Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-03-14


and fired into the surveying party, and
drove it of. Since then, Gen. Butler has
been interviewed on the subject, and We
present the result:
INTERVIEW WITH GEN. BUTLER.
What He Has 10 Say About the Matter.
Special Correspondence Of the Register.
BosroN. March lin all interview With
Gen. Butler he was shown the dispatch
relative to the attack on the surveyors, by
the REGISTER correspondent, and asked il ii
was correct. He laughed good naturedly
over the dispatch, and said that, while it
was fact that the surveyors on the tract
in question had been driven off, the story
as told in the dispatch was not true in its
details "The story" said Gen. Butler, "is
simple enough and easy to understand.
Some time ago a gentleman who owed me
some money proposed to settle my claim
by giving me
Some wild Lands
in Pocahon tas county. W. Va. In cxamin-
ing the title found some defects, and also
that the boundary between his and an ad-
Joining tract OF land was in dispute. by
the way, you may as well state that the size
OF the tract OF land is not nearly so great
as vas given in the diSpatch-itis is not over
100000 acres / believe 1t was to find out
the amount of land in this claim that the
survey was made. The land through this
region is rough and except in the valleys,
unfit for cultivation, and is only valuable
for the wood in the forests and the minerals
in the earth-coal and iron principally.
said to the owner OF the grant that there
were no doubt settlers in the valleys whom
it would not be we'll to disturb, but rather
to encourage to stay there; for, II mining
and numbering operations are to be carried
on there, it would OF course be important
to have farmers and stockraisers on the
ground from whom needed supplies of pro-
visions could he obtained, and whose labor
might be made available-the two interests
being made useful to each other
"Then you would not turn off the squat
ters and settlers on the grant"
mot at all. On the contrary, would
favor giving to every settler therefor
agricultural purposes-a deed OF 100 acres
OF land, and be glad to have him stay on
and cultivate ii, and ior others to 60 In and
Join him; for the more of such agricultural.
!!:;..s We would have in that region the bet
ter il would be for our enterprises
"Then the difficulty did not come from
any apprehensions on the part of settlers
that they were TO be deprived OF their hold
ings?'
understand it, any trouble with the
Actual Settlers On the Grant.
The difficulty has grown solely out Of an
effort on our part to define the proper
boundary between our grant and the grant
adjoining, and the trouble has been made
by people living beyond the tract
"Do you know the grounds on which
;,,to
81 do not, except that il the boundary i
defined it may interfere with their free
range of timber lands. The trouble, you
will see, then, is not one in regard To- title
or of dispute with settlers uyon the land.
but simply in regard 10 a boundary line
between it and another tract ! sent my
man down to see the line run, and the sur
veyor and all his assistants employed were
citizens of the County-in fact the surveyor
we had was the county surveyor. 1t was,
therefore, no effort at n land grab, but
only an effort to define what was right as
bet ween two adjoining land interests
In this connection il may be said that the
surveys and resurveys Of lands and land
grants in West Nirginia-in common with
some other sections OF the SOuth-have
often been made so Carelessly and by sur
veyors who were not always exact in meas.
urement, distances, boundary lines and
marks, etc. etc. that they are q continual
source OF trouble Instances are known
where surveyors have Tapped over one
another three or four times, creating great
trouble and confusion, and giving a great
deal of employment to the lawyers and
courts Of that section A case is related OF
a disputed boundary Of lands surveyed by
no less q parsonage than Gen. George Wash
ington. In colonial days il was sometimes
the custom TO reward men who served in
the French and Indian wars with grants OF
public lands Ii appears that such grant
was made TO some menbers OF Captain Saw
ages company for
Service In the French War.
The land given to these men was situated
near the mouth of the Big Sandy river, and
the tract was surveyed by George Washing
ton, who was then a surveyor. After the
tract was surveyed as a whole and subdi-
vided into as many sections as there were
grantees, the numbers OF these lots were
written upon slips OF paper. put into hat,
shaken up, and each man drew slip, the 4
number on which indicated the land which
was allotted TO him. Several years ago q
New York gentleman acquired by purchase
one Of these sections of land but diff
Guilty arose between him and the resident
owner OF the adjoining section in regard 70
the boundary line between them. party
surveying railway at the time
was employed 10 run the line,
which, though well defined at one
extremity was in dispute at the
other. Trees are taken for marks for
boundaries In that country, as well as
streams, branches, etc. The original sur
yey called for two pine trees on the line,
which cornered Of a beach tree At the other
extremity. Now il appeared that there
were two beach trees, both Of great age, and
each about equi-Gis'ance from the other
end of the line; but such distance apart
that il il was established that either one OF
these trees was the one called for in the
original survey, one or the other OF the
parties in interest would gain or lose
triangular piece of land OF some 40 acres in
extent, The railway surveyors could not
find the two pine trees named in the sur
yeys. but, by running s line 10 one OF the
beach trees, they discovered, By digging on
the line to the trees claimed by the New
Yorker as the one making his boundary,
the roots or stumps Of the pine trees, which
had not decayed.
ALoeaI Surveyor
was then EN- ployed to run the line, and he
made il to the tree which the railway sur
yeyors thought to be the one indicated In
the original survey. Both the beeches IN
question were very large ones, being some
five feet in diameter, but contained no sur
yey mark whatever, the bark on both being
clean and smooth. It was known, however,
that in time the marks OF surveyor on .
tree might be oyergrown- On sounding the
trce supposed 70 be the one to which the
original line was run. II vas found 70 ae