Weekly Trinity journal., 1868-10-24
why H.rtsaa should Go to Coagrcs,.

Since the treaty of Queretaro, and the conse-
quent acquisition of California, no one thing has
contributed more to check aud delay the perma-
nent settlement of the State than the uncertainty
which rested upon the title to the unoccupied
lands. Millions of acres of the finest lands in
the State were covered by Spanish and Mexican
grants, many of them fraudulent in character
and supported by false testimony. Soon after
our State organization was effected, a board of
Land Commissioners was appointed te examine
the merits of all land claims derived under
former governments, prior to their confirmation
by the United States Supreme court, and ample
facilities therein presented to the claimants OF
land under q Mexican title to establish the legal
ity and justice of their claims. Before this Com
mission all of this class of claims were brought;
perjury was bought cheapiy in the market; old
claims which were deemed worthless under the
Mexican regime, and abandoned, were revived
and prosecuted to successful termination, and
thousands of settlers who had entered in good
faith upon the unoccupied lands, believing the
title therein to be vested in the Government,
found themselves dispossessed of their homes
Improvements which had been made by them
selves. Of late years however, titles have been
claimed as settled, and the Southern portion of
the State is rapidly filling up with an industrious
and permanent population.
The land-grabbers, however, whose spurious
claims have been rejected by the Court, are not
to be baked of their prey while chance is left,
and as the land claimed becomes more valuable
as the State becomes settled, so it will well
repay lavish expenditure of money to procure
a title. The famous McGarrihan claim, covering
the quicksilver mines of New Idria, and the i'm
provements of two or three hundred settlers in
Fresno county, championed and supported by
James A. johnson, the Democratic Congressman
from this District and the nominee Of his party
for reelection, may be set down as the type and
entering wedge of this class of swindling claims,
which, beaten in the Supreme Court, now trans
fers its case to the National Legislature, and
finds in this man johnson the hearty supporter
of a scheme which will rob a few hundred
''plow-holders' "a class for whom Democracy
has suddenly conceived an overpowering affec-
tion) of their homes. The claim is based solely
upon q petition presented to the Governor of
California in 1874, by one Gomez, notorious for
bis completely in the fabrication of such claims.
Not jot of evidence is adduced acceptable to
the Court that Gomez or McGarrihan ever re-
ceived the grant, and so far from proving pos
session, it was satisfactorily shown that neither
of them had ever occupied it at all. The petit
tion asked for three leagues of land-the claim
is for four leagues. Although it is claimed the
grant was made in 1874, yet no survey was made
until 1862, and the boundaries of the claim as
presented to Congress and the Court are not
within sixteen miles of either of the boundaries
mentioned in the petition.
These facts gather from the decision of the
Supreme Court, and from the Report of the Sen
ate Committee on Private Land Claims. In the
language of Mr.. Van Wyck, of New York, during
the debate on the bill, "we have found on the
part of all persons mixed up in this matter, and
on the decision of the case by the Court of last
resort upon its merits, that the whole grant was
repudiated."
Yet we find our Congressman, alone of the del
egation from this coast, supporting and champ
ioning this stupendous fraud upon the rights of
settlers. We submit to the candid men of either
party whether who has proved himself so
false to his trust, is worthy of confidence, or
whether it is not justice to themselves and the
State to vote for man who will not stoop to
such vilainy. That man is Chancellor Harrison.