New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1847-07-12
.mvI. and ss,y Of attainment. A small number

went on TO N axe locations In defiance OF the ukase
from Washington, determined 70 maintain them
by the squatter arguments Of rife and steel II ne
cessary To add to the confusion, the U. 3. Attor-
ney General officially reported that the War De-
parment had transcribed its powers in granting
Leases at slI-,hat the whole business had been
Illegal if not unconstitutional This Opinion
whether correct or otherwise, was potent Tor evn
only. The leased lands had mainly passed into
the hands Of innocent parties, who had paid Toll
consideration for the rights imported In the Leases
nobody supposed they would or should be dis
possessed Of them. II the Department had done
wrong, Congress or the President should have sea
sop.bly arrested its course the Government could
not deceDtly strip citizens Of property for which
they had honestly paid, on the plea that some Of
its own fonctionares had exceeded their powers
in transactions which had been public and unques
toned through series Of years. Finally, Con
gress, at it's las: Session, did what should have
been done long sgo-hxed minimum price on the
Mineral Lands Of Lake superior, and ordered them
10 be sold as those Of the Lead region had pre-
viousy been. Here is the only clue TO the lsby-
rinth: when shall il be followed OUT Every days
Ocidy IN DflDEluB IDCsC 11HN1 INV W.
tails serious loss on the Nation and unspeaksoie
injury on this region II the sale can be jagged on
for five years the choice mines will have been mann
" discovered and proved these will be taken oy
preemntoners az the prices stipulated, leaving the
ye.;due mainly unsaleable at any price. But put
them into market at once and great snare VIII Dc
bought as last year or earlier nearly all "ouIu
have been The monopolzers who claim and hoid
nv lease or as squatters any number OF square miles
will be brought 10 their bearings by demand that
they shall promptly pay their twenty or forty
shilings per in default thereof stand asioe
for ANYBODY else who 1H pay. Titles and boun-
daries will be settled inducements held out tor the
immigration Of Choppers, Cleaners, Farmers In
whose absence do not believe Mining can be
proGtaby prosecuted. While Potatoes cost over
81 per bushel and Hay some $40 per ton on soil
which invites and would richly reward Cultivation,
particul ar mines may richly pay for working, bat
mines in general never will.
II the Government had but begun here at the
right end-if it had allowed everybody to explore
for mines as much as they chose, issuing and re-
curing no Permits neither giving nor promising
Leases but pushing its surveys as rapidly as pos
Hlbie ana htlllIB hh US W hhN
bidder recognizing no squatters and profiering no
Preemptions but spending tenth OF the Land FRO
ceeds in rendering the Lands accessible by means
Of sorely needed Light Houses, Harbor Improve
ments. and Ship Canal around the Saul, large
sum would ere this have been realized to the Treas
ury. while the southern shore of the Lake would
now be alive with cheerful Industry, blazing and
smoking with expanding cearngs and reechoing
the dull thunder of the miners explosion Then 1t
would no longer be gravely discussed in Wall. or
State. or Chestnut street, whether this be really
region wonderfully rich in Mineral or only so re-
presented by spectators and their allies for the
truth would have indicated itself not in speci-
mems, aud boulders, and occasional masses OF Cop
per but in swiftly succeeding cargoes OF the purest
Save az alleged by Silver and the most ductie and
valuable Copper the world has ever seen. Then
the Arts Manufactures and appliances OF Civilized
life would have rapidly sprung up and houushed
where now look bat on a long, long sweep OF
wooded coast sleeping to the hum Of useless water
falls and shelterDg but the poisonous little insects
of whose means of detestsble annoy nce nearly /
every face ] meet is a monument Time at last
sets all things even; but every days delay in the
sale of these lands entails additional loss on the /
Treasury aud aggravates the injustice with which /
this region has been treated Shall not this year
see all end of it
The late act of Congress, authorizing the sale /
of the Mineral Lands undertakes to say that none
shall be sold for less than s2i per acre, and that
each claimant Of Presumption shall purchase his en-
tire Location. even if nine miles square, or be en-
titled 10 NUi.ho~. so"siicrfuE Lsss sio POI I
icy of these acquisitions, let me hope that the Gov
eminent does not intend to keep out OF market
such portion of the Lake Superior lands as pal
ably contain no Mineral until somebody is found to
pay s2l for them. Probably not one-tenth OF the
and embraced in the Mineral region so called is
really valuable for Mining purposes or will ever be
required Or such viii it be right then TO hold /
these auds up for that exorbitant price in region /
20 wntry, so rocky so remote from the great marts
IF Commerce To me, il seems at once injustice /
and folly. nc.