Amador weekly ledger., 1858-01-30
The Pico Claim.
JACKSON. Jan. 9th. Is.

and to keep it in motion, / wish to cooperate
with "Cadmus," your Butte correspondent, in
pitching into him who writes from Volcano;
or at least, into the advice he gives us, who
reside upon this grant To the portion OF
Truths letter which assured us that Pico's
grant will be confirmed, l have nothing to
say; but to that which concluded with, "Set-
tiers upon the Arroyo Seco' grant, pay Mr..
Pico for his land, while You can get it cheap
est" / do object to, most assurcdly; for
these reasons:
First, because it is by such funds as have
been raised by Mr.. Pico's agent, from those
whom they have succeeded in frightening into
compliance that he has been enabled to
prosecute his claim thus far.
4 Second, because all lands that have been
settled upon prio, to the time when Mr.. Pico
located. or surveyed his claim, cannot be
lands which do, or which ever did belong to
him.
1t will be understood that this "Arroyo
Seco" grant is what is termed Floating"
one. 1t differs materially from fixed grant,
or one whose boundaries are defined. Let
Us suppose then that this 'pico grant will
be confirmed. We shall now inquire, what
will it confirm to Mr. Pico? Simply, right
to select eleven square leagues of Government,
and therefore, it must be unoccapicd land /:
situated within certain limits
Within the boundaries, which define the
lands from which Mr.. Pico says his grant
gives him right to select any eleven square
leagues he may choose, are contained, per-
haps, one hundred; and at the time this grant
purports to have been made; little, if any, of
this land was owned by private individuals.
Yet can it be presumed that the grantor in-
tended that all of this one hundred square
leagues of land, out Of which he confers upon
the grantee right to select eleven, shall re-
main unowned for as many years as it should
suit the convenience of the grantee to delay
his seection2 And did he say in the grant,
that provided any person should occupy, i'm
prove, and thereby own portion OF such
land, that the grantee can, if he chooses, in
clrde by meanderings all such occupied land
within his grant? There can be no law extant
that will sustain Mr. Pco in the committing
of such an outage. Yet this is the game
which he and his agents have been playing
upon the settlers in Amador "Truth" rec
ommends continuance Of this rascality; but
my advice is let the settlers rein up, face the
foe in phalanx form, and he will soon beat a
retreat
When the LANDS in lone valley and Jack
son were taken up, there were none of us
aware that Mr.. Pico carried in his pocket a
grant for them. He did not at that time lay
any claim to them; and it is but about two
years since he ran his boundaries Therefore,
as Mr. Pico had made no improvements
whatever upon these lands, the presumption
is, that his right to them, if he has one, does
not date earlier than the time when he ran
his boundary lines This is the only indca-
tion of his ownership to them Those who
owned these lands before that time, have a
prior right to them This is a right which
Mr.. Pico's grant cannot take from them. 1t
is the priority Of right upon which he rests;
yet, it will be the very point that will defeat
him.
In conclusion will say, settlers upon the
"Arroya Seco' grant, don't pay cent more
to Pico for land which he never did and never
can own, by virtue of that grant. But unite
among yourselves, and prevent his consumma.
ting this piece of raseality upon us, which he
and his agents have so successfully com
menced.
Respectfully yours, A SETTLER.