Supreme Court of the United States March 5, 1894, 837 (Prosser v. Northern Pacific Railroad)

Mr. Justice Gray,

after stating the case, delivered the opinion of the court.

It may be admitted that the Congress of the United States, while the present State of Washington was a Territory, had the power, in chartering a corporation to construct and maintain a railroad from Lake Superior to the Pacific Coast, to grant to the corporation such title or rights in lands below high water mark of