Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1858-06-11
SlLE OF FORT SNn.LlSG.


fl,e Fort Suelling case is So down for Gen.
sideration in Congress this Yfek. The Com
mittce's Report, with the eggenee on which i
is basel, has now been SERIAL weeks @befort
the public, and, up to thisAour, none of the
statements on which the Committees conclu-
sious are based have evqF been controverted.
Not single Administration j1urnal has yen-
tured to published eve9a synopsis Of the Rc-
port Of the testimony That remarkably indc-
pendent aud plundG hating sheet, TIE .Nsw-
York Hrata, h8s l4dnted tho minority 5 tedious
and sopllistieal a3empt to bef9g and pettifog
the case, SO as tesereen the depredators from
public reprehgksion; but it has never yentured
to let lis reo,ers see what the case is againsf
which It rpSdes TO the defense Of Secretari
FLOYD apfhis confederates. Let Us, then, rel
fresh ~ public recollection Of the LEADING
po;pts0 the case which are not even dispui
led
= The Fort Smelling Reservation lies be-
teen the Rivers Mississippi aud Minnesota, al
1eir junction, ana forms, uuquesfionablv. The
56aest site for a great COMMERCIAL city IN an
Minnesota. ST. Paul, six miles below
with lie thriving towns surrounding the Fails
of 81 Anthony, six miles above, have nov 50
! geat a start that no city erected on the Fort
}onelllng location may ever overtake them. hnt
its original superiority is manifest. The land
Is prairie, some of il low aud swampv. Int ~
least ihrec-fortEs of the whole is hieh. heath,
aud beautiful Some of the soil Is exeelIent
blli 4 part IS thin. overlayiLc a white sand
welf adapted to eaItfyatIon. fIow fuuUti
the Reservation contains, has never been pub
Iicly ascertaiued though Mai. Eastman Of the
Arm, (wbo had long been. stationed there. and
knew the ground intimately was sent out 10
survey it. aud did survey it in part, in April and
May of last year. Before he had finished the
lob, however, he vas notified that he had been
appointed. along with Mr.. Wn. King HoiskeH
Of Virginia, a commissioner to sell the Reser-
walton, and, without completing the survey
they proceeded TO sell it, as we shall herein
after set forth. The Reserve contains from
seven 10 ten thousand acres, worth $50 to 500
per acre, in view of its proximity to several
growing cities, if regarded as not itself an ell
/ iaible Site for city. II we esteem il the
proper site for the emporium Of the trade Of
| the Minnesota River country (which it certain
/ " vas, if it is rot STILL its value cannot be
less than Sl,00G,00o
2. Over two years ago, Mr.. Franklin Steele,
! long resident on this Reserve as butler to the
troops posted there, songht to buy it as spec
ulation Mr. Henry NJ. Rice, then Delegate
now United States Senator from Minnesota
wrote on Steel's behalf to Jefferson Davis, ther
Secretary of State Offering $i5 per acre foi
! the whole, but estimating the area Of the Re
serve at only five thousand acres. Col. Dayi:
answered May 6, 1856, quickly and crustiy
ssThe Reservation is still needed for military
purposes, and Mr.. Steele's offer cannot, there.
fore be entertained. His letter to you is here
with returned"
3. Ten months thereafter, Mr.. Rice procure,
the insertion, in the Military appropriation bill
I(Marcb 8, 1851 OF proviso authorizing th,
sale, BY the Secretary Of War, of such Militia
lry Reservations as had become or thereafte
might become useless for Military purposes
No reference was made to the Fort Smelling o.
any other Reserve in particular, but Senator
on the reading of this amendment, very natu
rally asked, "lIow are these lands to be sold2
l. to which blr. Weller of California pronlptl,
answered, 'sat public sale" which queted sus
picion, and the clause passed without objec
tion.
4. Dir John b. Floyd, of Virginia, imme
diately thereafter became Secretary OF War
vice Davis, who went out with the late PresI
dent. cry so0n atterWaru, Df. -Afcit. 0la
ham, hailing from Virginia, called on has Oh
, friend the Secretary, $50 the DIR. testi6es,) an
: announcing that be was on his way to Mime
sofa to speculate in lands, asked if he (Floyd
could throw anything in bis way. Th
; Secretary replied that he could not, unless b
/ chose to undertake the sale of certain old fort
in that region. The DR.. promised to think {
ii and respond; which in due time he did, dt
cliuing the job, having privately resolved
dip into the Fort Smelling matter rot as Sc
Ter but as a purchaser.
: 5. Maj. Eastman was about this time d
9 patched, with only verbal orders, to survey Il
Fort Smelling Reserve; DIR. Graham had gor
on intending to purchase it, and now the fgul
. heads Of Messrs John g. Mather aud Richar
Schell (uow Senators) of this city, emery
0 from the limbo of obscurity. Both were the
private citizens; MIR. Schell a Wall street br'
kcr aud general speculator; Mr. Mather ha
filed the post of Canal Commissioner, therel
achieving notoriety rather than distinction, ar
was now nothing in particular but speel
: crony of the two Schells, and an esteemed a
: quaintance of Secretary Floyd. II. Schel