The Shasta courier., 1870-05-14
THE LAND OFFICE


U. ). Surveyor General Day, writes ,b.
following letter to the Call in reply to on.
IRON correspondent, of that paper. reouss.,
ing certain information, which Mr.. D,v
sives:
Y. .: SuRvEroR- -GrNEaAI's Orprcr.)
DAN FRANCISCO, May 4. 1870.
EDITORS MoRNINo CALL I'm reply to
1ame inquiries Of your correspondept :.
D. 10 your issue of Nav 4lhl. permit me
70 Inform him. and your numerous readsr.
,lst ,ec since the passage of the law of july ga
iooo' relating to ditch, canal, and mining
chains, TIE subdivision surveys have been
e1'enueo from time to time, as approximations
wouio permit, over districts of .nds hereto.
lore regarded as mineral-bearine lands. and.
40 40 socu. excluded Decentralization suryeya.
inese surveys have been 10 accordance with
Instructions issued from the Commissioners of
lhe denerai Land Office. During the past
year about iorty five townships were under
1on'rAc' 10 me mineral regions of Marisposa,
iuoiumne, CalaVeras, Amador and FL Do
rado Counties. About two-thirds of tbos.
surveys are completed. and the plats thereof
VIII soon be sent to the local land Offices.
"neie placer miners, quartz miners, gravel
miners, hydraulic miners, and farmers gar
uehers, hog-raisers, lumbermen, dairymen.
SILK and tea culturists, and sintuers. can
meet On common ground, and prove and
Contest the various rights which each has 10
pre- eHlpt the public land. The remaining
c'n'racts are In progress. About twenty or
'"rty more townships of lands more or less
mineral have beed subdivided within the
IaSl three years, some of which were along
tue track ot the Central Pacific Railroad. and
others were IN uba. Butte, Shasta, and
oiskiyou Counties. Portions of the two latter
c"uhties are IN the Humboldt Land District,
ou' generally they are in the Marysville Die
'rict' The Deputy Surveyors are instructed
10 carefully examine and report all i'm portant
facts which may be at hand during their
survey IN order to enable the Department
and Registers of the local offices TO decide
what Is and what is not mineral land The
Deputy may report his own opinion, but il 10
not no conclusive. He may report diagrams Of
Districts which he thinks mineral; but they
are subject to revision and correction, ac-
c"rding TO proofs which may be offered accord
ing to law. The Deputy neither gives nor
lakes away lahd or mining claims, but merly
sc stakes by means of which claimants can
property describe their claims at the Land
Othce- The United States Surveyor-G General
'S4o'iCu W RiNc puDilc bulCe OI every
survey or contract which he makes. The
best notice to settlers actually living on the
lands is given by party of Surveyors actual
~ at work in the field and when they are
subdividing land into sections only one mile
-quare. the neigh hborhood is sure to know it.
Very little public land, except such as belongs
TO the State. can now be reached by specula-
tors. To puI chase any United States land,
of that surveyed within three years past. n
man must be an actual settler on the land,
OF he must have some Of the few kinds Of
scrip which they privileged - rurchsse,
ana as soon aS the plats are filed in the Land
Ofhce. IT your correspondent chooses to
seek for such, be will probably find them
both scarce and dear. A few years since,
large bodies of United States public lands
were open for purchase, in large or small
Quantities. hy anyhody, speculator or settler.
But they are all taken up. Now. the United
States laws and Land Office policy do not
favor purchasers of large tracts. The State
legislation. for the past few years, has been
exceedingly favorable to spectators in large
bodies of land, and is still. 1t is not Deo
essnry that any man in the city, who 10
hungry for land to settle on, should wait for
the United Srafes Surveyors to go into the
field. 1t is Just as oren to him before survey
as after He has only select a tract, out
side Of Mexican grant, or public reserva-
tinn, md not swamp land. and on which no
one else is settled, and then enter upon it and
stay there till the United States Surveyor
comes. when ne can enter his land at the
Land Office. But people cannot live in the
city and be settlers on public land at the
same time.
Yours. very respectfully.
SHERMAN DAY.
U. S. Surveyor General for California and