The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1880-02-25
THE LAND LAWS.
THE HIo CHANGES PROPOSED
Receivers to be Abolished-Pasture
Lands 10 be sold-Pre-emp-
tion TO be Discontin-
uod-SuggsstIons.

New York, Feb. 2i.--The forthcom-
ing report of the public lands commis-
sion will recommend that swamp lands
and pasturage lands hereafter to be
surveyed and patented by townships,
that better provisions be made for max
ing the boundaries of the surveyed
tracts; that the system of letting the
public surveys and boundaries between
states and territories be hereafter made
under the direction of the coast and
geodetic survey. They will also proba-
bly, recommend that the office of re-
ceiver at each local land office be abol-
ished. There are now about ninety
five of these officers. They also recon-
mend the division of the public land
in five general classes, arabic, ,irrig able,
pasturage, timber and mineral. They
also recommend the repeal of the pre-
emption law on the ground that its
chief use now is to increase the large
individual holdings.
The commission will probably sup
plant it by another, making arabic pub
lie lands disposable under the home
stead laws.
The commission will probably recon-
mend that no limit be placed upon the
amounts of irrigable land which any
one person may buy. That the land be
sold at % cents per acre, one fifth to be
paid down and the balance at the end
of three years, and that no patent to
such lands be issued until it is shown
that a specified sum per acre, say 50.
has been expended on its reclamation.
The lands classed as pasturage will COM
prise the untimbered and new mineral
lands not arabic or capable Of irrega-
tion.
The commission will probably recon-
mend that the quantity one person may
buy be not limited and the price grad
uated as follows:
All lands sold prior to January 1886
be at the rate of SIPS an acre. All
lands sold from the latter date to jan
uary 1890, to be at the rate of 81 an
acre, and after that date all lands re-
naming be sold at 10 cents an acre
with a reduction of 12s cents per acre
every three years until the minimum
price of 13} cents is reached.
Pasturage l,nds shall be open to home
stead settlement, no one entry to COM
prise more than 1850 acres.
The commission will probably recon-
mend that colonies of twenty, or more
families may enter homesteads, either
on arabic, irrigable or pasturage lands,
and lay out a village near the center of
the tract.
Radical changes will be recommend
ed in the mineral land laws. Among
them are the following:
That the time during which the
prospector or discoverer shall be able
to hold his claim by possessory title
shall be fixed and limited by law. That
all local organizations and regulations
respecting mining titles shall be abol-
ished and the sole jurisdiction of all
questions relating thereto be reserved
by the United States. That the lode
location, which permits the discoverer to
follow the lode any distance and in any
direction whether within the boundar-
les of his surface location or not, be
repealed. That hereafter every mining
claim shall comprise certain number
of feet in breadth and length Of the
surface; and that subterranean property
rights shall not extend beyond surface
boundaries thus fixed.
1t is quite probable that the COM
mission may refrain for the present
from making any recommendations as
to the area which each location may
comprise. That the system of official
survey and mining inspection be adopt
ed to prevent blackmail and robbery
and to obviate the necessity of legal
contests before the claims are patented.