Arizona citizen., 1873-04-26
GRANTS IN ARIZONA.

grants in Arizona has been the sub-
 iect of considerable comment, Tn con-
 sequence of an examination that has
 recently been made by R. c. Hopkins of the records of Ures, in Sonora, and the fact that he was appointed by the Assistant Secretary of the Interior to perform this service. and the recent revocation of said appointment by the Secretary of the Interior, upon the ground that there was no law au- thorizing his appointment, which was therefore void. The question IS one ot vital importance to the people of this Territory, and is daily growing in magnitude. The evil of large grants of land to few individuals IS apparent to all. The settlement of these titles is generally attended with litiga- tion, which absorbs and uses up the value of the grants to the owners, and keeps in poverty the settlers or squat ters as they are called, who contest them. The cause of such extensive litigation is the fact that so many Mexican grants are claimed to be of doubtful validity, and it is only by long years of vexatious and expensive litigation that the titles have been settled. MT. Hopkins ill letter to the Hon. B. HI. Bristow, dated Quay mas, February ', 1873, states that he has concluded his examination of the archives of Sonora; that land grants extend back to the year 1861, and gives an interesting description of the mode of making these grants, and expresses the belief that in con- sequence of the civil strifes that have desolated that unfortunate country, that more than one-half of the rec ords have been destroyed. He found however one important record book in which all the grants are registered from 1881 to 1S49, and says he has taken a careful description of all grants that can by any possibility be located in Arizona during that time, and finds it impossible to determine by the description, the number of grants in Arizona, but believes the search he has made will prevent spurious records from being filed here after. To complete his search he finds it necessary to go to the city of Mexico, as all grants of land from 1890 to 1924 were made by the King of Spain, and he is of the opinion that the' record of some grants may be found there that are not recorded in Ures. He is of the opinion that there are at least thirty grants in Arizona that have been given under the law of the 4th of August, 1924. MT. Hopkins is rep resented as man of integrity. and in every respect qualified for the work in which he is engaged. The Alta referring to this subject makes the following pertinent remarks: "lt IS however rather singular that any record should be wanted from Mexico. Nineteen years have now elapsed since we purchased those portions of Ari- zona and New Mexico south of the Gila, and the other portions were acquired twenty-five years ago. It is high time that land titles should be settled there with perfect and complete evidence of ownership in the records of the respective counties in which the land may be situated. If ad- ditional record evidences of title are needed, they should be secured with out delay at the public expense and for the public benefit Singular as it may appear, the county records are nearly barren of these Spanish or Mexican records of grants, and the people of this Territory are about as ignorant of the location and number