The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1877-10-06
History of the
HOUMAS LAND CLAIM.
BY RoBT. H. BRADFORD.


[Repro duced from Drapeau de r4scensio,r.
We have been furnished by Mr..
Felix Reynaud, formerly proprietor
of the Drapeau de PAScension, with a
complete history of the Houmas Land
Claim, written by Mr.. Robert H.
Bradford in November, 1868, and
originally published in the Drapeaw
of that year; and considering the
Importance of that subject to a large
class of our readers-particularly
those residing in the seventh and
eighth wards of this parish, where a
large proportion of the lands are in
cluded III the Houmas grant-we have
decided to reproduce the article in
the columns of the CHIEF. Owing to
the great length at which the subject
is treated, making its publication in
one, or even two, issues of our paper
impossible, we shall divide the history
into chapters and give one each week
until the end of the exhaustive article
is reached.
The fact that steps are now being
taken to secure definitive settlement
of the land titles involved in the cell
ebrated Houmas claim, will give the
subject fresh interest at this time,
amply justifying the space which we
shall assign to it in our columns.
Mr.. Bradford's history opens thus ::
CHAPTER 1.
The Houmas Claim appears to have
originated in Brompere, who many
years ago owned the claim to tue
depth of 40 arpenS from the Missis-
sippi river, by grant from the French
government. His land was afterwards
sold by public auctiony.under govern
ment authority, as a penalty for GER
tain crimes which he had committed.
AT this sale, the tract in question was
bought by Titon, who entered into
possession of the land, but afterwards
abandoned it. 1t then remained va
cant for some time, and was eventu-
ally taken possession of, with the per-
mission OF the French government, by
Calazava, in the name and for the use
of the Bayou Goula and Houmas
tribes of dams, of which tribes Cal
azava was the lawful Chief. (Senate
Document 10, 26h Congress, I'd ses-
sioR,-pp 30, 3D. Pursuant to the
treaty of cession by France to Spain,
OF 1868, Governor O'Reilly, in 1869,
established the Spanish laws and
authority in the Province of Louisi-
ana, thereby abrogating the French
colonial lows .nd ueasrs which had
-UuHIuueu IN force since the treatF..-
10. 3d. On the 18th of February,
l77O, Governor O'Reilly adopted a
system of land regulations for the
province. (American State Papers,
Public Lands, Y, 289-Green's ed
On the gath. of August, 1770, these
regulations were affirmed by the King
of Spain. Qb. 271.). They remained
unaltered until the PRONUNCIATION of
Governor Gayoso's Instructions of the
9TH of Sept, 1897, and were finally
superseded by the general regulations
or lntendant Morales, dated the 18th
OF July, 1899. lib. 29I
On the 5th of October, IVA, Gala
Java, designing to remove the Indians
whom he commanded to the opposite
side of the Mississippi river, relin-
pushed the tract in question, in their
name, for $3.50, to Alexander Latil
and Maurice Conway. This relin-
punishment was formally approved by
Govefnor Unzaga, who, on the lst of
November, IVA, granted Latil and
Conway a patent for the land, reel
ting the Indian REIMBURSEMENT, and
describing the land as tract nseasur-
ing ap'cards Of half league in front
with the common depth Of forty ar
penis. { Senate Document As, PIP. 80,
3d. Half league is ~ arpents.
Menard U. Massey, VII HoWard's
Reports Of the Supreme Court of the
U. s. p. 3I1.) On the 4th of January,
1776, Latil sold his half to Conway,
(Senate Document 45, p. ~ whose
title to the depth of 40 arpeats has
never been questioned by the Span
isb, French or American Govern
ments. On the 9th of Sept. l776,
Conway presented his petition to Gov
ernor Galvez for the land in the rear
of the first concession above desert
bed. The land thus petitioned for is
the debatable part of the Houmas
Claim and it is the purpose of this
argument to show that the claim, as
to. that part, was null on the Both Of
April, 1903, and was therefore trans
ferred from France to the United
States, by the first article of the
treaty of that date, as part of the un-
encumbered domain lands Of the
Province of Louisiana. See that
treaty. (Land La,cS Of the U. s. LIP.
42
This petition, after reciting that
the land previously granted, ~ is en-
tirely destitute of fence, and is cleared
upwards of a league in depth, SO that
the cypress swamp being at the dis
lance of one league and half from