Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-09-19
GREAT THEFTS OF LAND.

-.t.nt to Which Large Cattle Companies
Mave Illegally Fenced in the Public
1,nu,aiu-Thousands of Fraudulent I'm
..;.s Found to Have Been Made in Nev
,,extco and Dakota.
WASHINGTON, Aug. &c. - Some time
since the Commissioner of the General Land
Office ordered a survey of certain public
lands in Colorado and Nebraska with the
Low of bringing suits against cattle com.
nouies that have illegally fenced in large
.rocts of lands in those States. Eight cases
aave been found against the Prairie Cattle
ro,npany, composed of Scotchmen. An ex.
omina;ion has been made of tracts contain.
;ny respectively IL hundred square miles.
+wenty- five square miles, sixteen SQUARE
niles and seventy-five square miles, and an
ageutis at present examining a tract con.
taining over one hundred square miles. All
Of these are under control of the Prairie
cattle Company and are illegally fenced in.
O11icials in the Land Office claim that be-
tween five and six millions of acres are now
illegally fenced in, and that several mill.
IONS OF acres are fraudulently entered.
Setters say the cattle men are driving
them away, and taking from
them the lands which they have set
tlad upon. One Land-ofice official
saws that if the practice is continued the
cattle men will have entire control of the
hest public lands in the United States
within twenty years. A land agent in New
Mexico informs the General Land Commits
siouer that, of the entries in that Territory.
ninety per cent. are fraudulent, and another
agent in Dakota says that twenty-five per
cent. of the entries are fraudulent in that
Territory. A table, completed recently
for the forthcoming annual report of the
Land Commissioner, shows the number Of
fraudulent entries that have been investi-
gated during the past year, and approx
imately the number OF illegally fenced
acres in the various States and Territories,
to be as follows:
Arkansas ~ fraudulent ENTREES; Dakota.
400; Colorado, $50 fraudulent entries and
$500. 900 acres illegally fenced; California, i3q
fraudulent. entries; New Mexico, 8as fraud
i n.See e" Minnesota OF s 5Iip0 fraud I1Isa s entries:
Washington Territory, l0g: Idaho, 81; Ne.
braska, 10 fraudulent entries and aUU,N QUO
antr e ai:es WYOMING rauet Tc min,nn': 4 i f frauduient
entries and 250,0 900 acres; Alabama. l53 fraud.
uIcnt entries; Wisconsin. 10; Florida, 4:
and 6W,ooO acres. illegally fenced; Nevada, co.
600 acres illegally fenced.
Entire counties are reported as being
fenced in in Kansas. In Wyoming more
than one hundred large cattle companies
are reported as having fencing on public
lands. Some of these companies are re.
ported to be English, and others Scotch.
Referring to the practice of large COM
panies making fraudulent entries on lands
illegally fenced, Major Mckenzie, of the
Land Office, said: ",These entries are made
along streams that run through land.
Cattle men will employ men to hero
their stock, and then will give $50 OF
500 to each one to make an entry OF 16(
acres. When he has secured his patent, il
IS understood that he nus transfer it to the
party who advanced the money. Many
cattle dealers will not employ men unles:
they will agree to make entries. A com
mon fraud i'll New Mexico, Arizona, Cali
fornia, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Utaf
and Nevada is practiced by means of thu
Desert-land act. That act provides
that in selecting $40 acres Of deser
land twenty cents per acre shall
be paid down, and that persou
entering land shall be allowed three year
in which to pay the remainder. Instead O
taking desert land, the practice is to taxi
the very best land. The parties hold i
and get the use of it for three years TO
comparatively nothing, and for as muc]
longer as the title is in dispute. Complaint
from settlers come from nearly all til
Western States and Territories, and som
of the complaints accuse Government lam
agents of collision with the land-grabbcrs.