Dissenting Opinion: Brewer, Gray, Shiras, JJ. placing in jeopardy the title held by grantees to all the school lands in California, and could only be authorized by the most positive and clearly expressed provisions of law. In my opinion, there is nothing in the act which can thus be interpreted. I must, therefore, hold that the discovery of the mineral character of the land in sections 16 and 36, subsequent to survey, does not defeat the title of the State to the same as school lands." Again, the Land Department can acquire no knowledge as to whether these lands are mineral or not, except by exploration, and that requires the labor of explorers and the payment of their compensation therefor. That Congress never contemplated that there should be any such exploration, as a condition of passage of title, is evident from the fact that thirty years have passed since the date of this grant; thirtytwo years since the date of the grant to the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroad Companies, which also excluded mineral lands, and never has an act been passed, or, even so far as we are advised, even a bill offered in Congress, contemplating the appropriation of a single dollar for such an exploration. Aside from an exploration conducted by the government, at its expense, the only way that knowledge could be acquired would be through the personal efforts of individual explorers. Was it contemplated by this act that the Secretary of the Interior should have authority to wait so long as he saw fit for the results of these individual explorations before finding and determining that any particular tract was mineral or not? Assuredly a suggestion of such a purpose on the part of Congress would border closely on disrespect to the intelligence and integrity of that body. But Congress knew that provision had already been made for ascertaining the character of these lands. Revised Statutes, section 2395, contains these provisions : "Seventh. Every surveyor shall note in his field-book the true situations of all mines, salt licks, salt springs, and mill seats which come to his knowledge, all watercourses over which the line he runs may pass, and also the quality of the lands. Dissenting Opinion: Brewer, Gray, Shiras, JJ. Eighth. These field-books shall be returned to the surveyor-general, who shall cause therefrom a description of the whole lands surveyed to be made out and transmitted to the officers who may superintend the sales. He shall also cause a fair plat to be made of the townships and fractional parts of townships contained in the lands, describing the subdivisions thereof, and the marks of the corners. This plat shall be recorded in books to be kept for that purpose; and a copy thereof shall be kept open at the surveyor-general's office for public information, and other copies shall be sent to the places of the sale, and to the General Land Office." By the act of July 26, 1866, c. 262, 14 Stat. 251, the mineral lands of the public domain were declared to be free and open to exploration or occupation, and provision was made for the entry and patenting of a vein or lode of quartz or other rock in place, bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, or copper. In a circular of instructions issued under this act, January 14, 1867, the Commissioner says of section 11: "In order to enable the department properly to give effect to this section of the law, you will cause your deputy surveyors to describe in their field-notes of surveys, in addition to the data required to be noted in the printed Manual of Surveying Instructions, on pages 17 and 18, the agricultural lands, and represent the same on township plats by the desig nation of "agricultural lands." (2 Lester's Land Laws, 317.) It is true that such survey and report only give what are the surface indications of the tracts, but any other examination and exploration for discovering minerals beneath the surface, require, as any one can see, a large expenditure of money, and it may well be believed that Congress, knowing that the surveys which were already provided for, would disclose the character of the lands so far as they could be disclosed by the surface appearances, meant that the fieldbooks returned to the Land Department containing that information should be that which should guide in the identification of the tracts at the time of the definite location as mineral or not mineral. Again, the section by which the land grant was made to the Dissenting Opinion: Brewer, Gray, Shiras, JJ. Northern Pacific Railroad Company, after defining the place limits of the grant and providing for the definite location of the line of the road, contained this clause (13 Stat. p. 368): "And whenever, prior to said time, any of said sections or parts of sections shall have been granted, sold, reserved, occupied by homestead settlers, or preëmpted, or otherwise disposed of, other lands shall be selected by said company in lieu thereof, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, in alternate sections, and designated by odd numbers, not more than ten miles beyond the limits of said alternate sections." But unless at the time of that definite location there was an identification of the particular lands within the place limits which passed, how could there be any selection in the indemnity limits? Take this particular tract in controversy before us If, after the definite location, the company had applied to the Secretary for a selection of land within the indemnity limits in lieu of this tract, would not the Secretary have been compelled to refuse such selection, on the ground