36 Minn. 447 | Minn. | 1887
The only substantial grounds upon which a-, claim for the relief sought can be based are (1) that the lots in ques-. tion had, prior to the condemnation proceedings, been appropriated in behalf of the state for the use of the university; and (2) that the. construction of the particular line of railroad in question, for which these lots are so taken, would prove so injurious to the university, whose buildings are located on lands in the vicinity, as to warrant the court in restraining the construction and operation of the road over the proposed line.
These questions were to be determined by the facts found upon the evidence in the case. As the evidence relating to these subjects is.
1. The court finds that, as appears from the records of the regents of the university, the professor of agriculture had recommended “that authority be granted to the executive committee to purchase lots adjoining the horticultural grounds, for the erection of a farm-house and the necessary outbuildings, if it should be thought best to do so.” This appears to have been in June, 1882. The communication was accordingly referred to the executive committee for their action. This committee was composed of four or five members; and subsequently two of the members of the committee negotiated for and purchased seven lots, viz., lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and'8, in block 13, in St. Anthony city, including the three lots in controversy, at the agreed price of $4,900, and obtained a deed therefor, running to one of them, purporting to convey the same to him, January 21, 1884; and the title thereto still remained in him at the commencement of these eondem- . nation proceedings. It is further found “that the purchase-money belonged to the university, and the title was taken in the name of one of the two members referred to, by their mutual arrangement,” tc facilitate the transfer of such portion o'f said property as might bo desirable to sell. “A verbal report of said purchase was made to the regents, but no action was ever taken thereon.” It also appears “that the professor of agriculture^of said university desired to have erected upon lots 4, 5, 6, and 7, of block 13, a cottage for the assistant superintendent of agriculture, and a barn in which to keep two or more horses employed on the campus, and for storing tools, etc.; but no action in respect to such matter was ever taken by such regents, so far as appears from the records of their meetings.” The title to lot 6, which the professor desired for a site of the proposed cottage, was not acquired, but is owned by the defendant; “that said regents never made any appropriation of said property other than as above stated, nor has it ever been occupied by plaintiff for any purpose whatever. ” There are no other findings of fact upon the question.
The person holding the legal title, as well as the state, was made a party to the condemnation proceedings. The attorney general appeared and answered, setting up the claim of the university to the premises, and there is no reason to doubt that the rights of the plaintiff were fully represented and protected; and, upon the record of the state of the title, we think the court was warranted in refusing the
2. The trial court were also of the opinion that the injury to the plaintiff caused by the operation of trains on defendant’s road is not likely to prove so serious as to warrant the interference of the court by injunction. It is difficult to see how this court, under the findings of- fact, could come to any different legal conclusion. The evidence not being here, we cannot assume that other or different findings of fact should have been made. The disturbance likely to be occasioned to the educational work of the university by the noise and jar of trains upon defendant’s road, which is laid in a cut thirty feet deep, and separated by a street from the campus, and from 600 to 800 feet from the present university building, is, by comparison, found by the court to be little, if any, more than that occasioned by the passing and repassing of loaded wagons over the ordinary streets of a city. How far away a railroad should be removed, in order to avoid all interference with astronomical instruments or observations, does not appear, but it is found, in substance, that, for all practical purposes for instruction in the university, no substantial inconvenience will result to its educational interests, or in the practical use of an observatory upon the university campus, from the operation of the defendant’s line of road, or even that of another railroad which runs still nearer the university buildings.
Judgment affirmed.