‘ 2 FEDERAL REPORTER, vol. 38. 4
A 8. SAME--STATE SELECTIONB··VALIDITY.
The state selections in question were also void, for the reason that the act
of 1853, under which these selections were made, excepted from selection by
the state in lieu of school sectionsilost. “,lamds reserve by competent author-
ityzand "land  claimed under any` foreign. grant or title, " and "mineral
an s. ’ '
9. SAME—·PRIORI'l‘Y or Gmmr.
No right of any kind hadattached to these lands when they were withdrawn
for the purposes of the railroad grant 0i1·’Jauu.ary 30. 1865, that, under the re-
cent decision of the United States supreme court, in ZZ S. v. McLaughlin, 8
Sup. Ct. Rep. 1177, could prevent that grant from attaching. It was, there·
fore, the iirst grant to attach, andrby. performance of the conditions subse-
quent the title of the company became absolute.
10. SAME-Lanns EXCEPTED mmm Courramlvrron.
__ The selections in question were excepted from confirmation by the act of
....1866. (1,4 St. 218;) but had _it beenfotherwise, it was not in the power of con—.
`gress at that time to divest the right of the company. i · ‘
11. SAME·—CONFIRMATORY Aer or- Minton 1, 1877—ErrEc*r.
The act of March 1, 1877, (19 St. 267,) for like reasons. cannot aifect the rights
of the railroad company. At the date of this confirmatory act, seven years
after the title of this comlpany became perfect, the United States had no in-
terest whatever in the lan upon which the act could operate.
12. SAME-SALE ro THIRD_ PERSONS—NOTICE. . .
Parties purchasing under state locations in township 2 S., 1 E., since June
10, 1865, had oliicial record notice of the right of the railroad company; for
· the map Bled in the oiiice of the register of the local land·ofHce had distinctly
indorsed upon it in red ink the fol owing, viz.: "The odd-numbered sections
on this plat are granted to the Western aciiic Railroad. "
18. Lrmrrarron or _ACTIONB#B·UNNING 0F¤THE Srarurn. -
” The `statute of limitations does not run against the United States; and the
cause of action here- was not stale, the company having been, from the iirst,
` active in pursuing its right before the department of the interior.
14. Umrmn SryrEs—CoNr1tAcrs Rmmvrme ·ro Punmc Ls1~rns—Acr1o1~:s.
. The government is not without interest in this action, being responsible to
the company for the land or its full value, by reason of the statutory grant
and contract in the congressional acts of 1862 and 1864.
15. Pmsmc Lamps-Mnxrcau GRANT.
The‘Me1rican grant called "Las Pocitas," was a iloat,—a grant of two
leagues within exterior boundaries embracing ten or more leagues, which
two leagues so granted were confirmed and patented to the claimants, and the
odd-numbered sections outside of the two leagues granted and confirmed, but
inside of the exterior boundaries, passed to the rai road company.
16’.`SAME.   ‘”f` " ‘ · ~ , °  
7 The `prior decision, in Newhqll v. Sanger, 92 U. S. 761, by the United States
‘ supreme court, materially limited in its operation by the recent decision in (Z
S. v. McLaughlin. . ~
(Syllabus by the Court.) y ' A
`InEquity.l M .   at i` V »  ,
Benjamin Hahis Brewster, Atty. Gen., S. G. Hilborn, U. S. Dist. Atty.,
Slwtfter, Parker at Waterman, and J. .W. Harding, for the United States.‘ ~’
. H. FC Crane, Mich. Mullany, L. D. Latimer, Thos. D. Corneal, Rothschild
42 Baum, and J. O. Martin, for respondents.
  Before ;F1Er.1>, Justice, and_“S.~;wYEn, Circuit Judge. · - ~
SAWYER, J., (Frsnn, Justice, concurring.) S This is a bill in equity,
iiledby the attorney general‘onl.bebalf‘of the United States, at the re-
quest of the secretary of the interior, to`obtain‘·a decree of the court va-
cating and annulling the listing over to the state of certain lands selected