The Placer herald., 1869-12-04
LAND SUBDIVISIONS.

stead Of forty acre tIacts as now, 10 order
to more equilably separate the mineral from
agricultural lands in the mining counties.
TO this we made no objections except that
it wou uld involve the necessity Of a re-subdi-
vidipg and re.plottag Of the public sur
veys for the various land Offices, which
would entail heavy expense as we'll as
much delay on The Government and settler.
The Union thinks our objections not we'll
founded, and SAYS:
"Thc objections urged by the HERALD are not
| well taken. The old surveys need not be re-
plotted. but each forty acres could he considered
as divided into four parts, just as quarter sec.
tion is now considered divided The lowest le-
gal subdivisions, riz 40 acres, are not plotted on
the maps There w)ull he no use for u re sur
! vey. IL we wanted ten acres us mnin grourd
and the HERALD wanted $50 acres on the same
quarter section, we could apr ly, for instance,
Tor the south east quarter Of the south east quar-
ter OF the northeast quarter of section 80
1 l6 n. K. East; or we mil ght describe it thus,
the southeast ten acres of the south east quarter
OF the north west quarter, etc. There would bc
| square piece of land, which any surveyor
could run around in few minutes"
Ii The Union will carefully study the
system Of land surveys adopted by the
Government it will probably conclude that
our objections are "well taken" The quar-.
Ter section lines, even, are not now run by
the Surveyor. though laid down on the sec
lion plats; but in running around the sec
ton the surveyor marks a corner for each
40 or l60 acre subdivision. Thus in run
ming the north line Of section be chains
at 80 rods and sets corner, this is a 40
acre corner, then chains on so rods further
aud marks another corner-this is 100 rods
and marks the quarter section corner. and
At 80 rods farther be marks another 40 acre
corner; he passes on around the section re-
peating the same thing on each side and
then the stakes are set and the corners es-
tahlisbed for l6O, 80 and 40 acre subdivls-
ions. To keep the Government system per.
feet and complete and reach wha. the Union
desires, ten acre legal subdivisions, it will
become necessary 10 chain around tho quar-
ter sections, as is now the rule for sections,
aud establish the corners of the ten acre
tracts and then plot the lines Of the forty
acre subdivisions as is now done with the
100 acre tracts. Then, and then only can
the settler or miner find the Government
corners of these ten acre legal Subdivisions,
without the aid Of a practical United States
surveyor (none Others are allowed where the
United States Government is a party) sworn
chain carriers, field notes and variations Of
compass etc. If the Union editor will
again reflect a moment be will recoll eel
that tie United States Government, has nev.
er and never will receive purchasers mon
ey and grant him Patent for tract OF
Iand that has not been previously surveyed.
measured, marked. plotted, and the exact
area calculated and its exact connection
with all other public or private lands be
shown on the pla,s and by The field notes both
IN be local land office and at Washington
| city, and this must all be done by sworn
officers and employees Of The United States
Government. These are conditions prece-
dent to the Governments disposal of an
acre Of land any where or at any time
How could the Government know what she
is selling and p. teuling if it wss not thus
precise. Sections of land on the standard
lines may only have little over three hun
dred a,res while others have GAO. Gov
ernment surveys calculate the area to the
one bundredlb part Of an acre, and requires
pay for these dminutlve fractions and des-
rribes and granlslo you iu your patent, even
this one or two hundredlhs part Of an acie.
Confusion would follow any other system.
and the Government cannot and will not
devate from it. The Union editor knows
all this but Only forgot, for the moment, TO
recall it 10 miod when attacking our cor
rectness.
1NNoCENr.-Bernard Kane, the switch.
tender upon whom all the blame was for
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