Kansas City, Lawrence, & South Kansas Railroad v. Attorney General

Citations

• 118 U.S. 682
• 7 S. Ct. 66
• 30 L. Ed. 281
• 1886 U.S. LEXIS 1960

Syllabus

<p>The acts of Congress of March 8, 1863, 12 Stat. 772; July 1, 1864, 13 Stat. 339; and July 26, 1866, 14 Stat. 289, granting lands to the State of Kansas for railroad purposes, are to be construed in pari materia, and as having the one purpose of building a single road from Fort Riley, down the Neosho Yalley, to the southern line of that State, and not as distinct grants for different roads, which may come in conflict in the claims under them in regard to the lands granted.</p> <p>The junction of this road with the one from Leavenworth by way of Lawrence, in the direction of Galveston Bay, as provided in the act of 1863, was not required to be on the very crest of the Neosho Yalley, as reached by the latter road, but at a convenient point for such crossing in the narrow valley of the Neosho River; and as this point has been adopted by the companies building both roads, and accepted by the officers of the Land Department in selecting indemnity lands, there is no sufficient reason to be found in the point of junction to vacate the certification of those lands to the State for the company which has built the road and received the patents of the State.</p> <p>Nor is there any other sufficient reason found in the record in this case for setting aside the evidences of title to these lands issued to the corporation which built the road within the time required by law, to the approval of the officers of the government, whose primary duty it was to certify these lands, and who did so within the scope of their powers.</p>