in the office of the register of deeds of said Williams county. No notation was made on the receiver's receipt, or reservation or exception made in the patent as to the alleged claim of the plaintiff. Both the receiver’s receipt and patent were in the ordinary form, and contained nothing to indicate that either the plaintiff or any one else had or claimed any portion thereof. Nothing was recorded in the office of the register of deeds tending to show that plaintiff claimed any portion of the premises for station grounds. Thereafter the defendants, in good faith and without any notice of the alleged claim of the plaintiff, purchased the respective lots now claimed by them, and paid to their respective grantors full value for the tracts conveyed. Each of them received conveyances fair on their face from the then record owners of the title purported to be conveyed by the United States to Pollock by virtue of said patent. Since acquiring such titles the respective defendants or their grantors have been in open and exclusive possession of the respective lots claimed by them, and have caused the same to be improved and valuable struc- tures to be constructed thereon. No claim was asserted by the plaintiff until in May, 1917.
The provisions of the act of Congress of March 3, 1875, which are pertinent to the questions presented in this case are:
“Section 1. The right of way through the public lands of the United States is hereby granted to any railway company duly organized under the laws of any state or territory, except the District of Columbia, or by the Congress of the United States, which shall have filed with the Secretary of the Interior a copy of its articles of incorporation, and due proofs of its organization under the same, to the extent of 100 feet on each side of the central line of said road; also the right to take, from the public lands adjacent to the line of said road, material, earth, stone, and timber necessary for the construction of said railroad; also ground adjacent to such right of way for station buildings, depots, machine shops, side tracks, turnouts, and water stations not to exceed in amount 20 acres for each station, to the extent of one station for each ten miles of its road. * * *”
“Section 4. Any railroad company desiring to secure the benefits of this act, shall, within twelve months after the location of any section of 20 miles of its road, if the same be upon surveyed lands, and, if upon unsurveyed lands, within twelve months after the survey thereof by the United States, file with the register of the land office for the district
