No. 167 . COM IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. APRIL 8, 1858.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. STUART made the following REPORT. [To accompany Bill S. 249.] The Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred the memorial of the Milwaukie and Mississippi Railroad Company, respectfully report: That they are unanimously of opinion that the prayer of the memorialists should be granted, and they report a bill for that purpose. The facts are substantially and truly stated in the memorial of the company, a copy of which is annexed to this report. To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled: The Milwaukie and Mississippi Railroad Company, in the State of Wisconsin, respectfully represents, that the western terminus of their road is on the east bank of the Mississippi river, at Prairie du Chien, in the said State of Wisconsin, at which point the company have purchased from the original proprietors, and are now the owners, in fee simple, of a tract of land used for depot purposes, embracing the whole river front of private land claims numbers thirty-six and thirty-seven, of Lucius Lyon's survey of private land claims at Prairie du Chien, now of record in the office of the Commissioner of the General Land Office; that lying in front of said depot grounds, and between them and the main channel of the river, is a small island, which is separated from the main land by a narrow channel or slough, and which island and slough it is necessary to cross in order to reach the main channel in lower stages of water; and in order to perfect a convenient landing it is necessary to bridge the slough and fill the island, as well as to make other improvements which the company are deterred from doing, for the reason that certain parties claim that the island is the property of the general government, and intend to make application for the 2 MILWAUKIE AND MISSISSIPPI RAILROAD COMPANY. same under the pre-emption laws; that the island is almost wholly opposite the grounds of said company, is low, wet, and marshy, and valueless for agricultural purposes, and in high water is overflowed from eight to ten feet; that it is about fifty chains long by seven chains wide at low water, and contains about thirty-five acres of land, and is not surveyed or shown upon the maps of surveys made by said Lucius Lyon, and has heretofore been considered of no value. And your memorialists further represent, that they have constructed a railroad from Milwaukie, on Lake Michigan, to the Mississippi river, without the benefit of a land grant or other aid from the govern ment. Your memorialists, therefore, respectfully ask that an act be passed confirming the title to said island to the Milwaukie and Mississippi Railroad Company. Read and adopted, at Milwaukie, this third day of March, A. D. 1858. JOHN CATTIN, President of the Milwaukie and Mississippi Railroad Co. Attest: IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. APRIL 8, 1858.-Ordered to be printed. Mr. CLARK made the following REPORT. [To accompany Bill S. No. 250.] The Committee of Claims, to whom was referred the memorial of George M. Weston, commissioner of the State of Maine, submit the following report: The claims presented in this case originated, in part, from certain stipulations of the treaty of the 9th of August, 1842, for the final adjustment of the boundary line between the territory of the United States and that of the British province of New Brunswick, and in part out of certain diplomatic arrangements between the two governments prior to the conclusion of the treaty. By the 4th article of the treaty, (hereafter quoted,) it was agreed by the two governments that the possession or improvement of any lot of land within the disputed territory for more than six years should be construed to give a valid title to the possessor. By virtue of this stipulation, sundry small tracts of land lying in the disputed district, to which various persons held title derived from the States of Massachusetts and Maine, and which, by the treaty, fell within the United States, thereby settling the propriety and legality of the grants made by those States, became the property of other parties by possesssion, thereby depriving the legal owners of their property. This subject was before the Senate during the last Congress, and it being made to appear that a considerable number of persons, each for a small amount, would be interested in its decision, it was deemed expedient to send an agent to take and receive proof upon the spot as to the validity and amount of the several claims, with instructions to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and personally to inspect the premises. An agent was accordingly sent, iu obedience to a resolution of the Senate, who performed the duty assigned him, and made a report, accompanied with the tes-timony taken and the other information obtained, to the Committee of Claims, at the last session of Congress. The entire testimony taken may be found in Senate report, No. 323, 3d session, 34th Congress. The result of the investigation is summed up in the following statement of the agent. Statement of the claims represented by Geo. M. Weston, esq., commissioner of Maine, growing out of the settlement of the northeastern boundary question, by the treaty of August 9, 1842, submitted to the Senate Committee of Claims by N. C. Towle, agent, under the resolution of the Senate of July 18, 1856. SKETCH OF THE NEGOTIATONS. The difficulties in reference to the northeastern boundary commenced immediately after the conclusion of the treaty of 1783, and it was not until after the treaty of 1794 that the identity of the