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[Milwaukee & Rock River] Canal Lands

The Milwaukee and Rock River Canal Company in 1838, in pursuance of authority granted in their charter, applied to Congress on behalf of the Territory and secured a grant or donation of land consisting of all the "sections and practical sections which are numbered with odd numbers on the plats of public surveys within the breadth of five full sections, taken in north and south tiers on each side of said canal from one end thereof to the other". This grant is made to the Territory to aid in the construction of the canal; and the land, (as well as the even numbered sections within the same distance from the canal), cannot be sold for less than two dollars and fifty cents per acre, being double the usual minimum price of public lands. Consequently the Government, by taxing double price for the even sections realize exactly the same amount of money from the sale of these lands as if the grant or donation had not been made.

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