CHAPTER 54. LEGALIZING TOWN-PLAT OF SABULA. MARCH 31. AN ACT to Legalize the Plat of the Town of Sabula, in Jackson County, Iowa, and to Legalize all Conveyances of Lots here tofore made, by the Number of Lots and Blocks, as now specified in said Plat. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly Survey & plat of the State of Iowa, That the survey and plat of the of Sabula le- town of Sabula, in Jackson county, and State of Iowa, galized. Conveyances legalized. Taking effect. made and completed on the 19th day of February, 1868, by A. C. Simpson, county surveyor of said county, and filed for record in the office of the recorder of said county, on the 21st day of February, 1868, at 9 o'clock, A. M., and recorded in book "E" of town lots, on pages 144, 5, 6, 7 and '8, be and the same are hereby legalized, and declared to be legal and binding upon all parties concerned, and that said plat, and the record thereof, are hereby legalized and declared to be a legal plat and record, the same as if said survey, plat, and record had been made in every particular as required by law. SEC. 2. That all conveyances heretofore made, of any lots in said town, by the number of lots and blocks, as shown on said plat, are hereby legalized and declared legal and binding upon the parties as if a legal plat, like the one mentioned and described in section 1, of this act, had been on record in said county at the time such conveyances were made. SEC. 3. This act, being deemed by the General Assembly of immediate importance, shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication in the State Register and National Platform, papers published at Des Moines, Iowa, without expense to the State. Approved March 31, 1868. I hereby certify that the foregoing act was published in the Daily State Register April 1, 1868, and in The National Platform April 4, 1868. ED WRIGHT, Secretary of State. CHAPTER 55. LEGALIZING THE ERECTION OF A BRIDGE IN WASHINGTON COUNTY. AN ACT to Legalize Certain Acts of the Board of Supervisors MARCH 31. of Washington County, Iowa. WHEREAS, The board of supervisors of Washington Preamble. county, Iowa, during the year 1867, contracted for, and caused to be constructed, an iron bridge over Skunk river, near Brighton, in said county, on the road leading from Washington to Fairfield; and, WHEREAS, The cost of said bridge, according to said ontract, exceeded the sum of five thousand dollars; and, WHEREAS, The proposition therefor was not by said board of supervisors submitted to the legal voters of said county, as required by law therefore, SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa, That all the acts of the board of Acts of board supervisors of Washington county, Iowa, in contract supervisors Washington ing for, and causing to be constructed, said bridge, as co in build'g recited in the preamble thereto, be and the same are bridge cost'g hereby legalized and confirmed, and shall have all the over $5,000 legalized. binding force and effect that such acts and contract would have had if said board of supervisors had proceeded according to the provisions of subdivision 23 of section 312, Revision of 1860, as amended by chap- Rev. § 312, ter 87 of the laws of the Eleventh General Asssembly. 1866, ch. 87. SEC. 2. This act shall take effect and be in force Tahing effect. from and after its publication in The Record and in The Washington County Press, newspapers published at Washington, Iowa, without expense to the State. Approved March 31, 1868. I hereby certify that the foregoing act was published in The Record No cost to CHAPTER 56. ALLOWING ALIENS TO POSSESS AND DISPOSE OF PROPERTY. AN ACT Abolishing Distinctions between Foreigners and Citizens MARCH 31. as to the Acquisition, Enjoyment, and Transfer of property. SECTION. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly Aliens may of the State of Iowa, That all aliens, whether they reside acquire, hold, in the United States or in any foreign country, may in and dispose of property. this State acquire, hold, and enjoy property, personal or real, or any interest therein, by purchase, gift, devise, or descent, and may convey, mortgage, or devise the same in a like manner, and with the same effect, as if such aliens were native-born citizens of the United States. And all property, real or personal, situated in this State and belonging to a foreigner, shall, if not disposed of by will, after the death of the owner descend to the heirs of such foreigner, whether the same reside in the United States or in any foreign Alien heirs. country. Such heirs shall be the same as the heirs-atlaw of native - born citizens. Descent. Distinctions SEC. 2. All the distinctions heretofore made by between citi- laws between citizens and resident and non-resident zens & aliens foreigners, in reference to the acquisition, possession, abolished. enjoyment, and transfer of property, real and personal, by conveyance, gift, devise, descent, or otherwise, are hereby abolished. A non-resident alien shall be entitled to dower in lands situated in this State, the same as resident citizens except as against a purchaser from the decedent, or a purchaser under execution against the decedent, but as against such purchaser an alien not residing in the State of Iowa shall not be entitled to dower. Dower. Previouscon SEC. 3. The title to any land heretofore conveyed veyances not by purchase or gift, or transferred by devise or descent, to be ques-, shall not be questioned, nor in any manner affected by reason of the alienage of any person, from or through whom such title may have been derived. tioned. Retroactive. SEC. 4. This law shall be retroactive; provided, however, that thereby no vested rights of private persons shall be violated; neither shall the title of any person or persons to whom the General Assembly Relinquish has made any relinquishment of an escheat be hereby ments by impaired or affected. The State relinquishes generally State not af- her claims to such escheated property as is transferred to foreigners by purchase, gift, devise, or descent, or otherwise. fected. SEC. 5. All laws conflicting with these provisions are hereby abolished. SEC. 