The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1858-05-04
The Virginia Land Office.

AhC virginia Lana On1Ccs
TO s. W. D.
Mr. EDITOR: AY attention was often called during
tho last session of the Legislature to long leading
artcies ia onr paper iu regard to the operation OF
the Land Office CT this State. was at loss to
know why you had so suddenly awoke to evils OF
, such long Standing, and how it happened that you,
OF all others, seem most az krieyed by these I'M
gultous land laws. The scales have h~weyer, fall
! ell from my eyes
In your per or the 2ih nit under the captiop OF
1he Fair-hichmond-The Mechanics Institute
writer. signing himself s. ". D. seems to have
been the industrious aud honestyloying iustigat1r
of these lengthy elfusoGs In the article above re-
cited, this phianthIoric gentleman takes OCCASION
under the cOnd head OF his discourse, G. Rich
case OF Inonomania. He signaiz.s the Land effice
as one OF tue most singular institutions Of the
country lie fecon nends visitors to call and see
| the swindng Land Office and the amjabe Regis
| ter lie call. 1t The "greatest swindlins Land OF
ice in the known ~or.d,' &C The uninitiated will
e surprised when they are told that this very same
Land Once, with all its abominatIons existed long
| before -. ". -" was born--that it has always
been located u, the city of Richmond and so daring
carry its nefarous traffic in the br oaa light
Of the Iun hat il has been always optn TO visits ~
without passports, (unlike the Penitentiary and
naliy that it was stabsbed by as wise aud 1syi,
tuouS body of men as ever lived on this earth of
ours. But let us desc end little to particu
| lars.
1he present Land Office may properly be said to
have had its being commensurate with our state
q JverDment and Is nearly now what il was at the
beginning The Chief obJect OF its establishment
was settle the State as rapidly possible The
derived from operation of the Office
pected simply 10 deray It's expenses, which, on sew.
| eral occa Ions it has iaied TO do The Common
wealth certainly never expected to derive revenue
| spondcnt would sty lie it. .4
Amvng other reasons why it happened that virgi-
| nia has mad and sill may have waste and unan.
proprated lands" Liable TO entry and survey are
the following: In the early settlement of the West
erD part OF the STATE. large tracts, varying from
| 500 to JH0,tW acres of land, were bought up by
specutAtors. Sometimes the surveys Were not made
| al, but one or TWO corners Of the imaginary
1 Tl3Nnnf =
| the country given. that the neighborhood
| people were wont to call it "A B or Us' chain
| Of surveys; aud until better understood it was
| not taken up by smaller surveys. In the Sc
cond place, it has often been found impossible
70 identify some Of those large surveys that
we're Tediiy made. and finally many of these large
tracts have by reason of the Don-pay ymeDt of taxes
become very properly, and according TO law. liable
| - entry and survey in the same manner as il
| they had never been entered and surveyed. The
parties who first purchased these lands P1 cents
per acre having fall to comply with the Implied
| aud necessary conditions of sale, have forfeited
their title and it has reverted to the Comm, nwaalth.
Hence 1t is that much of what is called torffate'
land has become properly liable 10 entry and sur-
| yey under the Registers Warrant.
| But let Us see yet more particularly how this
gross swindiing" is carried on. B finds in bis
| efXhborho0d IA piece of land say 300 acres, to
which seems TO have tit c. 1t is rough and
mountainous He goes to the surveyors office oi
| the county and can get information as TO the
| true owner He goes to the Commissioner and he
finds that it is not o. his books, nor has been for
! years. it ever. After making these and other i'll
luirie he to the conclusion that the said trsC
50H acres of Iaud betong. 10 the Commonwealth,
and h, concludes to enter it. He still is not abso-
lutely certain that he can hold it, but is willing TO
run the risk. lie sends to the Register Of the Land
Office in Richmond. fJr a warrant for so acres of
land. TIE Register, upon the receipt of Sl2.75,
sends him the following paper:
LAND OFFICE TREASURY WARRANT, No -
To the Principal SaTreyor Of any 'ouaty witsin The
Commonwealth Of Ttytaid:
This shall be your warrant to survey and lay of
in one or more surveys, for b. his heirs and as
signs the quantity OF five hundred acres of land.
due unto The said b. in consideration Of the sum
Of twelve dollars and fifty cents, current money OF
Virginia. paid into the public Treasury or this Com
monwealth; the payment whereof hath been duly
certified by the Auditor of Public Accounts and his
Certificate received into the Land Officc.
