EXTENSION OF BOUNDARIES, INCORPORATED TOWNS IN

ALASKA.

APRIL 23, 1912.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. DAVENPORT, from the Committee on the Territories, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 17592.]

The Committee on Territories, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 17592) to authorize the extension of the boundaries and to include additional areas within incorporated towns in Alaska, having duly considered the same, reports the bill without amendment and recommends that it do pass.

The committee finds that the act of April 28, 1904, entitled "An act to amend and codify the laws relating to municipal corporations in the District of Alaska" provides that any community in Alaska having 300 or more permanent inhabitants may incorporate as a municipal corporation. The act provides that a petition signed by 60 or more residents of the community praying for such incorporation and describing the boundaries of the proposed town shall be presented to the judge of the United States district court in the district where the town is located. The statute provides that public notice shall be given and that those who favor and those who do not favor incorporation shall be heard by the judge. If the judge is satisfied that it is for the best interest and welfare of the community to incorporate he is authorized to call an election in the community and the people within the boundaries so finally settled by the court shall have the right to vote for or against the incorporation. The law provides for the canvass of the election by the officials appointed by the court, and if the incorporation is carried the area included within the boundaries described in the order of the court calling for the election becomes an incorporated town in Alaska.

The defect in the law, which H. R. 17592 is intended to supply, is that there is no law to authorize the extension of the boundaries or to

include therein any additional area. It has been shown to your

committee that both at Ketchikan and Valdez additional area immediately adjoining the incorporated area has been divided into lots, blocks, streets, and alleys, and the town extended outside of the

incorporated area. In Ketchikan the incorporated area extends to the line of the ordinary high tide, but it has been shown to your committee that between that line and the line of deep water there is a considerable area which has been covered with docks, city blocks, hotels, stores, churches, and all manner of business houses and dwellings which are not within the town limits as incorporated, but require more police and fire protection and more street work than the town itself.

It is proposed to extend the town boundaries so as to include this frontage of Ketchikan. No part of it now pays taxes to support police protection, fire protection, or road and street work. All the licenses collected within this part of Ketchikan are paid into the United States Treasury and carried into the Alaska fund, and 70 per cent thereof is used for building wagon roads more than 500 miles away from Ketchikan, and the remaining 30 per cent is used for maintaining public schools in distant localities.

The situation at Valdez is similar, but was worse than that at Ketchikan. It is for the purpose of enabling these communities to extend the boundaries of their incorporated areas to include adjoining areas that the bill is now reported favorably.

There is now no law to accomplish the purpose contemplated in the bill reported; it is necessary for the proper growth and development of towns in Alaska, and the committee recommends its passage.

LEGALIZING CONVEYANCES MADE BY UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY CO.

APRIL 24, 1912.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. NORRIS, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 16689.]

The Committee on the Judiciary, to which was referred the bill (H. R. 16689) to legalize certain conveyances heretofore made by the Union Pacific Railroad Co. and its successors, having considered the same, report thereon with the recommendation that it pass with the following amendments:

First. Page 1, line 3, after the word "by," insert the following: "And all rights acquired by adverse possession against."

Second. Page 1, line 3, after the amendment just suggested, the word "the" before "Union" should begin with a capital letter.

Third. Page 1, line 4, after the word "or," strike out the word "by."

Fourth. Page 1, line 5, the word "the," preceding the word "Union," should begin with a capital letter.

Fifth. Page 2, add a new section, as follows:

SEC. 2. That all conveyances, agreements, or acts heretofore made or done by, and all rights acquired by adverse possession against The Union Pacific Railroad Company, or the Union Pacific Railway Company, or The Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company, or the successors or assigns of any of them, conveying any land forming a part of the right of way between Denver, Colorado, and Cheyenne, Wyoming, of or by any of said companies under any act of Congress or defining the limits of said right of way or restricting the same, are hereby legalized, validated, and confirmed: Provided, That said conveyances, agreements, or acts shall not have the effect to diminish said right of way to a less width than fifty feet on each side of the center of said railroad as now established and maintained.

The necessity for this legislation is brought about on account of a dispute that has arisen within the last few years regarding the width of the right of way of the Union Pacific Railroad Co. While the bill as introduced is general in its terms, the controversy exists principally along the said line of said railroad in the State of Nebraska and in Colorado on the line of said road running from Denver to Cheyenne. The

railroad company claims that its right of way is 400 feet wide, while the abutting owners in the State of Nebraska claim that the right of way through that State is only 200 feet wide, and as far as the controversy in that State is concerned it is this 100 feet on each side of the right of way that is in dispute. In the line running from Denver to Cheyenne, particularly where the road passes through the city of Greeley and some other towns and villages, while the railroad company is claiming a width of 400 feet for its right of way, the abutting property owners claim that said right of way is only 100 feet wide.