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication in the State Register and Iowa Homestead, newspapers published in the city of Des Moines, Iowa. Approved March 31, 1868. I hereby certify that the foregoing act was published in the Daily State Register April 3, 1868, and in The Iowa Homestead April 9, 1868. ED WRIGHT, Secretary of State. CHAPTER 57. DES MOINES VALLEY RAILROAD AND LANDS. AN ACT Prescribing the Terms and Conditions on which the MARCH 31. ley Railroad Company certain Rights and Privileges in WHEREAS, By act of Congress approved August Preamble. 8, 1846, there was granted to the then Territory of Iowa certain lands to aid in the improvement of the Des Moines river, in said Territory; which grant the State of Iowa, by joint resolution of the General Assembly, approved January 9, 1847, accepted for the 1847, J. R. 2. purposes therein specified; and, WHEREAS, The General Assembly of this State, by an act approved March 22, 1858, granted such portion 1858, ch. 99. of said lands as had not been previously disposed of, to the Keokuk, Fort Des Moines and Minnesota Railroad Company, to aid in the construction of a railroad from the city of Keokuk up and along the valley of the Des Moines river by the way of the city of Des Moines to the northern line of the State, in the direction of the southern bend of the Minnesota or St. Peter's river, and providing that said grant should become operative when the consent of Congress to the diversion of said lands should be obtained, or the title thereto vested in the State; and also imposing upon said company, in case of its acceptance of said grant, certain conditions and restrictions, among which it was provided that said. company would complete seventy-five miles of said road within three years, and thirty-three miles each year thereafter for five years, and the whole line on or before the first day of December, 1868; and, WHEREAS, Such consent of Congress to the diversion was given by an act approved July 12, 1862, and said company afterward accepted said grant; and, WHEREAS, Said Keokuk, Fort Des Moines and Minnesota Railroad Company is now known as and called the Des Moines Valley Railroad Company; and, WHEREAS, Said railroad [company] is in default in respect to the time of construction of said road, and in the performance of other conditions of said grant, whereby the State has the right to resume the whole or a part of said lands: therefore, SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa, That the reserved rights and interests of the State in respect to the resumption and Relinquish disposal of said lands are hereby relinquished to and ment to D. V. conferred upon said Des Moines Valley Railroad Company, in the manner and upon the performance of the conditions precedent by said company, as hereinafter set forth, and not otherwise, viz.: R. R. Co. Duty of RegFirstThat it shall be the duty of the Register of ister S. L. O. the State Land Office, as soon as practicable, and before the first day of July, 1868, to set apart and reserve from the remaining river lands within the grant, and lying in place next north of township number ninety, and upon which there are no settlers claiming homestead rights, and exclusive, also, of the ten sections set apart 100,000 acres and sold to S. H. Taft, one hundred thousand acres of to pay claims. said lands, which shall be especially held to secure the payment of the claims described in sections 1 and 2 of chapter 22 of the laws of the Eleventh General Assembly of Iowa, and also of such claims as have been or may be allowed by the present General Assembly. Second-That if the said Des Moines Valley Railroad Company shall fail to pay in full and discharge all the claims in the preceding paragraph mentioned, by or before the first day of July next, then it shall be the duty of the Register of the State Land Office, and he is hereby required to proceed immediately to sell at his office in Des Moines, for cash, to the highest bidder, for Sale of lands not less than one dollar and fifty cents per acre, all the at not less lands reserved by the preceding paragraph, or so much than $1.50 thereof as shall produce the amount of money remainProviso: ad- ing due and unpaid on such claim: Provided, That he vertisement. shall first advertise the sale of such lands for not less per acre. than sixty days in four different newspapers published, one in Springvale, one in Fort Dodge, one in Des Moines, and one in Keokuk, Iowa; and provided further, That such lands shall be sold by him in quantities not less than forty acres nor more than one hundred and sixty acres each, and that the warrants issued by the State Auditor on account of the claims aforesaid |