river St. Croix was determined, and the point to be regarded as the source of that river was ascertained and fixed. The next point named in the treaty was the highlands that divide the waters flowing into the Atlantic ocean from those which flow into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The British government claimed that those "highlands" must be found south of the valley of the St. John's, a river which flows into the Bay of Fundy; while the United States claimed that the "due north line" should be extended across the St. John's and until it reached the "highlands" immediately south of the St. Lawrence river. The distance between these two ranges of highlands exceeded one hundred miles, and involved the claim to a large territory of rich and valuable country, embracing the entire valley watered by the Aroostook river, as well as a large portion of that watered by the upper St. John's and its tributaries. The two governments finding it impracticable to make any further progress in ascertaining the boundary of the two countries, agreed, by the convention of 1827, to submit the questions in dispute to the arbitration of the king of the Netherlands, who decided that no single range of highlands conforming to the description in the treaty was to be found, but that a portion of the description in the treaty would be applicable to the highlands north of the St. John's, as claimed by the United States, and another portion to the ridge south of the St. John's, as claimed by Great Britain; and he came to the conclusion that a division of the disputed territory between the two countries was the best practicable mode of settlement. This decision, had it been accepted, would have given the valley of the Aroostook to the United States. Possessory claims. The fourth article of the treaty is as follows, viz: Art. 4. All grants of land heretofore made by either party, within the limits of the territory which by this treaty falls within the dominions of the other party, shall be held valid, ratified, and confirmed to the persons in possession under such grants, to the same extent as if such territory had by this treaty fallen within the dominions of the party by whom such grants were made; and all equitable possessory claims arising from a possession and improvement of any lot or parcel of land by the person actually in possession, or by those under whom such person claims, for more than six years before the date of this treaty, shall in like manner be deemed valid and be confirmed and quieted by a release to the person entitled thereto, of the title to such lot or parcel of land so described as best to include the improvements made thereon; and in all other respects the two contracting parties agree to deal upon the most liberal principles of equity with the settlers actually dwelling upon the territory falling to them, respectively, which has heretofore been in dispute between them." Upon the rejection of the award of the umpire in 1832, which had assigned the valley of the Aroostook river to the United States, the British claim to that territory was revived, and settlers from the neighboring province immediately commenced their settlements along that river, as well as in various other portions of the disputed tract. In order to carry this article into effect, so far as it applied to settlers upon the ungranted lands belonging to the States of Maine and Massachusetts, the authorities of those States, immediately after the ratification of the treaty, appointed a board of commissioners, for the purpose of locating the grants and determining the extent of the possessory claims therein provided for. All claims to lands, through grants made by the government of Great Britain, as contemplated in the first clause of the fourth article, were examined and adjudicated upon by the commissioners, and ratified and confirmed to the persons in possession by the respective States. In 1854, by authority of a resolution of the legislature of the State of Maine, another board of commissioners was appointed, with the view of carrying into effect the remaining clauses of the said 4th article, by examining into and providing for the quieting of the possessory and equitable claims of settlers. This board met upon the ground, and after hearing the statements and taking the proofs submitted to them, they proceeded to have surveyed and set off by metes and bounds, to the persons whom they found to be entitled under the treaty, the lots to which they were adjudged to have just claims. The whole number of claims thus passed upon by the board amounted to about six hundred and fifty, and the quantity of land surveyed and set off to them amounted to 71,562 acres, being a little less than an average of 100 acres to each claimant. More than one-third of this land had been purchased from the State, or had been contracted for before the date of the treaty. It will be observed that the treaty provides that possessory claims extending back more than six years prior to its date shall be deemed valid titles. The commissioners set off, as coming under this head, 13,275 acres, divided amongst about 150 settlers. The board of commissioners also went into the examination of the claims of persons who claimed to be equitably entitled to lands which they had improved, and of which they were in possession at the date of the treaty, but whose possession did not extend back six years. So far as these claims depend upon the treaty, they are based upon the last clause of the 4th article, to wit: "And in all other respects the two contracting parties agree to deal upon the most liberal principles of equity with the settlers actually dwelling upon the territory |