that, so far as was known, this was not mineral land, and, therefore, passed by the grant? And if now, after the lapse of six years, mineral is discovered and it is adjudged that the title does not pass, is it not possible-nay, probable that when selection is sought of lands within the indemnity limits it will be found that all have been taken by homestead or preëmption; or, if not, and a selection is made of any particular tract within those limits, will not the land thus selected and supposed to pass to the company come within the rule here announced that if, before the patent shall issue, mines be discovered, it must be adjudged non-mineral land, and, therefore, not passing by the selection? In other words, the title to no lands. within the place limits passes because it is unknown whether they are mineral or not, and no selection can be made within the indemnity limits because it is not known how much the deficiency is. Again, in section 4 of the same act, it is provided that after the completion of twenty-five consecutive miles of road, commissioners shall be appointed by the President to examine as Dissenting Opinion: Brewer, Gray, Shiras, JJ. to whether the road has been completed in a substantial and workmanlike manner, and if they make a favorable report, "patents of lands, as aforesaid, shall be issued to said company, confirming to said company the right and title to said lands, situated opposite to, and coterminous with, said completed section of said road; and, from time to time, whenever twenty-five additional consecutive miles shall have been constructed, completed, and in readiness as aforesaid, and verified by said commissioners to the President of the United States, then patents shall be issued to said company, conveying the additional sections of land as aforesaid, and so on as fast as every twenty-five miles of said road is completed as aforesaid." If language can make anything plain it is that when the commissioners have reported favorably as to the construction of any twenty-five consecutive miles of road, the right to a patent exists. It was said in Stark v. Starrs, 6 Wall. 402, 418: "The right to a patent once vested is treated by the government, when dealing with the public lands, as equivalent to a patent issued. When, in fact, the patent does issue, it relates back to the inception of the right of the patentee, so far as it may be necessary, to cut off intervening claimants." When this case was argued before us at the last term it was conceded by the Attorney General that if it was not known that the lands were mineral at the time of that report, the title then passed. Such a concession on the part of the government, if now recognized, would compel an affirmance of this judgment; for, at the time the commissioners made report as to the twenty-five consecutive miles adjacent to this tract, no mineral had been discovered, and so far as known the land was not mineral; but the court in this opinion repudiates such concession, and holds that the matter of determination remains open until the very issue of the patent. Again, by a resolution of May 31, 1870, 16 Stat. 378, the Northern Pacific Railroad Company was authorized to issue its bonds secured by mortgage upon its entire property. Did Congress mean to imply that at that time no specific tracts passed by the mortgage, but only such as might thereafter be Dissenting Opinion: Brewer, Gray, Shiras, JJ. determined by the Land Department to be non-mineral? That resolution contained also this provision: "Provided, that all lands hereby granted to said company which shall not be sold or disposed of or remain subject to the mortgage by this act authorized, at the expiration of five years after the completion of the entire road, shall be subject to settlement and preëmption like other lands, at a price to be paid to said company not exceeding two dollars and fifty cents per acre." How could the company sell any particular tract, unless at the time the purchaser knew that the title of the company was perfect? And if the company had failed to place its mortgage, as it most certainly would have failed if the construction now contended for had been believed to be the true construction of this grant, then by the terms of this provision at the end of five years from the completion of the road any tract would be open to settlement and preemption as are the public lands of the government. Again, it is abundantly well settled that lands the title to which remain in the government are not subject to taxation. Can it be that Congress contemplated that the Territories and States which should be organized along the line of this transcontinental highway should not be able to tax any alternate sections within the place limits of this grant until such time as it should appropriate money for an exploration as to their character? Take this particular tract for illustration: In 1872 the line of definite location was fixed; apparently it was within the terms of the grant, but it is now adjudged that no title passed to the Northern Pacific, but remained in the ernment. Was the land subject to taxation during the six years prior to the discovery of the mines? Will it be said that Congress intended that the Northern Pacific should pay the taxes on all the lands so situated, taking the chances in the future of some of them proving to be non-mineral? Would such injustice be imputed to Congress, even as against a corporation? Suppose the Northern Pacific did not pay, and some party purchased the land at a tax sale; has he lost his money because the land now proves to be mineral lands, gov |