The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1866-01-18
a@ KENOSHA, WISCONSIN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 49, 1866.

educate man to discharge the duties which
VIII devolve upon him, oftener than once in
six years
1t is your duty to throw around the State
treasury all the safeguards which human
ingenuity can devise 1t is sacred trust
given you by the people, which they have
a right to expect that you will faithfully
fulfill ~ ~.
! The Commissioners of School and Uniyer-
sity Lands report that there were sold du-
ring the last fiscal year :'2zits ii uaa.
School Lands. ---... Al 4S0. 81 acres
swamp Lands-.--.- 40 500 99 g
University Lands. 81 20 :"
There are many individuals indebted to
the State for loans from the trust funds, who
are unable to pay. The property given as
security has been forfeited to the State,
leaving balance due, from which the
debtors seek to be relieved. | recommend
that the commissioners be vested with au
thority to settle with that class of debtors,
upon the best terms possible. Ifsuch {. set
Element is not made, the State will receive
nothing from them l 7aa ,'-'a
Trespassing upon State lands, and steal
ing timber therefrom, has long been an ex-
istiug evil in spite of efforts made 10 pre-
vent it. 81. .i#2lf.ij-Ls2i! LJs 3d ly -lls1
If there be sufficient power in the State,
this crime should be stopped know Of no
criminal who deserves to be more severely
punished than the one Who by offering the
timber from the lands donated TO the State
for educational purposes, steals the sacred
inheritance of the children Up 'rJot 7.l
l respectfully call your attention to their
recommendations upon this and other sub
Jects all OF which, | doubt not, will re-
ceive the consideration their Importance de-
mands. l L2 5ataif@ #l t,-ia' 2.
In 1850, Congress granted to the States
all thesunsold swamp and overlooked lands
situated within their borders, respective
ly. t1t 9ao igol si..- 7 +,
Shortly after the grant was made, the
Commissioners of the General Land Office
proposed to the States to take the lands by
one of two alternatives either by having
an actual survey made to determine which
were swamp lands, or by accepting the
plats and field-notes of the United States
survey, and receiving the lands named in
them as swamp and overlooked lands as
the share of the State
Governor Dewey,by letter to the Survey
or General of Wisconsin and Iowa, dated
June Sd, 1851, decided to take them as they
were designated liz the Government sur
vey. a --a# .
. 1t was very soon discovered that there
were many thousand acres of swamp lands
in the State which did not appear as such
in these plats and surveys, and that this
Sfata wa no oil tbo 10 nj -
which it was entitled under the grant
Upon request being made to the General
Land Office for re-surveys, with view to
correct errors, in order that the state might
receive all the lands to which it was entitled
it was held by the authorities at Washing
ton, that the state having once decided to
receive such lands as were designated in
those Piats and surveys as swamp and over
flowed lands, for it's portion, it was bound
by its own action, and that no change could
be made.
This matter having been brought to the
attention of the Legislature, a survey was
authorized to be made for the purpose of
testing the correctness of the United States
plats and surveys. This survey was made
and report thereof made to tile Governor
OF the State, and by him presented to the
Legislature in 1860. That report proved
concusively that the State had not received
the amount of lands to which it was enti-
tied $50 is.. si2-] a. '"
So the matter stands now the State au-
thorities rightly claiming that the Govern
ment cannot justly hold the State to its
choice to receive the lands designated in the
United States plats and surveys except up
tho
veys were correct and that the State can.
not justly be compelled, by reason of the
errors of Government employees, to lose
thousands Of acres of land ~. gig
There is no doubt that we have valid
claim against the General Government for
large quantities Of land, and for moneys re
ceived for the sale of lands which should
have been included in the grant to the
State i.+ ~ t3it
Owing to the vast accumulation of pub
lie business incident to the war, this subject
has not been pressed with vigor, but now
a fitting time has again come to move in the
matter +i- -. "s " ~
| respectfully refer you to Appendix ga, .
of the Assembly Journal of 1860, where you
will ind the correspond ence which passed
between the State authorities and the Com.
missio .Iers Of the General Land Office al
Washington, and the report of the survey
made by authority of the State, all Of
which commend to your earnest atten.
ton. a
All proper efforts will be made to induce
the Government to change its decision.
Chapter 537 of the general laws of 1865
repeats all existing laws relating to the
proceeds of sales of, and to the granting Of
swamp and overlooked lands to counties,
and directs that all such lands heretofore
and hereafter received by the State, and
moneys received or due for such lands or in
lieu thereof, shall be divided into two equal
parts, one to be denoninated the Normal
School Fund, and the other the Drainage
Fund
The Commissioners of School and Univer-
sity Lands are charged with the duty OF
making the partition and were directed for
that purpose to take one dollar as the equiv.
alent for an acre of land, and ha wing deter
mined the amount of each fund they are
required to divide the Drainage Fund be-
tween the several counties Of the State III
proportion to the number of acres of swamp
land in each county and having thus deter
mined the share of each county, they are
required to set apart such share in the man
ner indicated by the law cited.
The division made according to the terms
of the law, gives to the Normal School Fund
nearly all the productive funds which have
arisen from former sales Of swamp lands, and
gives to the counties, for their share, lands
ownly, with few exceptions where there
was not sufficient unsold land in counties tc
make up their proportion.
The lands belonging to the counties Oh
Drainage Fund are directed to be sold fol-
cash and the moneys transmitted to the
county treasurers each year, to be divided