When default was made of payment of money so secured by mortgage, and no arrangement made for extension of time as the law provides, the Board of Supervisors were authorized to bring suit and prosecute it with diligence to secure said fund; and in action in favor of the county for the use of the school fund, an injunction may issue without bonds, and in any such action, when. service is made by publication, default and judgment may be entered and enforced without bonds. In case of sale of land on execution founded on any such mortgage, the atttorney of the board, or other person duly authorized, shall, on behalf of the State or county for the use of said fund, bid such sum as the interests of said fund may require, and if struck off to the State the land shall be held and disposed of as the other lands belonging to the fund. These lands are known as the Mortgage School Lands, and reports of them, including description and amount, are required to be made to the State Land Office.

IV. UNIVERSITY LANDS.

By act of Congress July 20, 1840, a quantity of land, not exceeding two entire townships, was reserved in the Territory of Iowa for the use and support of a university within said Territory when it should become a State. This land was to be located in tracts of not less than an entire section, and could be used for no other purpose than that designated in the grant. In an act supplemental to that for the admission of Iowa, March 3, 1845, the grant was renewed, and it was provided that the lands should be used "solely for the purpose of such university, in such manner as the Legislature may prescribe."

Under this grant there were set apart and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, for the use of the State, the following lands:

These lands were certified to the State November 19, 1859. The University lands are placed by law under the control and management of the Board of Trustees of the Iowa State University. Prior to 1865 there had been selected and located under 282 patents, 22,892 acres in sixteen counties, and 23,036 acres unpatented, making a total of 45,928 acres.

V. SALINE LANDS.

By act of Congress approved March 3, 1845, the State of Iowa was granted the use of the salt springs within her limits, not exceeding twelve. By a subsequent act, approved May 27, 1852,

Congres granted the springs to the State in fee simple, together with six sections of land contiguous to each, to be disposed of as the Legislature might direct. In 1861 the proceeds of these lands then to be sold were constituted a fund for founding and supporting a lunatic asylum, but no sales were made. In 1856 the proceeds of the saline lands were appropriated to the Insane Asylum, repealed in 1858. In 1860, the saline lands and funds were made a part of the permanent fund of the State University. These lands were located in Appanoose, Davis, Decatur, Lucas. Monroe, Van Buren and Wayne counties.

VI. THE DES MOINES RIVER GRANT.

By act of Congress, approved August 8, 1846, a grant of land was made for the improvement of the navigation of Des Moines River, as follows:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there be, and hereby is, granted to said Territory of lowa for the purpose of aiding said Territory to improve the navigation of the Des Moines River from its mouth to the Racoon Fork (so called) in said Territory, one equal moiety, in alternate sections, of the public lands (remaining unsold and not otherwise disposed of, incumbered or appropriated), in a strip five miles in width on each side of said river, to be selected within said Territory by an agent or agents to be appointed by the Governor thereof, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the lands hereby granted shall not be conveyed or disposed of by said Territory, nor by any State to be formed out of the same, except as said improvement shall progress; that is, the said Territory or State may sell so much of said lands as shall produce the sum of thirty thousand dollars, and then the sales shall cease until the Governor of said Territory or State shall certify the fact to the President of the United States that one-half of said sum has been expended upon said improvements, when the said Territory or State may sell and convey a quantity of the residue of said lands sufficient to replace the amount expended, and thus the sales shall progress as the proceeds thereof shall be expended, and the fact of such expenditure shall be certified as aforesaid.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said River Des Moines shall be and forever remain a public highway for the use of the Government of the United States, free from any toll or other charge whatever, for any property of the United States or persons in their service passing through or along the same; Provided always, That it shall not be competent for the said Territory or future State of Iowa to dispose of said lands, or any of them, at a price lower than, for the time being, shall be the minimum price of other public lands.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That whenever the Territory of Iowa shall be admitted into the Union as a State, the lands hereby granted for the above purpose shall be and become the property of said State for the purpose contemplated in this act, and for no other; Provided, the Legislature of the State of Iowa shall accept the said grant for the said purpose. Approved August 8, 1846.

By joint resolution of the General Assembly of Iowa, approved January 9, 1847, the grant was accepted for the purpose specified. By another act, approved February 24, 1847, entitled "An act

creating the Board of Public Works, and providing for the improvement of the Des Moines River," the Legislature provided for a Board consisting of a President, Secretary and Treasurer, to be elected by the people. This Board was elected August 2, 1847, and was organized on the 22d of September following. The same act defined the nature of the improvement to be made, and provided that the work should be paid for from the funds to be derived from the sale of lands to be sold by the Board.

Agents appointed by the Governor selected the sections designated by "odd numbers" throughout the whcle extent of the grant, and this selection was approved by the Secretary of the Treasury. But there was a conflict of opinion as to the extent of the grant. It was held by some that it extended from the mouth of the Des Moines River only to the Racoon Forks; others held, as the agents to make selection evidently did, that it extended from the mouth to the headwaters of the river. Richard M. Young, Commissioner of the General Land office, on the 23d of February, 1848, construed the grant to mean that "the State is entitled to the alternate sections within five miles of the Des Moines River, throughout the whole extent of that river within the limits of Iowa. Under this construction, the alternate sections above the Raccoon Forks would, of course, belong to the State; but on the 19th of June, 1848, some of these lands were, by proclamation, thrown into market. On the 18th of September, the Board o Public Works filed a remonstrance with the Commissioner of the General Land office. The Board also sent in a protest to the State Land Office, at which the sale was ordered to take place. On the 8th of January, 1849, the Senators and Representatives in Congress from Iowa also protested against the sale, in a communication to Hon. Robert J. Walker, Secretary of the Treasury, to which the Secretary replied, concurring in the opinion that the grant extended the whole length of the Des Moines River in Iowa.

