Burlington hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1845-185?, 1846-12-17

y 90" Wv O;4UU
Total, 442,lO7
The estimated quantity of school land in
that portion Of the : tate not vet laid off into
counties Is 463 ,04S, making a total of 9O5,-
l55 acres Add 10 this the 500. 90 acres
10 which we will be entitled upon our adj
mission into the Union, and which is an
propriated by our Constitution 10 educa-
tlonal purposes, and we have the magnif-
cent aggregate OF ,405, L 80 acres. AS the
care OF these lands will devolve upon The
Legislature, | cannot omit to recommend
the passage Of such additional laws as may
be necessary to the preservation of their
value. BY the act of Congress Of Nav
10th, 1916, and the act of June 25, 1914.
the Secretary of the Treasury of the Uni
ted States is authorized to cause selections
to be made for the townships where the
sixteenth section has been, in whole or in
part, disposed of; and also for those ffac-
tlonal townships where there is no six
teenth section, or where the sixteenth Sec
ton is flaclional one, containing less
quantity oflLnd than the township in which
it is situated may be enlitledto. For some
OF the townships and fractional townships
in Iowa thus situated, the trustees have
recommended selections, and in others the
Land officers; while in many no selections
whatever have been recommended, and
consequently no lands are reserved. tits
understood that these selections have not
yet been confirmed by the General Land
Office and as number of them were made
without personal inspection of the land,
and may prove to be Of little value, the
State could not but be benefited by author
izng new selections. | would therefore
recommend that provision be made for eff
fecting this object, as well also as for the
immediate location Of school lands for those
townships where none have been recon-
mended, and where the sixteenth section
may have been in whole or in part dis
posed of.
cannot but regard the sale Of the school
lands at present as Of questionable policy;
but should it be determined to make an
early disposition of them, too much care
cannot be taken to avoid an Insecure in
vestment of the proceeds arising from their
sale. The interest annually accruing from
such investment should constitute the avail
able school fund, and might be distributed
to the several counties in proportion 10
their population, As the grant is intend
ed for the whole people, this is perhaps
the only way in which justice can be done;
for il each township is to receive only the
proceeds of lis own sixteenth section, some
would be almost entirely excluded from
all participation in the benefits Of the fund,
owing to the inferior character Of the land
assigned them, while others, with perhaps
less population, would receive an over
proportion. If the sale of the lands be not
authorized, a law empowering the school
directors Of the several townships. or some
other organized body, 10 lease or rent the
untimbered portions Of them would it is
believed be attended with beneficial effects
BY an act of Congress approved July
20, 1910, two townships, or seventy-two
section, Of land, were set apart TO the Ter
ritory for the use and support Of Univer
sity; and under the act of March Sd, 1915,
these lands are given to the State, to be
applied TO the purposes for which they
were originally granted. The selections
authorized BY this act were TO be made un-
der the directions of the Secretary of the
Treasury. but no appropriation having
been made for the pay of an agent but lit
tie has been done towards carrying out the
provisions of the law. Although three
several persons have been appointed at
different periods 10 make choice of these
lands, | know of but two sections which
have been regularly selected and returned.
These lie in Jefferson county, and are said
10 be valuable. As it is of manifest I'M
portance that further delay in making this
grant available should be avoided, | res
pectfuly suggest the passage Of an act COM
pensating the present agent David Fur
guson, esq, of Van Buren, county,) for
any services which he may PERFORM
Nothing short of such step, | am salts
fled, will enable the State TO locate the re-
mainirg seventy sections jndiciously, and
at an early day. The government sur
veys are at present being actively prose-
cu,ed in Iowa, and the agent should be
prepared to make return of his selections
the ensuing spring.
Under an act Of Congress approved Au-
gust s, 1916, one equal moiety Of all the
unsold and. unencumbered public lands, in
alternate sections, in distance Of FIVE
miles on each side Of the Des Moines river,
Is granted to the Territory of Iowa, 10 aid
in the improvement of the navigation Of
said river, from its mouth TO the Raccoon
forE; and the lands granted are to become
the property Of the State, for the purposes
stated, as soon as il is admitted into the
Tn on provided the Legislature will de-
clare its formal acceptance OF the grant
| The lands donated are not to be conveyed
or disposed OF except as the improvements
to which they are TO be applied progress,
and are to be selected by an agent or
agents appointed by the Governor of the
Territory. In accordance with this pro-
vision Of the law and after awiting in vain
for instructions from the General Land
Office, on the eleventh Of the present
month appointed Jesse Williams, Of John
son county, Josiah H. Bonney, of Van Bu-
rem county, and Robert Cock, Of Wapello
county, commissioners 10 make the con-