Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay Railroad given to railroads (which would then re-sell these lands for a profit) in exchange for constructing certain routes. At the heart of Michigan's network at the time were the Michigan Central Railroad and the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, both of which ran east-west across the southern Lower Peninsula. As proposed in the route would run from "Amboy by Hillsdale and Lansing, and from Grand Rapids to some point on or near Traverse Bay." This route would bisect the existing railroad network and provide a railroad connection to Lansing, the new state capital. Almost immediately local interests intervened: the
Lansing v. Smith shore between high and low-water mark, cutting off all access from his land to the river, except across the railroad. Lansing v. Smith Lansing v. Smith, 4 Wend. 9 (1829), is a case decided by the Court of Appeals of New York which is relevant to eminent domain law. The case held that: People of a state are entitled to all rights which formerly belong to the King, by his prerogative. In "Lansing v. Smith", a statute of New York authorized the construction of a basin in the Hudson at Albany, and erections whereby the docks, etc., of the plaintiff