·n1<11*m> s·rA·ras` v. criarnanh 3
by the state,? in lieuof sections 16 and“B6, asiwas supposed, inpursu-—
ance of the act of congress on the subject, adjudging such listing to be
unauthorized and void, annulling and vacating the patents issued to "
purchasers by the state, after such selecting and listing,“and decreeing
that no title to the lands passed thereby to the patentees. The grounds
of the bill are, that the listing over to the state was by mistake and with-`
out authority of law; the lands having been granted tothe Central‘·‘Pa-—
cific Railroad Company before any right could have attached in favor
of thestate, and were therefore, not subject to selectionby thestate un-
derthe said acts. After a contest continued for many years, the secre-
tary of the interior has finally decided that the lands in question belong
to the railroad company, and that it is entitled to a patent, that they
were listed to the state by mistake, withoutauthority of law, and that
the listing is void. But the department refuses to complicate matters
by issuing patents. According to the view of the {secretary of the inte- A
rior, the United States are under obligation to convey afclear title to the
railroad com_pany, and they are unable to do so by reason of the mistake
ofthe officers of the government, in unlawfully listing the lands to the
state; and,»consequently, that it is the duty ofthe government to have
the prior listing to the state annulled, and the patents issued thereon
declared to be unauthorized and void by a decree of the court, before
issuing patents to the party entitled. For these reasons, and upon these
grounds, this bill has been filed by the attorney general, at the request
of the secretary of the interior. , V
The lands in question are odd sections, lying within the 20-mile limit of
the grant of lands made to the Central Pacino Railroad Company, to aid in
the construction of its road, by the act of congress of July 1, 1862, and
the act of 1864 amending said act. 12 St. p. 492,·§ 3; 13 St. p. 358,
§ 4. meet the lands lie in township 3 S., range 3E., Mt. Diablo
Base and Meridian, and a part in township 2 S., range 1 E. The lands
in township -3, range 3, were surveyed in the field in August, 1862, and
sectionized, and aplat thereof was made and approved by the surveyor
general of California, December 24, 1862, but a duly-certified copy of
the plat was not nled in the land—oHice of the district till June 4, 1869
The certified copy of the plat then filed is regarded by the department
as the official plat, and the date of its filing, June 4, 1869, as the date
of the survey. On December 28, 1865, a plat of the township, ap-
proved by the surveyor general December 18, 1865., was tiled in the dis-
trict land-office, but this plat is not regarded by the department as otlicial,
or. as indicating the date of the official survey_. Township 2 S., range 1
E., was firstsurveyed in the field in March, 1865, and an approved plat
thereof tirst tiled in the district land-oiiice June 10,1865. In accord-
ancerwith the provisions of said acts of 1862 and 1864, the railroad
companyifiled in the department of the interior, on December 8, 1864,
its map designating the general route of the road, and on December 23,
1864, the secretary of the interior, in pursuance of the provisions of
said acts, issued an order withdrawing the said lands for the distance of
25 miles on each side of the line of said road so designated, " from sale,