Chapter CXCIX. to authorize the Sale of twenty Acres of Land in the military Reservation at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
677 words·~3 min read·
/statutes-at-large/vol-15/chapter-cxcix-1727564·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. CXCIX.— An Act to authorize the Sale of twenty Acres of Land in the military Reservation at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.July 20, 1868. Whereas the Secretary of War, in behalf of the United States and inPreamble. accordance with the previous practice of the War Department, on the thirteenth day of November, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty, did execute to Samuel Denman, William H. Russell, and Thomas Ewing, junior, and their assigns, a lease of twenty acres of land in the military reserve at Fort Leavenworth, State of Kansas, for the term of sixteen years thereafter, with a preference to them of an extension of the term, and with the exclusive right to mine for coal under the lands of said military reserve; and whereas the said lessees and their assigns accepted the said lease, and upon the faith thereof have prosecuted their mining operations under many difficulties at great expense, and have finally succeeded in striking the deep coal beds of that geological region after having expended their entire capital to the amount of forty thousand dollars; and whereas it is now discovered that the said lease is invalid because the Secretary of War was unauthorized in law to make the same, by reason of which the said lessees are deprived of their right to proceed, and are threatened with the total loss of their money, and are without redress; and whereas in view of the incalculable benefit to be derived, not alone by the State of Kansas, but by the whole country adjacent thereto, by the development of the coal Strata of the region, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Kansas, on the eighteenth day of February, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, did concur in a joint resolution reciting the above, and respectfully requesting this Congress to act in the premises; and whereas the House of Representatives of the United States have heretofore passed an act directing the sale, in small tracts, of a body of land in said military reserve:
Therefore, *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That the Leavenworth CoalLeavenworth Coal Company may purchase part of military reserve. Company, being the successors and assigns of Samuel Denman, William H. Russell, and Thomas Ewing, junior, in the lease aforesaid, shall have the right to purchase from the United States twenty acres of land lying in the military reserve at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and described as follows:
Beginning at the intersection of the south line of the military reserve and the Missouri River, running northwardly thence along the west line of the said Missouri River, thence westwardly in a line parallel to the south line of the military reserve, thence southwardly in a line at right angles with the south line of the military reserve, thence eastwardly in the said south line of the military reserve to the point of beginning, the said lines to be run so as to make the form of the said twenty acres as nearly square as practicable.
The said Leavenworth Coal Company shall pay therefor the sum fixed by the United States district judges of the State of Kansas, the eastern district of Missouri, and of the northern district of Illinois, whose reasonable expenses shall be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated; and said lease isLease extended. hereby extended sixteen years from the passage of this act. Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted,* That, upon the payment of thePatent to issue to grant exclusive right to mine coal. purchase-money for the same, the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to issue to the said Leavenworth Coal Company, and its successors and assigns, a patent for the above-described lands, which393FORTIETH CONGRESS.
Sess. II. Ch. 200, 201, 202, 203, 204. 1868. patent shall also grant to the said company, and its successors andMining right assigns, the exclusive right to mine for all coal underlying the lands now comprised in the military reserve aforesaid. Approved, July 20, 1868.