In order to understand the situation it is necessary to review briefly some of the history of congressional legislation as it applies to this railroad. The first legislation on the subject was an act of Congress, passed in 1862, providing for the organization of the Union Pacific Railroad. This act provided for the incorporation of the company and granted it certain public lands as a bonus. The act contains the following provision:

That the right of way through public lands be, and the same is hereby, granted to the said company for the construction of said railroad to the extent.of two hundred feet in width on each side of said railroad where it may pass over public lands, including all necessary grounds for stations, buildings, workshops, depots, machine shops, switches, sidetracks, turntables, and water stations.

Other parts of the act made various provisions for the filing of maps, etc., and for the definite location of the railroad, and contained provisions as to the time of commencing the construction of the road. The act was formally accepted by the company and the terms agreed t, but nothing was actually done by the company toward the construction of such road until after the passage of the act of 1864.

In 1864 Congress passed another act amending the act of 1862. The amendatory act, among other things, doubled the amount of land given the company as a bonus. The odd-numbered sections of land along said right of way were granted to the company. The even-numbered sections still remained public land and subject to entry under the various laws of the United States. Whatever was done by the railroad company in the way of accepting the provisions of the act of Congress, filing the maps of location, etc., was done after the passage of the act of 1864. The said amendatory act of 1864 contained, among other things, the following provisions:

And be it further enacted, That the Union Pacific Railroad Company and all other companies provided for in this act and the act of which this is amendatory be, and are hereby, empowered to enter upon, purchase, take, and hold any land or premises that may be necessary and proper for the construction and working of said railroad, not exceeding in width one hundred feet on each side of its center line unless a greater width be required for the purpose of excavation or embankments, and also any lands or premises that may be necessary and proper for turnouts, standing places for cars, depots, station houses, or any other structures required in the construction and operation of the said road.

There is no doubt that upon a fair examination of the evidence and consideration of all the facts surrounding and relating to the building of this road and the settlement of the country adjoining it, that for more than 40 years both the railroad company and the settlers along its line have acted upon the theory that the amendatory act of 1864 fixed the width of the right of way at 200 feet instead of 400 feet, and that the right of way was limited and fixed by the act of 1864, rather than by the act of 1862.

At the time of the passage of these acts the land in Nebraska over which this railroad was surveyed was almost without exception Government land. After the railroad was built, however, the settlers took up the even-numbered sections under the homestead and preemption laws and made settlements thereon, and in due time patents were issued by the Government to such settlers for such lands. The patents so issued by the Government to the settlers upon the even-numbered sections through which the railroad had been built contained no reservation of the right of way and made no reference whatever to the existence of said right of way over and across such lands, and so far as anything appears on the face of said patents there is no reservation by the Government whatever of any right of way. It is not claimed by any of the owners of these lands that by virtue of such patents they acquired any title whatever to the right of way of the railroad.

It is admitted that notwithstanding the absence of any such reservation, the settlers acquired no title whatever to any land properly included within the railroad right of way, and this fact is mentioned only for the purpose of showing that as far as the Government was concerned, in the issuing of its patents, it conveyed no notice whatever to the settlers of the existence of a right of way 400 feet wide. The odd-numbered sections given as a bonus to the railroad company were sold and conveyed to settlers, and with very few exceptions in the State of Nebraska, when the railroad company made such sale and issued either a contract for a deed or a deed to the land, a reservation was made of only 100 feet on each side of the center of the railroad. On the theory that the railroad right of way was 200 feet instead of 400, fences were built along such line both by the railroad company and by the settlers. The settlers who took up the evennumbered sections under the homestead and preemption laws cultivated their land up to within 100 feet on each side of the railroad. There seemed to be no dispute and no misunderstanding and this condition of things continued for about 40 years. As soon as the railroad company constructed its line of road it laid out towns all along its line on the odd-numbered sections which it owned and which had been deeded to it by the Government under the acts of Congress heretofore referred to. In laying out these towns they were without exception laid out on the theory that the right of way of the railroad company was 200 feet instead of 400 feet. Upon this 100 feet which has since come into dispute improvements were made and streets were laid out.

As a rule, in most of these new towns the principal street ran parallel with the railroad and was improved by the usual improvements and buildings that would be constructed in growing villages and cities. Some of these towns have grown to be cities. In the city of Grand Island, Nebr., this street, known as Front Street, is located entirely on this 100-foot strip of disputed territory. It has for quite a number of years been a paved street and been so maintained by the city. For quite a number of blocks the street is built up with modern buildings and occupied by business houses of various kinds. If this 100 feet were now taken by the railroad company as a part of its right of way it would leave all these buildings without any means of access except through an alley in the rear. All along the line of the railroad throughout this State various kinds of improve