Given under my hand and seal of the said Office,
this - day OF -. in the year one thousand
[Signed by the Registerl
&B- By the Code of Virginia of Isl9, p. 4sj, 30.
it is enacted-"rhat no Treasury Land Warrant
thereafter issued shall be assignable but by WFen
assignment, on the back Of such warrant dteSted by
itc0 or more 1cuHeS5eS
surveyors. admitting locations are requested to
attend to this.
BY an act of the Legislature. passed some 3 or 10
years ago aud at one time IN operation, long prior
thereto, the person making the location had r.
that he believed the land to be vacant and IL
able to entry. Such is the law still On receipt Of
this warrant. A. B takes to the Surveyors Office
and has it entered and pays the fee for the same
Then the Surveyor goes upon the land ard surveys
one is charged Then the survey is plated out anl'
sent TO the land Office at Richmond, when another
tee OF S. 81 is paid; and finally. If no one comes
forward in six months and Contests his title, tile Re
gister issues his deed. signed by the Governor and
thus nyeys al the title that the Comm0nw ealth
has in this tract OF 800 acres TO A
The title thus acquired was not good against the
world until after peaceable possession Tor fifteen
| wears (beyond the Mountains where most of these
lands ii} but by recent enactment the period has
been reduced o len years,
Now let us see what this precarous title has cost
b 1t has cost him much examination, much
time and much than the Sl273 (or az cts Per
acre) paid to the Register Esch acre has cost him
no land Office and Mr.. A b. concludes 10 claim the
Land without one shadow Of night Except that
he found it) has it surveyed, and proceeds to
the Commissioners books! What is the reeuIt,-
Has the Commonwealth been benefited, or the
ri hts of others better protected! Have those
who really own the land any means OF knowing
(proyidcd especially, they be non residcnts> that
lhereis any claimant but themselves me Who.e
business has been done in secret; A. b. tates pos
session. and holns possession without disturbance
for 10 years. and then, withoutthe aid OF the swim ID
ding Registers warrant. he holds MS traft oi QUO
acres AGAINST the wGrld.
The object Of the Commonwealth Is. ana always
has been, as before sal to sette her lands ana ct
to mpov rish those who buy them: Those who set
tle them are will become. her own citilens
and the increased value OF the improved lani soon
yields her revenue. Ii may be well to state ior the
neneft OF Ncrthern land eeekers, that there are
thousans and tens OF thousands Off acres in virginia
not worth "a cent? per s9re tben eve VIII, .,.s.s
issehoodthat It tells surreyor to lay on aud sur
vey land when the State knows the has not an acre
right to dispose of or give away IL she think pro
per. The decisions Of her highest judicial aripa
nails have confirmed titles claimed under the Regis
ters warrant. over and over again.
1t is also char ged that the warrant deceiFes, and
by desis n deceves, the purchaser Itcertainy cam
not de. eiye the citizen of this State, because he
never buys warrant until he finds piece Of land
upon which he thinks he can lawfully lay IL. Bit
IL deceives foreigHeTsfa 70 II may. but certainly
no intelligent foreigner. Laws cannot be made TO
suit the peculiar feebleness OF every mans mind
Suppose take one OF these warrants as they have
been taken by Northern to the North. md pro-
pose to Mr. Smith to sell him q st0 acre iaad war
rant Suppose he reads ii and finde 10 cort atthe
Land Office ia Richmond 4l2.75 only; that the war
rant dc ces not say where the land lies, whether IN
ihe Fast or Hest whether it 10 Hat or hilly timber
Cd or prairie. rocky or marshS; what think you,
would this purchaser says Unless the most con-
summate blockhead. he must needs enquire: where
does this land lie Mr Jones. aud In what connty Pr
IL II Improved? Where Is the plat and survey,
showing its boundaries aud position ~ With this
sjtnpIe warrant before him. what couid Dir Jones
say in answer to questions SO plain and oesisas,-
Why lie fnust needs lie aud ssiedle As men may do
In other matters b. sides land warrants, for The sake
al gau Rnt oriae he must be very l.ftl her
no could with this warrant deceive man % nfair
nary mind am aware that before the prereat1os
ot the issue of EFstaBGe leaJFafifs, swindiirg was
carried on at tho North. by Northern fneu ia land
Warrants The Williams saooted the plan OF getting
a large argaTlt and 4 en- hasins II exchanged Tor
feyer, ! M Ter "Rr hhitgs PtiraHts. tupne which
tI,e 20 oi warrant was not stat d. and theA said