Dubuque & Sioux City Railway Co. v. Cedar Falls & Minnesota Railway Co.

— In 1866, the plaintiff owned and was engaged in operating a line of railroad from Dubuque to Cedar Palls. By its articles of incorporation it was empowered to build its railway westward to the Missouri river. Defendant also owned a line of road extending from a point on plaintiff’s road to Waverley, a distance of fourteen miles, and by its articles was empowered to extend the same to the north line of the state. On the twenty-seventh of September of that year, the parties executed a contract by which defendant leased its road to plaintiff for the term of forty years from January 1, 1867. By…