Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1879-09-04
IMPORTANT TO HOMEST'D CLAIM
ANTS. BONA.FIDE RESIDENCE
ON LAND REQUIFED.
A Sharp Letter From the Acting Com.
missioner or the General
Land Omce.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, !
GENERAL LAND OFFICE.
Washington, ID. c., Aug, Z, 1879. }
Register and Receiver, Bozeman, Mont.
GENTLEMEN: am in receipt of YOU
letter dated the 18th of June last, trans
mitting the petition and affitlavits of c.
asking permission to perfect his Home
stead Entry No. -, dated April %, 1877,
. for the w. halt Of NE. quarter, IS, n,
GE.
,, On the 18th of June Mr.. c. applied to
make an additional entry of eighty acres,
in railroad limits to the above. under the
Act OF March Sd, 1879, when it was ascer-
talned that he had up to then failed to re-
side upon his original entry, and you
therefore rejected his application. lie al
leges as the cause of his failure to comply
with the law that lie was misinformed as
to its requirements in regard to the matter
of residence by neighbor, and also by
Mr.. =. clerk in charge OF the Registers
office, when the entry was made
lie resides on an adjoining farm of 1GO
acres, which he purchased under the pre-
emption laws, in July, 1872, and upon
which he settled as early as May 4th, 1870;
that is, eight years before he made his
homestead entry, and ten years before he
seems to have found out that the home
stead law requires 6ona-fde residence on
the land by the claimant, although it had
been in practical operation all around him
for ten years before. Such degree of ig-
norance of the simple requirements of
great popular law in which nearly every
settler is deeply interested, might barely
be possible with some isolated squatter on
the remote frontier, but it is hardly credit
able in this case; for the country around
him is one of the Oldest and most thickly
populated settlements in your district. and
is in the immediate vicinity of the local Of
flee, comparatively well settled by farm
ers, who have obtained their lands under 1
the pre-emptiOn and homestead laws-be-
ing class of people who in that country I
discuss all the advantages and disadvan- {
tages of these laws, and know that one of s
the principal requirements of homestead t
Entry Is bona-fde residence on the claim. t
It is unreasonable Under these circumstan- ]
'es to suppose that even ''plain farmer" g
'ould live ten years in such a neighbor- S
rood and not know this important fact f
'esides such presumption is inconsistent t
With the business tact displayed in his pre- j
nption entry, and his prompt application c
or the benefits of the act of March Sd,
s79, 1t is also apparent from the afiida-
its that he did not seek so much to find C
'ut what was the law and its requirements il
S to find some way to cvadc it, and reap a
IS 5enetits, without the Inconvenience of e
hanging his residence. I
lie may have been misinformed as stat p
d, but that was the kind of information "
e wanted; and the consequences are the ft
esults of his own choosing. am of the =
pinion that he has not acted in entire u
ood faith in the premises, and that he has ft
lerefore forfeited his claim ;-and having b
'iled to comply with the law, his said en- te
y is held for cancellation, and you will N
D inform him; also inform him that he is g
lowed sixty days in which to appeal al
om this decision; at the expiration of e
'hi"h time you will promptly report his IL
,tion in the premises to this office, re-
rring to this letter.
Very respectfully,
j. NJ. ARMSTRONG, =
Act'g Commissioner. .,