A BILL making a grant of lands to the State of Iowa, in alternate sections, to aid in the construction of certain Railroads in said State.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That there be and is hereby granted to the State of Iowa, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of railroads from, Burlington, on the Mississippi river, to a point on the Missouri river, near the mouth of Platte river; from the city of Davenport, via. Iowa City and Fort Des Moines to Council Bluffs; from Lyons City, northwesterly to a point of intersection with the main line of the Iowa Central Air Line Railroad, near Maquoketa; thence on said main line, running as near as practicable to the forty-second parallel, across the said State of Iowà to the Missouri river; from the city of Dubuque to a point on the Missouri river, near Sioux City, with a branch from the mouth of the Tete Des Morts, to the nearest point on said road, to be completed as soon as the main road is completed to that point, every alternate section of land, designated by odd numbers, for six sections in width on each side of said roads. But in case it shall appear that the United States have, when the lines or routes of said roads are definitely fixed, sold any sections or any parts thereof, granted as aforesaid, or 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 State to select, subject to the appoval 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 scetions 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 pre-emption 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 by odd numbers as aforesaid, and