On the 1st of June, 1849, the Commissioner of the General Land Office directed the Register and Receiver of the Land Office at Iowa City "to withhold from sale all lands situated in the odd numbered sections within five miles on each side of the Des Moines River above the Raccoon Forks." March 13, 1850, the Commissioner of the General Land Office submitted to the Secretary of the Interior a list "showing the tracts falling within the limits of the Des Moines River grant, above the Raccoon Forks, etc., under the decision of the Secretary of the Treasury, of March 2, 1849," and on the 6th of April following Mr. Ewing, then Secretary of the Interior, reversed the decision of Secretary Walker, but ordered the lands to be withheld from sale until Congress could have an oppo tunity to pass an explanatory act. The Iowa authorities appealed from this decision to the President (Taylor), who referred the matter to the Attorney General (Mr.

Johnson). On the 19th of July, Mr. Johnson submitted as his opinion, that by the terms of the grant itself, it extended to the very source of the Des Moines, but before his opinion was published President Taylor died. When Mr. Tyler's cabinet was formed, the question was submitted to the new Attorney General (Mr. Crittenden), who, on the 30th of June, 1851, reported that in his opinion the grant did not extend above the Raccoon Forks. Mr. Stewart, Secretary of the Interior, concurred with Mr. Crittenden at first, but subsequently consented to lay the whole subject before the President and Cabinet, who decided in favor of the State.

October 29, 1851, Mr. Stewart directed the Commissioner of the General Land Office to "submit for his approval such lists as had been prepared, and to proceed to report for like approval lists of the alternate sections claimed by the State of Iowa above the Raccoon Forks, as far as the surveys have progressed, or may hereafter be completed and returned." And on the following day, three lists of these lands were prepared in the General Land Office.

The lands approved and certified to the State of Iowa under this graut, and all lying above the Raccoon Forks, are as follows:

The Commissioners and Register of the Des Moines River Improvement, in their report to the Governor, November 30, 1852, estimate the total amount of lands then available for the work, including those in possession of the State and those to be surveyed and approved, at nearly a million acres. The indebtedness then standing against the fund was about $108,000, and the Commissioners estimated the work to be done would cost about $1,200,000.

January 19, 1853, the Legislature authorized the Commissioners to sell "any or all the lands which have or may hereafter be granted, for not less than $1,300,000."

On the 24th of January, 1853, the General Assembly provided for the election of a Commissioner by the people, and appointed two Assistant Commissioners, with authority to make a contract, selling the lands of the Improvement for $1,300,000. This new Board made a contract, June 9, 1855, with the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company, agreeing to sell all the lands donated to the State by Act of Congress of August 8, 1846, which the State had not sold prior to December 23, 1853, for $1,800,000, to be expended on the improvement of the river, and in paying the indebtedness then due. This contract was duly reported to the Governor and General Assembly.

By an act approved January 25, 1855, the Commissioner and Register of the Des Moines River Improvement were authorized to negotiate with the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company for the purchase of lands in Webster County, which had been sold by the School Fund Commissioner as school lands, but which had been certified to the State as Des Moines River lands, and had, therefore, become the property of the Company, under the provisions of its contract with the State.

March 21, 1856, the old question of the extent of the grant was again raised, and the Commissioner of the General Land Office decided that it was limited to the Raccoon Fork. Appeal was made to the Secretary of the Interior, and by him the matter was referrred to the Attorney General, who decided that the grant extended to the northern boundary of the State; the State relinquished its claim to the lands lying along the river in Minnesota, and the vexed question was supposed to be finally settled.

The land which had been certified, as well as those extending to the northern boundary within the limits of the grant, were reserved from pre-emption and sale by the General Land Commissioner, to satisfy the grant of August 8, 1846, and they were treated as having passed to the State, which from time to time sold portions of them prior to their final transfer to the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company, applying the proceeds thereof to the improvement of the river in compliance with the terms of the grant. Prior to the final sale to the Company, June 9, 1854, the State had sold about 327,000 acres, of which amount 58,830 acres were located above the Raccoon Fork. The last certificate of the General Land Office bears date December 30, 1853.

After June 9th, 1854, the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company carried on the work under its contract with the State. As the improvement progressed, the State, from time to time, by its authorized officers, issued to the Company, in payment for said work, certificates for land. But the General Land Office ceased to certify lands under the grant of 1846. The State had made no other provision for paying for the improvements, and disagreements and misunderstanding arose between the State authorities and the Company.

March 22, 1858, a joint resolution was passed by the Legislature submitting a proposition for final settlement to the Company, which was accepted. The Company paid to the State $20,000 in cash, and released and conveyed the dredge boat and materials named in the resolution; and the State, on the 3d day of May, 1858, executed to the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company fourteen deeds or patents to the lands, amounting to 256,703.64 acres. These deeds were intended to convey all the lands of this grant certified to the State by the General Government not previously sold; but, as if for the purpose of covering any tract or parcel that might have been omitted, the State made another deed