Weekly Calaveras chronicle., 1866-11-24
Mountain Ranches.

talk with him on the subject of his visit to
this county. He is engaged in forming
Ranchers' League. for the purpose of agitat-
ing the question of an amendment to the Min
eral Law. passed at the last session of Con-
gress, so as tn make it more favorable to the
interests of the owners of ranches in the noun
tans. As that law now stands. wherever.
prior to Its passage, homesteads have been To-
Gated. by citizens of the United States, or
persons who have declared their intention to
become such. upon lands heretofore designa-
ted as mineral lands, and which have been
excluded from survey and sale, which home
steads have been made, improved and used
for agricultural purposes, and upon which
there have been no valuable mines of gold,
silver, cinnabar or copper discovered, and
which are properly agricultural lands, the
settlers or owners of such homesteads shall
have the right of preemption thereto, and
shall be entitled to purchase the same at the
price of 81 25 per acre. and in quantities
not exceeding l6O acres, or they may avail
themselves of the provisions of the Act of
= ongress. approved May 2Oth. 1862, entitled
IAN Act to secure homesteads to actual set
tiers on the public domain and Acts amend
atory thereof. When our delegation in Con-
gress secured the passage of the Mineral law,
they were busy and had their hands full in
stav,ng off and preventing the adoption of
1uliap'S other &c
intended for revenue, and not for the devel-
opment of our mines and their whole thoughts
were takeu up and bent OH that purpose
and the subject of the agricultural lands in
the mountains. was not given the considera-
ton which its importance demands. As the
law now stands, instead of protecting the IT,
ties of ranchers in the mountains, 1t is de-
structive to them. In the absence of all title
to agricultural lands in the mineral districts,
except that given by the " Possessory Act
of the Legislature of this State. ranchers have
taken up their homesteads in such irregular
shapes as suited the alluvial deposits along
the narrow and sinuous valleys of mountain
creeks and rivers-and such locations were
and are allowable by the Possessory Act-and
there are very few ranches. larger than
garden spot, which can be embraced in the
limits of quarter section of land as survey
ed, with square angles, by the United States
No special mode of surveying the agricultur-
al lands having been provided in tie Mineral
law they would have to be surveyed under
the general law of the United States, which
provides only for rectangular surveys. with
lines running with the cardinal points; and
this mode of surveying such of our ranches
as only embrace l60 acres of land, would
destroy their present form, and throw their
owners out of perhaps the most valuable por-
tions of their property. We do not believe
that any such result was intended by the
National Legislature, but that the defect was
occasioned. on the part of the Congressman
from the older States, by ignorance of our
situation. and on the part of our delegation
by inadvertance. or perhaps, from fear of en-
dangering the Mineral law by asking too
much at one time. 1t was a great point
gained for us, when our delegation secured
the adaptation of the surveys of mining claims
to the courses of the leads and perhaps that
was rs great an innovation on the general
rule as they could have hoped to carry at
that time. But there Is no reason that the
same system of surveying should not be ap-
piled to the agricultural lands in the miner
al district; and it would be as just to COM
pei the owner of quartz or copper mine to
bound his claim by lines running north and
south, east and west, as the owner of a ra-,cb
in the mineral region the hardship in both
cases would be equal.
Heretofore we have been speaking of ranch
es that only contain l6J acres of land. or one
claim under Our Possessory Act; but there
Is another class of ranches which should have
Congressional recognition and protection /;
W" Eiean those ranches where the owners
nave taken up and purchased more than 100
acres, and IN good faith occupy and use the
same for agricultural purposes. These claims
were acquired under the Possessory Act of
this State, which, though it limits each land
claim. to be located by one person. to 16O
acres. yet nowhere forbids the purchase and
sale of them. nor prohibits the acquisition by
one person of as many such claims as he may
have the inclination and money to buy
Such ranches have been secured and lmprov-
ed by their owners, under the belief that
Congress having withheld them with the
mines among which they lie, from location
and sale, never intended to bring them into
the market. and that the possessory title was
all that could ever be obtained. Under this
belief many men have gone on and expended
in the improvement and purchase of their
farms large amounts of money. a great part
OF which they will lose unless they are per-
mitted TO make their title good when the sur
veys of the General Government are extend
ed so far as to include their farms. Surely
such men are entitled to as much favor as
the occupants of land holding under frandu-
lent Mexican grants. who are SLOWED to
purchase their farms at 81 rs per acre, with
out regard to the quantity they occupy.
ARE You INSURED Every man who is
doing business in the mountain towns of CAL
ifornia, should have his property insured
against loss by fire. There is scarcely min
ing camp in the State but what has been