, 1854-03-25
MEMORIAL

Your memorialiStS, the Legislative As
sembly Of the Territory Of Washington, le-
gally assembled on the 27th day Of Fcbru-
airy, A. ID. 1854, most respectfully repre-
sent TO your Honorable Bodies that the
act Of Congress, approved Sept. p, 1850,
creating the Office Of Surveyor General Of
the public lands in Oregon, and to provide
for the survey, and to make donations to
the settlers Of the said public lands-as
well as the act Of Congress amcndatory of
the act aforesaid approved Feb. Il, A. d.
ls53-has proved inadequate to the wishes
or convenience of the people in its practi-
cal operation that for the want of more
wholesome land system, the settlement and
improvement Of the country have been
greatly retarded, whilst the progress of
towns and cities has been measurably par
allied, owing to the prohibitory clause con-
tanned in the 4th section Of the act Of the
9th Sept, A D. 1850, whereby all sales
made Of donation right, prior to the issu-
ing of patent therefor, is declared to be
void, &c. that the uncertainty of title
under these circumstances prevents in a
great degree the erection of valuable i'm
provcments upon town property. Your
memorialsts therefore represent that it is
absolutely and imperatively necessary that
Washington Territory have a land system
Of her own, separate from and wholly dis
connected with that of Oregon Territory ;
because the physical make of the country,
the difficulty Of travel, and the enormous
expense Of getting from this Territory into
Oregon, to which the greater portion of
claimants in this Territory are subject,
together with the remoteness of the Office
Of the Surveyor General Of public lands in
Oregon, renders it impossible for settlers
of this Territory to transact their business
with the Surveyor General without spend
ing an amount of money almost equal to
the purchase money of their lands at Gov
ernment price that from the northern set
tlemets in Washington Territory to Oregon
City, the Office Of said Surveyor General,
more than three hundred miles have TO be
Travelled, and with our present travelling
facilities, person cannot go and return at
a less expense than one hundred and fifty
dollars that the settlers are thus burden
ed with an expense at once onerous and op-
preSsive, and in q great measure deprived
of intercourse with, or necessary instruction
from the Surveyor General These, to-
gether with numerous other difficulties not
here enumerated, leave no doubt in the
I minds Of your memOrialists that Congress
will at its present session enact law crea-
ting the Office of Surveyor General of the
Public Lands in Washington. Territory
As necessary provisions to be Incorporated
in such an enactment, your memorialists
must respectfully beg leave to suggest the
following, to wit:
l. That all settlers upon the public
lands in Washington Territory who shall
have received a donation certificate, be
relieved from the prohibition not to sell any
portion of their claims until they shall have
received patent, and that the certificate
of the Surveyor General, in accordance
with law, be prima facie evidence of title
2. That the Surveyor General be en-
powered to compel the attendance Of wit
nesses to establish donation right, and to
give testimony in all cases Of conflict Of
boundary before the Surveyor General or
any other officer authorized to take deposi-
tions. -p. ro .'.r.-.'. trT fwf .4Ir
8. That in all cases Of conflict Of boun-
Diary which may come before the Surveyor
General, either party be allowed to appeal
from the decision Of the Surveyor General
to the District court of the county in which
the lands in dispute are located. m
4. That any person entitled to dona-
tion Of land be allowed to settle upon and
hold any irregular fraction of public land.
.. That provision be made authorizing
the prOprietOrs of town sites to make con
veyance of lots and to give to the pur-
chaser deed, which shall have all the va
lidity, as a conveyance, as though patent
for the claim had regularly issued to the
{. said proprietor, and perfect estopple from
any adverse claim made in right of said
: proprietor, bis heirs or assigns.
6. That where either parent, having
child or children, shall have started for
, Washington Territory, and shall die on the
way, the surviving parent in his or her
RIGHT. shall be entitled to take, on comply
ing with the provisions Of the law, as much
land and hold it as though both parents
had lived provided, that such land taken
in name Of deceased parent, shall be held
, by the surviving parent in trust for such
child or children. ...H. a.. .t...
/ I. That where either parent, being a
citizen of the United States, or shall have
declared intention to become such, shall
have started for or arrived In this Territory,
and the other parent, though not yet start
ed to said Territory, shall die having a
child or children, the surviving parent, by
complying with the provisions of the law
to be entitled to the same amount of land
that both parents and such child or chill
dren would have been entitled to under the
law. i ..'.... ....1- l.
8. That where the husband and wife
have started to this Territory, and both