Oity Company and remained in possession as its tenant that .year, and the following year as the tenant of plaintiff’s assignor. In the spring of 1888 the defendant sowed five or six acres of oats on breaking that had been done on the land before he moved on to it, but, when he attempted
The plaintiff relies for a reversal of the judgment upon the following propositions: First, because the. defendant acquired possession of the land in controversy by trespass, and under this head it is said that the defendant could not at the time homestead more than eighty acres, and, farther, could then acquire no homestead rights therein because it was then reserved by the United States; second, an estoppel based on the fact that the plaintiff was a good-faith purchaser within the meaning of the act of Congress of 1887; and, further, under the same head, for the reason that the defendant was in privity with the United States, and must show that he is entitled to a patent under the homestead law; third, that both the United States and the defendant are estopped by the allegations of the former in its suit against the Sioux City Company; fourth, that, where one of two equitable titles of equal strength is joined with the legal title without notice of the other equity, the legal title can not be
In support of the decree, the appellee contends that the act of May 12, 1864, was not a grant in praesenti to the Sioux City Company, but a grant to the state in trust, the trust to be administered in a particular manner; that the title to the land remained in the state, and was restored and reconveyed to the United States as unearned land, and was at no time 'vested in the railroad company; that the act of March 3, 1887, was a general one applicable to all grants, but contemplated adjustments only where the grant had vested the title in the railroad company, and not where, as in the act of 1864, the title remained in the state, or where it had reverted to the United States on account of the failure of the railroad company to earn the grant within the stipulated time; that the appellant was not a purchaser in good faith under the act of 1887, or independent of it, and is not entitled to protection as such; that the plaintiff, being only a speculator and purchaser in bad faith, • acquired no rights in the land against the defendant’s rights as a homestead claimant; that the defendant, having made legal settlement on the land, has done all that he is required to do to perfect his homestead right, and all that he is required to do to protect it.
It is more convenient to first take up the appellee’s propositions. The appellant concedes that the act of 1864 was not a grant in praesenti to the railroad company; hence we need give that subject no consideration. In view of the conclusion which we reach' on other matters presented, we deem it unnecessary to determine whether the land in controversy was subject to adjustment under the act of March 3, 1887. The question was certified to the Supreme Court of the United States in Knepper v. Sands, 194 U. S. 476 (24 Sup. Ct. 744, 48 L. Ed. 1083). It was not definitely determined, however, the
In Knepper v. Sands, supra, it was held that, as the fourth section of the adjustment act of 1887 had no reference to unearned lands purchased after the date of that act, a purchaser thereafter could not become one in good faith within the meaning of the act.
A careful examination of every question presented by the appellant and of the entire record leaves no doubt in our minds as to where the equities are. We think the decree of the district court right, and it is therefore affirmed.