The legislature of the state of Minnesota, on March 6, 1868, passed an act entitled 'An act to authorize the towns in Fillmore, Mower, Freeborn, Faribault, Martin, and Jackson counties to issue bonds to aid in the construction of any railroad running into or through said counties.' The first three sections of this act, which are the only ones material to this case, were as follows:
'Section 1. Each town in the counties of Fillmore, Mower, Freeborn, Faribault, Martin, and Jackson is authorized to issue bonds as hereinafter provided to aid in the construction of any railroad running into, or proposed to be built through, either or all of the counties aforesaid.
'Sec. 2. Said bonds shall be issued in sums of not less than $100 each, may bear interest at a rate not exceeding 10 per cent. per annum, payable annually, and shall run for a period not exceeding 10 years from their respective dates. They shall be signed by the chairman of the board of supervisors, and countersigned by the town clerk of such towns; and the principal and interest as they become due shall be payable to the person or corporation to whom they shall be issued, or bearer, on presentation to the town treasurer.
'Sec. 3. Any town in either of the aforesaid counties may, at any usual or regularly-called special meeting, by vote of a majority of the legal voters of such town present and voting, fix the amount and size of bonds to be issued by such town, the rate of interest, and the date of payment of all and any thereof, and the person or corporation to whom the same shall be issued and made payable, and the time at which and the terms and conditions upon which the same will be issued; and such town may, at such meeting, by vote, delegate all or any of the foregoing powers to the board of supervisors or any committee appointed by the town.'
Afterwards, on February 27, 1869, this act was amended by substituting 30 instead of 10 years as the limit of time at or within which the bonds were to be made payable. While this law, thus amended, was in force, to-wit, on May 9, 1869, the Southern Minnesota Railroad Company, by Clark W. Thompson, its general manager made the following proposition to certain towns in the counties of Mower and Fillmore, among which was the town of Red Rock, the plaintiff in error:
'I propose, in the name of the Southern Minnesota Railroad Company, to build and put in operation the Southern Minnesota Railroad, from its present terminus in Fillmore county to some point on the Innesota Central Railroad, on or before the thirty-first day of December, 1872, on the following conditions, to-wit:
'That the following towns in Fillmore and Mower counties shall vote and certify to the Southern Minnesota Railroad Company the following amount of bonds of their respective towns, payable in 20 years, with 7 per cent. annual interest: Fillmore, $15,000; Spring Valley, $25,000; Frankfort, $15,000; Grand Meadow, $15,000; Red Rock, $25,000; and Walthan, $15,000; the bonds not to be delivered, and the interest not to commence, until said completed road shall reach the town, or some point as far west as the eastern line of the town, voting the aid, if said road shall be done by the time specified.'
On May 15, 1869, a special meeting of the legal voters of the town of Red Rock was held, at which the following resolutions were passed by a majority of the legal voters present and voting at said meeting:
'Resolved, that under the provisions of an act of the legislature of the state of Minnesota, entitled 'An act to authorize the counties of Fillmore, Mower, Freeborn, Faribault, Martin, and Jackson to issue bonds to aid in the construction of any railroad running into or through said counties,' the supervisors of the town of Red Rock, Mower county, Minnesota, and their successors in office, be and are hereby authorized and required to issue and deliver the Southern Minnesota Railroad Company the bonds of said town, with interest coupons attached, to the amount of $25,000, such bonds to bear interest at the rate of 7 per cent. per annum, payable annually; such bonds to be issued in denominations of not less than $1,000 each, and to be payable in 20 years from their date, and to be signed by the chairman of said board of supervisors and attested by the clerk of said town, whenever said railroad company shall have completed its said road from its present termination, Fillmore county, to some point within 100 rods of the S. E. corner of the N. E. 1/4 of section 9, in town ship 103 N., of range 17 W., and shall have established a regular freight and passenger depot and are doing business therefrom.