Show wro who WHO wao OWNS ciden odden oln 7 t HUNTER delivered a decision blon bion yesterday iii in ogden in the case of VV tit tib hatch against the union paci pacific Vaci pacific fic tic railroad Kall road C emrany rul nul ruling ilig 1139 I 1 nta v 0 r of thede the defendant the suit sult wag instituted to set aside former cormer proceedings edings in which h piece of land owned by mr hatch was con as the property of the company the latter paying into court the sum at which the land was ap prata e d by three bat but mr hatch would noi not not noi accept the amount and this huit salt wat the tho J coni conj seq leq abnee judge hunter a history of th the a possession ot of the land in dis p tifa by which it fc appears that it 11 lya jya vasho hald iti lil and improved for nearly thirty jears years by a succession of claimants down to mr hatch and ahat that it was not filed upon under the land laws until entered with other portions of oden ogden city under the th townsite Town sito act he lie shows that under thwarts the acts and 1861 certain odd of land were granted to the tha U P company of which section 29 was one including the hatch property and a large portion or ot ogden oden city tho tao judge holds bolds that the railroad company having received the grant of these alternate abts of 16 1 and 1864 1861 thib the entry by ogden city WAS invalid for at the time of the passage ot of theace under which the jontry entry Jentry was waa made that is march 2 1867 the title was not in the united states but thu the absolute ownership and control thereof was in fc the theu U P company h I 1 wo we think this opinion will wilt not hold good because the act of con gress gross under which thia this land grant accrues to the oam Cam company provides that whenever said sald sal hal J company shall hive completed forty miles of any ally portion of sald said rall Tail road rodd otia llla president Preal dent denv of the tha united states shall appoint three commissioners to examine and report to him in re lation thereto and if it bhail shall ap BP pear to him that forty consecutive miles of said railroad aad and telegraph line have been completed and equipped in all respects as asre re quiren by act then upon I 1 ti fichte of said commissioners to that effect patents shall issue con v eying the right and title to said land to said company on each side of the road as far as tho the bame am is completed to the amount aforesaid and aud nd patents shall in like manner gue mue as each forty af 0 f said trAil road noad mid arid telegraph P line are com corn plated upon certificate of eaid said com missioner from erom this it appears that the flight right dad title to these lands lanos did not pass to the jn 1834 1864 but bilt as each forty miles of the road mad t was completed and approved on certificate of the commissioners NOW the question Js when did the cods Codi company pany finish tha thac c portion of the would entitle A ili to the aland land laud in dispute namely sect loti I 1 T judge hunter hunten says april aprill 1 1 1869 1889 2 thin then the company dould could not noi possibly obtain the title until that date land band it is a ques 1 tion tion whether the the tha title waa wag ihen then t given for it would tak tate 3 soma boma imd time ime for the tha legal examination and carl W thereof to ba be made and the patent to issue and here may be stated a fact which it seems the judge has not taken into consider atlon roe roh possibly poe sIbly it was waa not presented whis in U about the time of the completion of this portion of the railroad the commissioner of di the thu theland tholand land offlie 0 o noti notified fied fled the tha people that t time would bo div given en hepa hem d to ilig rile on ori their claims within the limits very railroad landas land iana as it is called doeh doea this show why that the tho absolu absolute to right and title had not passed pissed to the tho railroad company we will now quote from theace of igi under which the company makes I 1 its ts cial clai claim ra and any lands granted by this accor nelor or the let act to which this is an shall ahall not defeat or im ira i pair any preemption pre emption hom homestead estea d swamp land or other lawful claim nor include any government reservation or mineral lands or the improvements prove ments of any bona fide settler to be ascertained under such rules as have been or may be established by the commissioner of the general land laud office in conformity with tha iha provisions of the preemption pre emption laws etwas it was wab la in accordance with thid thi provision that the land coin coln commissioner mis gave the time above specified to the bona fide settlers to ma male mase e good their claims on the land of which the J judge paja baj say the rill kail road company had the absolute ownership but which it appears they could not have obtained tha title or at that time judge hunter bunter after making this luling goeb goes on to take tabe up the question of the title 0 obtained by oden ogden city corpora under the Townsite 4 ent antly I 1 y perceiving the weakness of his bis firs first t position he states that the dec declaratory I 1 statement made in the balb bait luke lewke land office by the may or was not mot filed till tui may 1869 and that part pa it of the road was completed april 1869 1859 from which the tho inference ia Is left that the mayor was too late with his filing but thero there is another fact which perhaps was not called to tot hla hia honors honora attention that is that mayor lorin lorla farr filed a declaratory statement under the townside Town bite act at the land office in denver in 1863 several months before it is 18 even pretended that the railroad was completed through ogden city the reason why the filing was waa done at denver was because that was the nearest land office to ogden thon then established As aib soon as a land office was opened in bait salt la lake city the declaratory statement was re filed lathat in that office broni bronx this it appears that the absolute right and title to this land did not pass to the railroad company in 1864 and there is nothing coshow to show that it was wag obtained at any subsequent time because by the townsite te entry witry and other filings tha the title to xo the land passed to its rightful possessors the bona fide settlers some of whom had held it for thirty years and it is now W held by them or their heirs or assigns and we think it wiit will be a very difficult matter for any person or corporation po ration however powerful to dispossess them however wa we do nob not suppose uhe iho union railroad Baij road company has aby any disposition to bet set up any such claim to these lands aa as the decision of judge hunter might seem to warrant the company has acted very fairly toward mr hatch in the condemnation of his land for railroad purposes three commissioners were appointed to appraise the property and the evident desire of the company was to do justice to the owner whose clairn it virtually acknowledged the sum decided to be a fair placed at the command of mr hatch and in refusing to accept it ho he has laid himself open to trouble we have nothing to say in defense of his I 1 mit suit but hut as the ruling affects the title of about one halt of ogden L city ity we dem deem it worthy A 04 this extended notice meanwhile the citizens of ogden need not be alarmed nor excited they hold the government title to their property and it is not v very verv D ry likely that they will be disturbed disturb ed therein and in a short time the statute of limitations will bar any legal proceedings against them even if anyone has a desire to contest the rights certainly have in lustica justice and we believe albo ileo in law and equity |