New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-07-25
Captain Valiere's Millions.

| court in the western district OF Missouri, by
! the heirs of Don Joseph VAlliere, q captain
| OF a Spanish regiment, stationed at the post
| of Arkansas in 1898. The suit ia for 5000
! 900 acres of land in Arkansas and Missouri,
worth $i5000,000, and the complaint has
| been recently served on the United Stats
district attorney in st. Louie, by Counsel.
OF William H. Duryea, OF Brooklyn, the
J collector for the plaintiffs.
IN 1852, La Sale des cended the Missis.
sippi river as one Ct its earliest explorers.
AID elaine all Of the country drained by
tho rivers that swelled tho Father OF
Waters, in behalf of bis native country,
France. The tight of discovery, when IT,
duced to pOssessi N, was recognized by the
law of nations as right of ownership, and
by the settling of the French in the newly
discovered country in 1859. ali of the conn.
try extending along the Mississippi river,
as far as the British POSSESSIONS, became q
French province, which was called Louis;-
ana. In 1862, the French ceded to Spain
all of the territory west of the Mississippi
river, including the island of New Orleans,
and retained the provinces of East and
West Florida, which embraced all Of the
land east of the river: but in 1871 Spain oh
tanned possession of this tract, and all vt
the vast country was governed by vice.
roy or governor general, who was vested
by the King of Spsin with the power Of
making concessions Of the royal lanGs to
bis subjects, to promote agriculture, and
also as reward for meritorious services
rendered by the officers of the Kings army
In 1898, Baron de Carondelet, who was
governor general, received a petition from
Captain Don Joseph Valiiere, q captain of
one of the stationary regiments in the
province, asking for > tract Of land along
The White river, in the district of Arkansas.
As was the custom with the Spanish gov
ernors in the cessiOn Of lands to subjects, an
order Of eurvey was sent to Don Carlos
Trudeau, the royal and private surveyor of
the province, to survey the lands of the
grantee. This original order, dated June
Ii, 1888, has been found in one of the musty
old tones in the N-w Orleans land office,
under the title of Register de los Primeros
Decretos de concession de TERRA" The
order is as follows:
"Al Captain DIN Joseph Valliere en- el
Distrito de Arkansas, una porciOn de terra
situada sobre el Rio Blanco = extendiendo
desde les Rio Norte Grande, y Cibalos, hasta
el crigien de dichO Rio BlancO, diez leguas
en- profundidad.
BARON DE CARONDELET."
Under this order Charles Trudeau, the
surveyor general, surveyed tract of land,
beginning at the Junction Uf the White
river with the great North Fork, 10 the
upper part of Arkansas, and extending ten
Spanish leagues, or about forty miles, on
each bank of the White river, winding up
through the southern part of Missouri, and
then exter ding to the west and south west,
ending at the source of the extreme west
erly branch Of the White river, in the west
up Of 5000, 900 acres, and on the map of to.
day takes in Oak, Douglas, Stone, Barry,
Christian and Taney counties in Missouri,
and about dozen counties in Arkansas,
making a tract eighty miles wide and 12O
miles long. The report Of MIR. Trudeau was
filed in October. 1903, in the surveyor gener
ais Office in New Orleans, accompanied by
map, representing tho tract from the june:
fiOn of the RiO Norte Grande and the Bio
Cibalos, extending westward along the Rio
Blapco. including large part of the Rio
Toslue. Don Joseph VAlliere received the
grant of 100000 acres, and six years later.
in 1899. he died inteetate, possessed of the
laI gest lot OF real estate ever owned by q
royal subject. His heirs, whoever they
W. re at that time, if they knew anything of
his vast wealth, did not attempt to make
the land theirs. In four years after VAL
lieres death the land was yeceded back to
France, and France. in December of the
same year, 1903. ceded all of tho province
Of Louisiana to the United States for and
in consideration of $4,000, 600. The inten-
dant OF Louisiana under the order of the
Captain General OF Cuba, who, after the
cesslon Of the lands to France, had control
OF the prOvinces, sent the records to Ha-
vana, and they were stored among the roy al
archives.
Nearly forty years after the death of Don
Joseph Valliere, gentleman, who was able
to read Spanish, while searching the records
in the land office and surveyor generals
office in New Orleans for another grant,
found the entry of the land in Don Joseph
Valliere's name. At that time the United
States gave the land warrants at 81 25 an
acre, and at this estimate the heirs of the
old Spanish captain were worth $7,50000O.
He knew descendants of Valliere, and told
them Of their vast possession. In 1871
Achilles Godin. james Brooks, Matilda
Brooks, James Scull, Manette Scull, John
Dodge, Ellieneth Dodge, Francis w.
Vaugine, Odiel Vaugine, Creed Taylor,
Paul Vaugine, Harriet Vaugine, Francis
Valliere, and Julie Valliere, at that time
the only surviving heirs Of Don Joseph Val
liere, gave deed to John Wilson, of Mis-
souri,, for an undivided half of the land
Wilson is said to be in California, and his
grantees are joined with the Valliere heirs
In prosecuting the claims. The claimants
are residents Of Arkansas, and are nearly
all of them poor persons, and most of them
were absolutely ignorant of their ancestry.
Mr.. Dnryea, in taking hold of their claims,
found both the original order and the re-
port of the survey, but was not able to fad
the final grant On this depended the whole
value of the claim, which, under the new
appraisal of the unentered lands of the gov
ernment-pamely, s. 80 an acre-amounted
to $l5,000000.
All the old parchments and records in the
New Orleans land office were searched, but
in vain. At length it was traced to the
archives in Havana. and the Spanish au
thorities furnished Mr.. Duryea with an au-
thenticated copy of the original and final
grant of the land to Captain Valliere
After describing the tract Of land % re-
ported in Trudeau's survey. the grant con.
cludes:
In consequence of the power which has
been conferred on me by our Lord the |
King (God preeerve). grant IN his royal |
name to the said Don Joseph Valliere,
captain OF the regiment of infantry Of |
Louisiana, the said portion described above,
in order that he may dispose of it, he and |
his legitimate successors, as property be. |
Ell BARON DE CARONDELET.
Done in New Orleans, December g. 1898. |
The original grant was written in the |
governors book, as was the custom, the |
grantee holding a copy as his deed.
One-third of the contested lands have !
been owned by private citizens tor seventy |
years. under the grant from the United |
States. Four millions of acres are still un. |
entered. The inhabited part is filed with /
towns. intersected by railroads, built up in !
villages and laid ou. in farms. If the heirs !
were wealthy enough they might begin pro.
ceedings to dispossess the inhabitants of |
six counties in Missouri and other counties
in Arkansas, but the proceedings have
been begun to recover land war. /
rants or patenta by which the |
claimants nay enter the same |
amount Of land anywhere else in the public |
DOMAIN. Under naaac0 in 1QcD |