These cases were consolidated and heard together in the state courts, both relating to the same subject-matter, viz., the validity of a compromise agreement made on the twenty-seventh of October, 1868, between Mills county, in the state of Iowa, and the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company, in reference to certain lands lying in said county, claimed by the county as swamp and overflowed lands, and claimed by the railroad company as railroad grant lands. The claim of the county was based on the act of congress approved September 28, 1850, entitled 'An act to enable the state of Arkansas and other states to reclaim the swamp lands within their limits;' and an act of the general assembly of the state of Iowa, entitled 'An act to dispose of the swamp and overflowed lands in the state of Iowa, and to pay the expenses of selecting and surveying the same,' approved January 13, 1853; and other acts of the general assembly of said state. The claim of the railroad company was based upon the act of congress of May 15, 1856, granting to the state of Iowa certain lands for the purpose of aiding the building of a railroad from Burlington, Iowa, to a point on the Missouri river, at or near the mouth of Platte river in Nebraska. The act of congress first referred to (9 St. 519) declared in effect 'that to enable the state of Iowa to construct the necessary levees and drains to reclaim the swamp and overflowed lands therein, the whole of those swamp and overflowed lands, made unfit thereby for cultivation, which shall remain unsold at the passage of this act, shall be, and the same are hereby, granted to said state.' And, after providing for listing and patenting the lands, it was, by section 2, enacted that 'the fee-simple to said lands shall vest in the state of Iowa, subject to the disposal of the legislature thereof: provided, however, that the proceeds of said lands, whether from sale or direct appropriation in kind, shall be applied exclusively, as far as necessary, to the purpose of reclaiming said lands, by means of the levees and drains aforesaid.'
The general assembly of Iowa, by an act passed January 13, 1853, declared 'that all swamp and overflowed lands granted to the state of Iowa by the act of Congress (September 28, 1850) be, and the same are, hereby granted to the counties respectively in which the same may lie or be situated, for the purpose of constructing the necessary levees and drains to reclaim the same; and the balance of said lands, if any there be, after the same are reclaimed as aforesaid, shall be applied to the building of roads and bridges, when necessary, through or across said lands, and if not needed for this purpose, to be expended in building roads and bridges within the county.'
On the twenty-second of March, 1858, the general assembly passed another act containing, among others, the following provisions:
(1) 'Be it enacted by the general assembly of the state of Iowa, that it shall be competent and lawful for the counties owning swamp and overflowed lands to devote the same, or the proceeds thereof, either in whole or in part, to the erection of public buildings for the purpose of education, the building of bridges, roads, and highways; for building institutions of learning, or for making railroads through the county or counties to whom such lands belong: provided, that before any of said lands, or the proceeds thereof, shall be so devoted to any of the purposes aforesaid, the question whether the same shall be so done shall be submitted, at some general or special election, to the people of the county.'
(2) 'The proper officer or officers of any county may contract with any person or company for the transfer and conveyance of said swamp or overflowed lands, or the proceeds thereof, or otherwise appropriate the same to such person or company, or to their use, for the purpose of aiding or carrying out any of the objects mentioned in the first section of this act, which said contract shall be reduced to writing and signed by the respective parties or their lawful authorized agents.'
Another section prescribed the mode in which elections should be called and held, and without which any contract should be void, and concluded with the following proviso: