The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-08-25
Claim making and Pre-emption.


quently inquiring by what process one
may come into real possession of public
land. And though the answer to this
question applies to many other parts of
lf the West, We venture to base upon the
general subject an article with special
reference to Minnesota.
The public lands offered to settlers are
divided into Districts, after which it is
drought into market, that is, il is ad
yertised for public sale on a given day.
What Is not then sold to the highest
bidder is subject to private entry at 81
30 per acre. 1850 szs..ss.ssssss.
Presumption means prior entry, the
entry or purchase of lands before they
have been thus offered at public sale. In
order to this one must make "claim, y
that is must become 'tsquatter' on the
land which he desires to prcempt He
must make Improvements. put on it a
habitation of some sort, and make it his
actual residence for while.
This claim making is. among the ro-
mances of frontier and pioneer life. To
60 into the unbroken wilderness, and
Gull from a thousand locations the one
which best pleases the eye, to spot few
trees, drive few stakes, hurry up cab
in of logs or of boards brought from a
dis tance; to call that ''home, perhaps no
wife to cheer, and perhaps with no hui
man being for miles around; to get soak
ed with the rain, or bitten by the frost,
or bored by the mosquitoes, or smoked
out by your own camp fire; to walk around
and plan where shall be your house, your
garden, your tillage, your meadow, and
dream yourself into raptures at the tho't
that you are monarch of all you sur
vey;;" to get hungry, and start for the far
off town for provisions; to be detained BY
new chances for business, and TO go
back in month or two, and-if no gruff
Dutchman with fat rrow and ten pigs
and six children has fast possession of
your pleasant places, put few more
improvements on the "claim,' to live
thus off and on until "matters come
round right" when You go to the Land
Office, prove up pocket your dupli-
cate, and wait till the record of your case
can pass the inspection of the Depart
ment at Washington, and then to receive
from the United States patent, or con-
frmed title to the premises you have so
long desired to cali your own; all this is
an experience of adventure. anxiety, ex-
ertion and success, which brings out in
bold relief every quality of a mans na-
ture
Claim Jumping is an inodorous busi-
aess,.theugh Sometimes praetieed.. The.
requirements of the presumption law are
so complicated, and frequently SO ill-un-
ders:ood. that many claimants lay them
selves liable by some trifiing neglect, to
forfeiture of their claim. The jumper is
the man who, taking advantage OF the
ignorance or carelessness of The squatter,
puts up his shanty on the same subdiyis-
ion, and declares himself the rightfuland
real claimant.
This jumping business frequently
gives rise TO warm controversy. Some
times the matter goes to law, sometimes
voluntary associations of tho settlers ar
bitrate, and once in great while, when
two men of brutal tendencies meet there
is resort to punIneling OF powder.
As matter of fact, however, the eases
of jumping or contested claims are few.
Most men arc enlightened enough in
their seiGshness to see that the safest
way is for every one to make ms own
claim. The general sense of the settlers
is against jumping, though there are 81.
ses where men attempt TO hold land in
clear violation of the law, and every body
reioices in seeing them dispossessed.
The pre-emption right may be e1er
cised by any one who is the head of a
family, or a widow, or single woman
over twenty-one years old, but BY TO
man of foreign birth, unless he has been
naturalized or declared his intention 10
become citizen of the United States.-
No man can preempt butonce. Noman
can preempt who owns $40 acres of land
in any State or Territory
No man can preempt who abandons a
residence on his own land to reside on
public lands in the same State or Terrific
~, though We are informed that the
Commissioner has just decided that the
restriction does not apply to man who
leaves village or town lot.
One person can preempt ID. so, 100,
OF loo acres, but no more, and this must
all lie ii one body, OF ia contiguous
parts.
There can be no transfer of pre-enps
ton rights. Men frequently sell out
their improvements and their claims, but
the purchaser must make improvements
of his own, and erect habitationof his
own, before he preempts. Within three
months after the Improvements are made
the claimant must file at the Land Office
a declaratory statement of his intention,
and before the land is offered for sale he
must prove his right and deposit the
money, or run his risk Of being out-bid
If he fails to pay up and no one bids off
the land, he or any other person may
subsequently, enter the land at 81 % per
acre. No claimant, however, would be
very likely to run this risk.
When contested cases come before the
Land Office, and both are qualified to
make an entry. the law gives the first
right 10 the one who proyestehase made
the Grst Improvements. Any one who
is aggrieyed BY the decisions of the local
officers may appeal TO the Commissioner
at Washington. and thence 10 the Sccre-
tary of the Interior.
IN proving up" a pre-emp.iols r. &. J!
Toe claimant is required to show thai Be
has the qualifications ADORE mentioned,
and to make oath that he has not direct
y or indirectly bargained to any other
person anE portion of the land he prope-
ses 70 enter, but that it inures TO his
own special use and benefit. The officers
before whom he makes this oatn are
bound to accept his affidavit. but If 4 civil
tribunal convict him Of perjury he for
feits both the money and the land, In ad-
dition to the ordinary penalties.
The duplicate given to the pre-emptor
by the local Land Office is generally con-
si6ersd nearly as GOOD as 4 goyernnae1t