The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1883-03-17
The HOMESTEAD AND PERCEPTION LAWS.
A Young Lady Asks Some Questions
About Them, and Is Answered.
The following communication has
been received from a young lady:

The following communication has
been received from young lady:
BELoIT, Wis, March 6, 1888.
EDITOR TIMES: Is there any govern
ment land in your part of the state,
and what is it chiefly valuable for,
timber, minerals or agriculture? How
can it be acquired? Can a young lady,
single and over twenty one, take land
under the homestead and pre-emption
laws, and what is the manner Of pro-
ceeding? Please give full information
in your paper, and it will be read with
interest by several young ladies here.
There is any amount of government
land in Douglas county. 1t is chiefly
valuable for timber and soil. The
most of the land around the head of
Lake Superior is thickly covered with
a growth of maple, birch, tamarack,
cedar, spruce, poplar and pine.
Large areas, however, have been
burned over and the timber DESTROYED.
The best of the pine lands have been
purchased Of the government and are
now III. the hands of the mill men or
spectators, but still many tracts con-
tanning considerable pine, growing
generally amongst hard wood, remain
The soil is in most cases a heavy red
clay, overlaid with a sandy loan, very
productive. Wheat, oats, barley, po-
tatoes, cabbages, turnips, beets, etc,
are as successfully raised here as any
where. The land is hard to clear and
cultivate, but the soil is strong and
crops seldom fail. Copper is the only
mineral so far discovered in any guam
tity, and that is found in several
places on the range of hills lying just
south of Lake Superior. The surface
of this country is in the main generally
rolling, and well watered with Lying
streams.
The government lands in this coun-
try are nearly all in the market-that
is, they can be purchased outright by
anyone-at $3.50 per acre cash.
Along the line of the Omaha railway
is a strip Of country twelve miles wide
where the government lands can be
acquired only by presumption or
homestead, and they cost only S1.25
per acre. The $3.50 lands are subject
to pre-emption and homestead also, as
we'll as to purchase by cash.
The benefit of the homestead and
presumption laws are open to unmar-
ried women over the age of q years
the same as to single and married men;
that is, woman so qualified may select
100 acres, and by living upon it and
cultivating a portion five years, she
becomes entitled to Il patent from the
government, Mt a total cost Of not
over SIS for fees. Or, if she chooses,
she may, after making certain i'm
provements, and occupying the land
six months, pay for it in cash at S1.25
or $3.50 per acre, rs the case may be,
and at once secure title to land which
may be worth from s. to $50 per acre.
Under the presumption act land may
be obtained by settlement and cultiva-
ton and payment Of the government
price, $3.50 or S1.25 per acre.
In this county several young ladies
have availed themselves of their privi-
leges under these laws, and in some
cases have sold their lands at hand
some figures, in others, are holding
them for an advance or for a farm
Just as their future husbands may de-
termine. No organized, concerted
effort has ever been made here by
young ladies to secure lands in this
way, as has been in several localities
in Minnesota and Dakota, where a
dozen or more school ma'ams and 9th
ers have gone together and made
claims" There is fine field in the
vicinity of Superior, from ten to thirty
miles from town, and near constructed
and projected railroads, for the devel-
opment of such schemes, and nothing
would please our people better than to
see the country captured and con-
quered by our enterprising correspond
ent at Beloit, and one thousand like
her. Let the ladies once get started
in this direction and the country
would need no more advertising. The
trouble then would be to keep away
the "horrid men," with their ugly saw
mills, blast furnaces, elevators and
railroads.
Mill Accident
A dao;JadIv roinfnI and vrh T r,o,-