Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-04-25
THE MUssEL SLOUGH DIFFICULTY.
Something from One of the Settlers VIII,
is Not Land Lea guer.
[san Francisco Argonaut, April %,


Mussel Slough District, issued letter ire
produced in the Ecamiper of this ethyl,
setting forth some of the principles of the
league, and animadverting in strong terms
against the action of Nineteen Settlers, 3"
who had written a letter to the Visalia
Delta in extenuation Of the railroad posi-
ton in its dispute with the leaguers. In
the course OF the article the nineteen set
tiers not in sympathy with the league were
spoken OF as follows " In choosing the
side of an oppressive monopoly that has
made itself obnoxious all over the Pacific
coast, these few neighbors stand toward
our cause in the same position that the
Tories of the Revolution occupied toward
our forefathers who wrested the liberty we
now enjoy from the English Crown. II
they are at any time severely criticised by
our friends, as the Tories were and are,
they have none to blame but themselves. ="
In reply to the long article from which the
above extract is taken, Zone OF the Nine
teen" has sent us the following letter:
Editor Argonam., l read in the daily
Examiner of April lst communication
from the Settlers Land League of the
Mussel Slough District, wherein its men,
bers attack what it terms the nineteen
settlers. This attack is of very serious
character. As | am tone of the nine.
teen," l propose to pay my respects to the
aforesaid league by making q brief state.
ment of the facts. In so doing | will
draw parallel case to that of the league,
and endeavor to so reveal its true inward
ness as to fully expose its actions and In
tentions.
Let us suppose that myself and others
from this place 60 over into Kern county,
and felohiously occupy the land of Carr
and Haggin, because they are "big mo-
nopoly.n The title to their lands is not
any better than that to the land OF the
railroad company, so we would dispute
the title, and would then organize. our
selves into a "Settlers' Land League. !"
We would say Settlers" because that
sounds big, because that embraces the
honest tiller of the soil, the hardy and
courageous pioneer that has braved the
dangers and hardships of the early
settlements of the Far West be-
cause it commands the respect of
mankind. Under a big name we would
be better able to commit the grossest
wrongs with impunity. So, after organiz-
ing we would begin to agitate the question
of title to the lands in question. We
would begin by proclaiming to the public
that s'this gigantic land monopoly has no
shadow of title co those lands" and that
6 the land is subject TO homestead and
pre-. emption. We would then invite our
neighbors and our friends to come and
squat on those lands with US, and We would
then proceed to make grand fight for the
same. In arguing the case We would say :
This monopoly has gobbled up this land
under the Desert Land Act, and has held
it by fraud and perjury. This land is not
desert land, as is claimed, but is good agrl-
cultural and grazing land. We will file a
protest against the issue of patents in the
Department of the Interior, and we will
also contest the title in the Courts, and
keep the case there for an indefinite term
of years thereby we, shall have the use
and profits Of the land for long time,
whether we eventually steal it or not.
Upon the whole we will have pretty good
thing, paying no taxes, paying no rents,
paying nothing of all we survey"
Now, this Is precisely what these
leaguers have done Nay, they have done
a great deal more they have entered on
the railroad land with a full knowledge
that it was railroad land. They were told
so, time and time again, by the officers
in the Land Office at Visalia. They did
not go ON those lands through mistake,
but have gone on for speculation. deter
mined, if they cannot whip the railroad
out of the land, to have the use of it eight
or ten years free of rent or taxes. In a
large number Of cases this land has changed
hands from one to three and even four
times. a great many claims sold for from
five hundred to q thousand dollars. In
every instance men moved the buildings off
their own land on to railroad land. Others
again would sell their homes and move on
to railroad land. This railroad land has
been the principal stock in trade in the
Mussel Slough country. And the league
and the railroad land together have been
the source of great deal of trouble and
bad feeling in this part of the country.
| will here relate how Lacquer and a
league served one of the nineteen" before
alluded to. The man had made the pre-
liminary arrangements to buy 2 piece of
railroad land, and was occupying and Guilt
waiting the same. When the owner was
away from home. one of those honest and
innocent leaguers moved his house and other
outfit on to the mans land. When the
man returned, and attempted to remon-
strate with the Lacquer against such pro-
ceedings, he had the satisfaction OF beng
told that the land in question was not rail
road land, that the railroad company had
no shadow of title to it, and that he 1.-THE
leaguer) was going to hold the land as
Government land. A little while afterward
the league had the impudence to ask
the man to donate ten or twenty
dollars to fight the railroad CON-
pany. l mention this particular case, as it
represents great many similar cases that
have occurred in this Mussel Slough coun-
try, and to show to the public that this
land question is like all other questions
and has two sides to it.
There is another land difficulty on rec
ord here, that occurred previous to the
railroad land difficulties. In this, some of
the same people now belonging to the
league experimental before they tackled"
the railroad company. That was on the
Sutherland ranch. Mr.. Sutherland had at
that time about ten thousand acres of
swamp and overlooked land, situated be-
tween Kings river and Mussel slough, all
inclosed with good fence. He had re.
claimed the same by building dams and
levees. After the water left the land it
became very attractive. There were few
smart Alexis" here then, as well as now.
They began to agitate the question whether
or not the land was really swamp land, and
the more they talked the matter up the
more they would think it was not swamp
land. So, while Mr.. Sutherland was liv-
ing in Stockton, they event for it, and it
was not long till they had built huts and
shanties all ever the land, and were plow-
ing and seeding in earnest They did then
what they are doing now they stayed
with it till they were moved off by the
Sheriff, and some of them were not salts.
fed even then, but went back on the land
the second time. A term in Jail for several
of them ended that land trouble
Now, these are all stubborn facts, which
| can substantiate by a hundred witnesses.
The great trouble with these leagaers seems
to be that most of them belong to a class
that have got kind of mania for fighting
Gland monopolies." A great many have
been at it ever since they came into the
country. They have been at it all over the
State before they came here, and are at it
now. 1t is singular fact thai ever so
many of these leaguers, when they came
here, settled on some of the best land in
the country, and acquired good title to
the same. But they were still not salts.