In the United States v. Dalles Military Road Company case of 1892, the Supreme Court ruled on a dispute over land grants in Oregon. The U.S. government had previously granted lands to the state of Oregon for constructing military roads under an act passed by Congress in 1866. However, these lands were later claimed by Dalles Military Road Company who argued that they held rights to them due to their role in building and maintaining those roads. The court decided against Dalles Military Road Company stating that it was not entitled to any part of said lands as per its contract with the state because it did not fulfill its obligations within a specified time frame set out by law (five years). Furthermore, even if they had completed construction within this period, their claim would still be invalid since no legal provision existed allowing such transfer from states to corporations or individuals without explicit Congressional approval.

The dissenting opinion in the United States v. Dalles Military Road Company case argued that the majority's decision was based on a misinterpretation of the law and an incorrect application of legal principles. The dissenters believed that Congress had intended to grant land to the company for building a military road, not just as compensation for their work but also as an incentive to encourage such development projects. They contended that this intention was clear from both legislative history and statutory language, which should have been given more weight than any administrative interpretations or practices at odds with it. Furthermore, they disagreed with how the majority handled evidence about whether certain conditions were met before granting patents for these lands; in their view, once issued by government officials who presumably verified compliance beforehand, these patents should be presumed valid unless clearly proven otherwise - something they felt hadn't happened here.