s been referred to; and it is conceded that neither these lands
nor the rights of any settlers thereto are affected by the terms of the
bill now under consideration.

The amount of land embraced in this deed located above the Raccoon Fork
appears to be more than 271,000 acres.

It is alleged that the company in winding up its affairs distributed
this land among the parties interested, and that said land, or a large
part of it, has been sold to numerous parties now claiming the same
under titles derived from said company.

In December, 1859, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that
the grant to the Territory of Iowa under the law of 1846 conveyed no
land above the Raccoon Fork, and that all selections and certifications
of lands above that point were unauthorized and void, and passed no
title or interest in said lands to the State of Iowa. In other words, it
was determined that these lands were, in the language of the bill under
consideration, "improperly certified to Iowa by the Department of the
Interior under the act of August 8, 1846."

This adjudication would seem to conclusively determine that the title to
these lands was, as the law then stood, and notwithstanding all that had
taken place, still in the United States. And for the purpose of granting
all claim or right of the Government to said lands for the benefit of
the grantees of the State of Iowa, Congress, on the 2d day of March,
1861, passed a joint resolution providing that all the title still
retained by the United States in the lands above the Raccoon Fork, in
the State of Iowa, "which have been certified to said State improperly
by the Department of the Interior as part of the grant by act of
Congress approved August 8, 1846, and which is now held by _bona
fide_ purchasers under the State of Iowa, be, and the same is hereby,
relinquished to the State of Iowa."

Afterwards, and on the 12th day of July, 1862, an act of Congress was
passed extending the grant of 1846 so as to include lands lying above
the Raccoon Fork.

The joint resolution and act of Congress here mentioned have been
repeatedly held by the Supreme Court of the United States to supply a
title to the lands mentioned in the deed from the State of Iowa to the
Navigation and Railroad Company, which inured to the benefit of said
company or its grantees.

No less than ten cases have been decided in that court more or less
directly establishing this proposition, as well as the f