Wood

These cases depend upon the same facts and are submitted together. They involve a contest as to certain *478 lands lying within the indemnity limits of the grant to plaintiff by act of Congress of July 27, 1866, the plaintiff claiming under said grant, and the defendants claiming under patents issued to them as settlers under the land laws of the United States. The defendants demurred to the complaints in both cases, the demurrers were sustained, and these appeals are taken by the jolaintiff from the judgments thereupon entered against it.

Said act of Congress, upon which the plaintiff bases its claim' to said lands, is entitled, “An act granting lands to aid in the ' construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the states of Missouri and Arkansas to the Pacific Coast.” (14 U. S. Stats. 292.) Said act incorporated the Atlantic and Pacific Bailroad Company, and by the third section granted certain lands to aid in its construction. It provided that where the road passed though the territories of the United States the odd sections within forty miles of the road, and where it passed through any state ten alternate sections per mile, designated by odd numbers, were granted,…