The Northern Pacific farmer., 1880-06-17
THE NEW LAM, CODE.

! IHE NEW LAND CODE. :.
Immigrants Who Propose +" SeeE
Homes in Minnesota AND Dakota.
Washington Correspondence
In continuing NV review of the hill
recommended by the land commission.
I desire to preface my article with a few
words of advice to the immigrants who
are now pouring into Minnesota and
Dakota for the purpose of settling on
the public lands. Having had a large ac-
quaintance among the pioneers of the
west, my attention has often been called
to the irepo''oble errors made by persons
seeking to acquire a home under the
homestead and pre-emption laws. It is
a remarkable fact that Of the thousands
who leave Europe to seek homes under
the liberal provisions of our land laws.
but few have anything like a clear con-
ception of said laws, and of the really
simple method of initiating the yarious
classes of land entries; conseouent]v in
many cases after their arrival in the
state or territory in which they intend
to settle, they are victims of the various
land sharks who infest all portions Of
such state or territory as may be sub
ject to rapid settlement. The emigrant,
viewing the numerous throne who are
making homestead entries, is easily led
to believe that the desirab BILE lands are
all being taken up, and that his only
hope is to purchase the knowledge of q
land agent who claims to know the char
acter of every section of public lands
within radius of many miles. 1t is
perhaps, unnecessary to say that in a
majority of cases the land agents rep
resentations are the purest fiction. and
as result the immigrant finds that he
has been wofully misled, and has en-
tered land totally unfit for agricultural
purposes, and for this state of affairs
there is no relief, as a second homestead
or pre-emption entry cannot be allow
ed under such circumstances, the settler
being thus entirely deprived of the ben
etits conferred by the homestead and
pre-emption laws.
It is therefore absolutely necessary that
the foreigner should bear these points
in mind:
First-Nake your declaration of in
tention to become a citizen of the Unit
ed States before the proper authority.
Second-Make n personal inspection
of the land you intend to enter or file up
on.
Third-Examine if possible, at least
four tracts, or quarter sections, Of 100
acres each and after completing your
examination and returning to the land
office make your entry you may find
if you examine but one tract-that the
quarter section you most desired has
been entered by somebody else.
Fourth-Be careful, unless you are
posted as to railroad grants and limits,
not to select land in any odd section Il,
8, S, 7, and so on to So or in a school
section 10 to 36) because if you do, you
may find, on application at the land
Office that such sections are subject to
entry, and hence your time spent in
inspection" will be wasted.
Fifth-Remember if you select four
forty acre tracts to make up your 16O
acres, that said 40 acre tracts must be
contiguous is they must lie side
by side-as it is not sufficient to have
said tracts touch each other at the cor
ncrs alone.
Every township, sections, Or mile
corner, and quarter sectional or half
mile has Tor should have) a post or stone
on which a marks denoting the town.
ship, section and quarter section to
which it belongs. Township posts MAX
ing four townships are set in the earth
diagonally, and on each surface of the
post is marked the number of the par
ticular township land its range) which
it faces. Thus, if the post be COM
mon boundary to four townships, say
one and two south of the base line, Of
range one, west of the meridian; also, to
townships one and t,ro south of the base
line of range tho, west of the meridian,
it is to be marked thus:
Fro" NJ to E:5E' E:5S' i! Fro" E: '':s }E% y
'''" N: tow: {;y' !! ;: Fro" W: to ''s}ffxs $.
The letters R. (range), I township,
and S (section), only appear on one side
of the post, but the range, townships and
sections appear in the same order on
each side.
Section or mile posts common to four
sections are also set diagonally in the
earth, and are marked with the particu-
lar number of each of the sections on
the side facing each section. In every
township subdivided into thirty-six sec
tions there are twenty-five interior Sec
ton corners, each of which will be COM
mon to four sections.