This was a suit in equity brought by th St . Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Company, a Minnesota corporation, against Ransom Phelps, to quiet the title to about 80 acres of land in Richland county, North Dakota, particularly described as the E. 1/2 of the S. E. 1/4 of section 13, township 132, range 48, alleged to belong to the plaintiff, and which was claimed by the defendant. The bill was filed April 29, 1884, and set forth at great length the various steps by which the plaintiff derived its claim of title, averred that the defendant had no valid title to the land, by reason of plaintiff's prior right in the premises, and prayed that its own equitable title be quieted and protected, and the defendant be enjoined from setting up any claim whatever to the land, and for other and further relief, etc. The defendant answered, denying all the material allegations of the bill, and the plaintiff filed a replication. The case was tried upon an agreed statement of facts, and on the 3d of March, 1886, the circuit court announced its decision and opinion in writing, pursuant to which it ordered that the bill be dismissed at complainant's cost. The opinion is reported in 26 Fed. Rep. 569. On the 4th of March, 1886, a final decree was entered, dismissing the bill of complaint, and an appeal to this court was taken and allowed. The material facts in the case are, briefly, as follows: The plaintiff claims the land in dispute as the present beneficiary under the acts of congress approved March 3, 1857, (11 St. 195,) and March 3, 1865, (13 St. 526,) making a grant of lands to the territory of Minnesota, to aid in the construction of railroads. The provisions of the act of 1857 material to this issue are as follows: 'Be it enacted,' etc., 'that there be and is hereby granted to the territory of Minnesota, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of railroads, from Stillwater, by way of Saint Paul and Saint Anthony, to a point between the foot of Big Stone lake and the mouth of Sioux Wood river, with a branch via Saint Cloud and Crow Wing, to the navigable waters of the Red River of the North, at such point as the legislature of said territory may determine; from St. Paul and from Saint Anthony, via Minneapolis, to a convenient point of junction west of the Mississippi, to the southern boundary of the territory in the direction of the mouth of the Big Sioux river, with a branch, via Faribault, to the north line of the state of Iowa, west of range sixteen; from Winona, via Saint Peters, to a point on the Big Sioux river, south of the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude; also from La Crescent, via Target lake, up the valley of Root river, to a point of junction with the last-mentioned road, east of range seventeen,-every alternate section of land, designated by odd numbers, for six sections in width on each side of each of said roads and branches; but in case it shall appear that the United States have, when the lines or routes of said roads and branches are definitely fixed, sold any sections, or any parts thereof, granted as aforesaid, or that the right of pre-emption has attached to the same, then it shall be lawful for any agent or agents to be appointed by the governor of said territory or future state, to select, subject to the approval of the secretary of the interior, from the lands of the United States nearest to the tiers of sections above specified, so much land, in alternate sections, or parts of sections, as shall be equal to such lands as the United States have sold, or otherwise appropriated, or to which the rights of preemption have attached, as aforesaid; which lands (thus selected in lieu of those sold, and to which pre-emption rights have attached as aforesaid, together with the sections and parts of sections designated by odd numbers as aforesaid, and appropriated as aforesaid) shall be held by the territory or future state of Minnesota for the use and purpose aforesid: provided, that the land to be so located shall in no case be further than fifteen miles from the lines of said roads or branches, ad § elected for and on account of each of said roads or branches.' Section 3 provides 'that the said lands hereby granted to the said territory or future state shall be subject to the future disposal of the legislature thereof for the purposes herein expressed and no other.' Section 4 defines the manner in which the lands granted shall be disposed of by the territory or future state. The act of 1865 enlarged the original grant from 6 to 10 sections per mile on each side of the road, and the indemnity limits from 15 to 20 miles.