The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-12-28
DEPARFxEST OF TIE INTERIOR.
GENERAL LAND OFFICE.
WASHINGTON. d. c.. Dee Sth. 1881.

HoN. L. Q. @. LANAI, L. s:
Sir:-I have the honor to acknowledge
the receipt OF your letter Of the 9th instant
asking 10 be furnished with the number OF
acres Of public land held BY the General
Government in the State of Mississippi"
aud that such information be given you by
counties" In reply l have to say that the
total area OF the State of Mississippi $50,
I7a. $40 acres OF which it Is appropriated
q, I24,7 I'll acres, have been disposed of under
the various laws OF the United States govern
ing the disposal OF public and Indian lands,
since the 30th Of July, 1872, the date of the
first patent issued for lands sold in Mississip-
pi, up u June 30th, 1881, leaving 3,055, I29
acres, the title to which yet remains in the
General Government.
The record of the acreage thus disposed OF
is contained in IS volumes of tract books
averaging 500 pages to a volume. in which
are noted about Isl, 235 entries of land,
some made under the old credit system, and
others with cash, scrip, bounty, and war
rants and under the presumption and home
stead laws and such of the above entries
as nave been patented are recorded in 295
volumes of patent records each containing
about 500 patents These sales were made
at the various land Offices as follows: at
Washington, 1856; P~aulding, 1850;
Columbus, 1850; Mount Salus and Jack
son, 34,S0T Coahoma and Grenada, 1861,
and at Pontotoe, p, 230 entries, these latter
embracing lands in the Choctaw and
Chickasaw c~essions, sold under treaty
stipulatiOns for the benefit of the Indians,
The total number of homestead entries in
itiated, since May 20, 1862, the date of the
homestead act, is about $4,000, of which
1,79I only have been completed and patents
issued therefor while some nave been sus-
pended, some concealed, many abandoned
aud Others yet remain upon which the
claimants have not made final proof, thus
making it impossible for me to ascertain
the exact number OF acres disposed of under
the homestead law.
The public lands of the United States are
disposed of in legal subdivisions OF sections
in defined townships and ranges at the
several local land offices of the districts to
which such lands are attached, and this
Office makes no record of the counties in
which they are situated. 1t is therefore
impracticable, if not almost impossible, fol
me, as much as | am DESTROYS of obligine
you, to furnish you with the number Of
acres disposed OF, ard remaining undis
posed OF, in each county of the State
you represent; except at such a cost
of clerical labor as the present pressure OF
current business will not justify. Fol
instance, in order to furnish as neal
as possible the information desired, q
sectional map of the State would have
to be constructed of each county thereon
accurately laid down and to properly
ascertain said boundaries involves a care
full examination of the State Legisla
ture defining the same. This done it would
take two competent clerks, one to call from
the tract books, the entries therein noted
5 and the other to check them off on the map
say they complete a tract book every two
days, 176 days would thus be consumed
after which a careful comparison would b.
, indispensable with the 295 volumes o
: patent records above mentioned, aud ever
then the information would be incomplete
owning to the the fact that a great numbe
of entries, or sales made, under the olC
credit system, inyears past, have never beef
patented for reasons noted in each case.
Very respectfully,
N. @. MCFARLAND,
Commissioner.