doubled, and sections 16 and 36 in each township were reserved for the
schools, which amounted to one-eighteenth of all the lands in the
territory; and when it is understood that the state as now constituted
contains 84,287 square miles, or about 53,943,379 acres of land, it will
be seen that the grant was princely in extent and incalculable in value.
No other state in the Union has been endowed with such a magnificent
educational foundation. I may except Texas, which came into the Union,
not as a part of the United States' public domain, but as an
independent republic, owning all its lands, amounting to 237,504 square
miles, or 152,002,560 acres, a vast empire in itself. I remember hearing
a distinguished senator, in the course of the debate on its admission
into the Union, describe its immensity by saying, "A pigeon could not
fly across it in a week."

It affords every citizen of Minnesota great pride to know that, under
all phases and conditions of our territory and state, whether in
prosperity or adversity, the school fund has always been held sacred,
and neither extravagance, neglect nor peculation has ever assailed it,
but it has been husbanded with jealous care from time to time since the
first dollar was realized from it until the present, and has accumulated
until the principal is estimated at $20,000,000. The state auditor, in
his last report of it, says:

"The extent of the school land grant should ultimately be about
three million acres, and as the average price of this land
heretofore sold is $5.96 per acre, the amount of principal alone
should yield the school fund not less than $17,000,000. To this
must be added the amount received from sales of timber, and for
lease and royalty of mineral lands, which will not be less than
$3,000,000 more. It is not probable that the average sale price
of this land will be reduced in the future, but it may increase,
especially in view of the improved method of sale inaugurated by
the new land law."

The general method of administering the school fund is to invest the
proceeds arising from the sale of the lands, and distribute the interest
among the counties of the state according to the number of children
attending school; the principal always to remain untouched and
inviolate.

Generous grants of land have also been made for a state university,
amounting to 92,558 acres; also, for an agricultural college to the
extent of on