Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-01-23

rs. r. Chropicle ]

rs. 2. Chronicle
On the I'd day of Nay, 1877, ositsin
la,ds of the United States we're with
drawn frsm pre-empsion and homestead
settlement, under IN Act Of Congress
granting the odd sections contained IN
that belt of land TO the Atlantic 4 Pa
ciic Railway Company. Part u tins
grant is in the State of California. Inc
Q, rporation Vas allowed b. the terms OF
the grant from May 2. 1872, to July I,
1878. - complete the fosd- The oriRi
nal grant was made and approved IN
July. loS6. but the map Of the route vas
not filed till six years later. The grant
covered ~ O0. 600 acres, in several Stotes
and Territories. The length OF the road
IS mapped was to be 2428 miles- Al the
time the grant expired. July 4, 1878, the
company had completed but LIS miles,
and had received by patent and sold
20 259 acres for 1873 1853. There re-
mains of the grant Al, rs, 7n acres still
unsold. For seventeen years this I'M
mense body Of land has been locked up
by the grant so that NO settler could
safely enter upon it as q pre-smpeor or
homesteader without peril to his title
and improvements, for 40 yet no Act 81
Congress has declared II forfeited, re-
stored to the public domain and 70
opened to settlement. aud for toe last
1--WE years the company has had no more
right to the land unsold than the King
Of Ashantee.
And now for the special b rdship
which this criminal neglect OF duly ON
the part of Congress during all these
years has put upon the settler. In Dc
oember. 1873, four months after the
lapse of this particular grant, 8. d.
Harris settled on one of tho odd num-
bcred sections lying within the with
drawn belt, his claim being in the Santa
Cruz Mountains, partly in Santa Cruz
and partly in santa Clara county, This
State. Harris had ben q soldier IN the
Union army during the civil var, and
took this q soldiers homestead entry.
He has reoided on it ever since Decem-
Der, 1878; cultivated and improved II.
But as often a. he has applied 70 IL Q
Land Commissioner and the Secretary
Of the Interior for an official reoegbi-
ton Of his right to the land be has BET n
refused. On the 18th of last November
he wrote out clear statement OF all the
facts to President Arthur. Tue Prtsi
dent referred the letter to Secretary
Teller, AZ was his duty. The Secretary,
under date of November ~, 1883, re-
piled TO Harris. with his regrets" that
his department. has no control over
matters of this kiAd," and that =" if
should order patent to you, your title
would still be contested by the railroad
company"
MIND, now, the contesting company
has been dead for five years and gone
out of public mind. Congress alone
has the power to relieve you," says the
Secretary. And he adds: This De-
partment b governed BY the Law -
construed by the supreme Court, !"
which is true, ~ ven with reference to
the Courts Law as to the neglect Of
Congress. On the 9Th of last month,
the case having come In some form to
the United States Commissioner of
Poblic Lands, Mcfarland wrote to
Harris: "You state that you settled on
Section II, south, 2 west, Mount Di-
ablO meridian, California, in December,
1873, since which time it has been the
homo Of yourself and family, consisting
Of wife and two small boys; that be-
ing Al invalid, you have made such inn
prOvemsnts thereon ~ yea we're able,
and have made orchard culture "A
specially. You claim that the Atlantic
and Pacific Company having failed to
construct its road within the time re-
quired by law you should be allowed to
make a soldiers homestead entry. The
land was Withdrawn for the benefit of
tho company. The time within which
the road should have been constructed
expired July 4th, 1873. You made your
settlement December fOllOWipU;" but
for all this aud that. Harris 10 court
eOusly and oooliy informed thai the
Departures cannot admit his entry
until Congress shall declare the grant
to said oompasy to be forfeited and d.
rect a restoration of the land to the
public domain"
Meantime this settlers, this honor.
ably discharged soldiers homestead fol
himself, his wife aud two little boys, il
in peril, aud if Congress does not re-
store the lspsed grant to its status in
1866, his orchard aud other improve
ments are in danger of being taken
from him by some such infamous pro-
cess "a that which Coils p. Hunting.
tons Southern Pacific. as the assignee
of the Texas Pacific, is trying to en-
force. The case of Harris is an illus.
tratiOn Of the situation Ut tens Of thou
sands Ut settlers ON these lapsed and
looked up grants. The blame is not on
the Executive Department of the Gov
ernment. 1t is ON Congress and the
oourts-on the former for q gross and
shameful neglect of duty on the latter
for forced and technical construction
of Law. s