The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-01-23

L.
quirements of future legislation, and at the time
rendering il almost entirely impraeticabe to make any
transcript which could be safely and truly certified to
be true copy If the plat twas originally certified
by the Surveyor General
Whenwe remember that as the surveys are the foun-
daton Of all the other proceedings OF the Land De-
partmeni il must be manifest If they should be mac
cuaely fraudulenty executed doubt and confusion
will naturally be the consequence. Il is equally appa-
rent that where only doubts entertained as to the
accuracy Of the pats immediate and efficient mea-
sues should be taken have the question settled and
that TO prevent the inevitable confusion resulting from
basing final action upon such plas, il erroneous,
suspension Of all sales dcfnitise decision upon pre-
vious entries should take place until the subject was
fully investigated and correctly settled If this is the
course to be parsued in cases Of doubt, how much
necessary would il be to follow when the pats
are prored, officially, at least to be incorrect
That the Department was aware that there were
erroneous pats and surveys not clearly admit
ted by the report under consideration than by others
made to Congress from time TO time and that the er-
roneous surveys are more numerous than is generally
supposed and that false plating has covered ire
guar field work. will without doubt appear upon
full examination
That frauds have been committed in making returns
of surveys of lands over which chain was never
stretched is beyond doubt and it has been even said
thain days bye expensive ofsurveys ifmere
plating can be called, were made by dropping down
the current of water course in canoe taking the
course Of its mcanders by compass and the distances
by calculation Of time required to float from
point to another.
hat ,so a.. j.
ienton of the peculiar talents and discriminating
judgment deemed necessary In the officer having charge
of the matter must be acknowledged and reference
to the state of district will be sufficient estab
lish the necessity Of proper attention to the subject
That portion of the State of Mississippi extending for
many miles back from the river and from the mouth of
the Yazoo to the Louisiana line settled long prior
to the revolutionary war; and held by the French Br
fish and Spanish authorities in succession All made
grants, complete, and incomplete, and of the first
measures adopted after the establishment of the Land
System the settlement of those claims well as
those of the settlers having written evidence of title
These claims were settled so far as the acknowledg
ment Of titles concerned and they then had to be
surveyed in accordance to their claimed and recognized
boundaries in order that they might be patented and
the nterstces of the public lands asceraned and pre-
pared for sale; and, numerous these claims
and for such small quantities, that sometimes find
nearly hundred tracts held under different titles in
the same township.
The surveys made in the first instance have been
proved in many instances to be erroneous, while in
other cases it is impossible to arrive at any other
clusion than that the pats were fraudulenty made
without any actual survey Of the land but in the
mo hal ada ~ tho He Ia IL
represented upon such plats. As these facts were
years ago, and from time to time, made known to the
Department although there no express authority in
the surveying laws for doing, resurveys made
which in turn also discovered to be erroneous,
and gave rise to other re-surveys Ii has thus hap
pened that Of many townships there two three
more plas, each differing from the Others in the NUM-
ber lines, and contents of the tracts and ass as to
their being public lands private claims Notwi,h-
standing this lamentable condition Of affairs in the
most densely populated and valuable portion Of the
State it is believed that far from some general
and well dgested system having been prescribed for the
examination and correction Of those errors as would
appear to have been contemplated in 1886, that the
matter remains as it was, dependent upon the varying
views, and too often crude ideas of different and ra
pdly changing local officers sometimes as utterly IN
acquainted with the subject devoid of the peculiar
qualifications required for the proper performance Of
their duties, while the difficulty, not say the mpos
sbiity of re.racing old lines and establishing former
corners is by the very lapse Of time increasing such
fearful ratio, that consideration Of the
labor and expense involved in the correction of these
is truly appalling. These difficulties it is to be
feared may have been greatly augmented by th
which has been pursued, IL the writer is not greatly
mistaken, (and upon public considerations, he hopes
he ISL in recognizing the guide for present
action, the particular plat which was supposed to be
correct at the time the sale was made thus conse-
quently, at one moment acting finally upon case
under the guidance of plat which, the next minute,
is to be thrown aside erroneous in order that an
other plat by which to regulate the action of the xt
case may be constructed but which in its turn has to
give place to yet another When the business
can be correctly closed upon these principles may be
somewhat hazardous to conjecture.
II the sales in the district had been suspended four
years ago and the necessary measures then taken as
implicitly promised by the reorganization report to
have these surveys fully and carefully examined ac-
cording to prescribed full definite and we-di-
gestcd instructions this the corrections could have
all been properly made and the officers of the Land
Department have received that commentator for their
attention TO the subject, which is feared will not
now be awarded to them by those whose interests and
titles will be kept in suspense until it is done We
have all heard of the confusion arising from the old
Smuggling surveys in neutrality-suspicious. the pre-
sent generation in Mississippi may feel the effects of
the same causes
That quantities should be accurately stated in the
patents, and that uni form node should be ADOPT
ed by which the tracts which are not regularly sub
divided should be divided is a matter much IN be ia