New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-04-28

tie agent or representative Of the Hoe. Jonn y.
ysther, Mr.. Richard and Mrs. Richard semen
(Which Decent mean Mr.. Augustus) Of this city'
ard wn secretly pa.taer with Dir. ffanAn
Steele in buJing the property-ths Commissioner
now swearing that they didn't know him In tna' CO.
pacity, nor suppose anybody but Franklin e.ece
concerned in the purchase. Mr. Secretary fioyd
also knew nobody a. concerned IN the Pui'
chase but Franklin Steele. We say Mrs. Ricnara
Schell doesn't mean Mr. Augustus Schell, because
both the Mr.. Sches testify; but it appears ina!
Mr. Augustus Schel leLt Mrs. Richard Schel
5000 Of the money put into this operation, ana
has not Jet got it back, though Mrs. Richard semen
is sttes.ed by her husband to be worth SlOO,Ooo.
Ard DIR. Arch. Graham, who was going up 10 Mn
nesota to speculate n lands before he ever hoard OF
Fort Smelling or had any relations with Mather ana
the Sclell', appears not to have put one dollar INTO
this Dor anything else. It doesnt look % though
he had anything to put in. Franklin Steele mas
paid 10 10000, Mather and the Schells S2o,ooo'
but DR.. Graham just nothing at all except his ser
vices, for which he is to have S. 900 year. and Is
"let in" for one enty seventh Of the purchase
u.
War Department on the 4th or 5th Of March. was
formally applied to by Delegate Rice on the 7th OF
April following. In his letter, Mr. Rice says;
Fort Smiling wiH probably be required as depot
cal with it cay forty acres of the present reser-
walton" Yet, green as Mr.. Floyd was in Army
matters, be- never applied to Gen. Scott, Com
maneer.in. Chief, nor 10 Gen. Persifor +. Smith,
commanding in that military division, TO ascertain
whether this reterye could now be given up, and,
if rot all, how much Of it. He did submit the
matt,r TO Quar.ermsster General Jesup, but ,chen
does not appear, as hs letter of application Is not
given, sLd Gen. Jesup's response appears ''nhom
don. Gen. Jesup's answer, however, ought to
have arrested the sale at once. He says
eff the troops aye to be kept as much as possible
conce ntrated at central POTTS. where they can be
cheaply supplied when not in the field then there
no place II Northern frontier 80 suitable as Fort
Smelling. Ifthis policy s to be adopted, and
certainly is the true ocy, not foot of the site OF
Fort Smelling can be spared, without weakening tne
deferse Of the frontier.
In the face of this opinion, and without consult
ing any other military authority the six-weeks-old
Secretary pushed on the sale
S. Some time in April, Maj Seth Eastman Of
the Army, an old crOny of Steee's, was sent out BY
Secretary Floyd to survey the Fort Smelling Re
serve into forty acre lots, with only verbal orders.
On tie 25th of May Mi. Eastman and William
King Heiskel neiehbor in Virginia, and special
political and personal ally of Secretary Floyd, were
appointed by him Commissioners, at 80 per day
and expe nses, to go out to Minnesota and sell the
Fort Smelling Reserve. DR.. Arch. Graham was
already on the ground, as was Maj. Eastman in his
capacity Of Surveyor. Franklin Steele was living
there, where he had lived for many years as suffer-
TO make the witch-broth " slab and good Mr..
JOHN c. Math.r was about this time appointed by
Secretary Floyd a Commissioner to go out to
Minnesota Cat So day and expenses) aud there
examine and report on the Fort Ripley reserva-
ton. He did so, having arranged with the Schells
and with DR.. Graham TO dip into Fort Smelling if
that should seem right" So the LIST of June or
thereabouts found the whole party, except Secre-
tarv Floyd aid the Schslls, at or about Fort
Smelling
6. The Commissioners Eastman and Helskell,
were appointed at Washington on the 2oih OF May
last; on the 9th of June-eleven days thereafter
they had executed at Fort Smelling the sale OF the
whole Reserve to Franklin Steele for S9O,OOo-
one third to be paid on the 10th of July following;
the balance in two eq. al annual payments there
" after" Posse ssion TO be given as soon as the
Secretary of War dispense with it for military
purposes and iced giren ~hen the first pay
ntnt aforesaid is made and satisfactory security
"for the deferred payments given" The annals of
the Government may be safely challenged Tor the
PRODUCTION Of another instance in which valuable
estate was decided away upon the payment OF one
third Of the purchase DoIey, without even requ'r.
il G mortgage for the balance due The deferred
payn.ents are not even on interest, and, though
Mi Eastman was sent out expressly to survey the
tract into for.y acre lots, he appears not even TO
have completed the survey at all he says IN his
testimony il was nearly completed when ne re-
." ceiyed instructions as Commissioner but III
the contract of sale il is said to be " about seven
" Thousand acres" Good judges testify that the
area is from eight to ten thousand acres. MAJ
Eastman testiies plumply that the land is no' Sc
cured to him Steele until it has been paid lor'
except by co1tract"--the exact contrary being
stipulated 10 the contract, signed by Maj. Eastman.
:. That there should be all manner OF loose tes-
tmopy as to the value of property so mysteriousy
scld. is almost a matter of course. Men were
brought forward to swear it down to Soo,OOO,
while equally good judges swore it up to 100000
Some swore the toll in the average poor-partly
subject to overflow by the rivers; partly sandy and
sterile; while others considered it in the average
quite coed We infer that some Of it is very good,
but that as a whole, it is not equal to the average
of Minnesots. Some swOre it rare site for a
city; others that it was worth little or nothing on
that score. 1t is very generally agreed among the