Weekly Phoenix herald. [volume] (Phoenix, Maricopa County, Ariz. Territory [Ariz.]) 1882-1896, 1884-07-24

/ The repori Of the Surveyor Gen
j raj Of lh~ Territory is al baud and
from j; We clip what is most inn
por'ant concerning This section OF
The Territory, namely. what be has
10 say Of private land grants The
document as a whole is a rather
verbose ard by Lo nicans explicit
staten, Mt at the exisnpg condition
of affairs in he Office with sundry
opinions, none OF whirh are par leu
larry remarkable except possibly
the orinion that is for the want Of
coal that north and south railroad
has Dol been bnit In The Territory.
Ii the document b. one of the Sur
vcror Generals teInpts to educate
the people, up to the point where
they will appreciate The private
land grant question "as l shall de-
cid," We -nan probably be some
time in reaching the desired point
IF appreciation However, on pri-
vale grants he says;
This class OF work in this rfIicc is
uecessarii ~ Of slow progress In the
ii ves!igaiion of these old g ants.
letters are frequently months in
being az wercd Photographs of
printing, writing, autographs, seals,
etc are moi unfrequently sent both
TO Spain and the interior of Mexico.
for comparison with authentic
records. and every step in the iuves-
tiga'iou of a private land grant is
laborlnus and requires time. Ex>
perts when sent to examine ancient
documents in remote places are oftc II
absent for months ana are embar>
rassed by the LEGAL custodians in
instances TO The detriment Of the
service.
There are at present pending in
this office highly important grants.
which l shall not be able to report
upon for some time to come, as the
Investigations have in most instau~
ces been but iately commenced, aud
thu interests involved are of too
great amount to admit other than
the mest searching investigation,
ar d intelligent and exhaustive work.
II IS to be regretted that at the time
of the purchase of this Territory, the
treaty in connection Herewith did
not specify a Limitation of time
within which the United States
would confirm private land grants
covering portions of the newly ac-
quired Territory aud beyond which
they would not be entertained. Ari-
iona is tu>day covered in portion
BY grants which have not even at
this late day been fled. These grants
exist in reputation only, ard 1t seems
to be The intention of the claimants
to allow their alleged grants to lie
dormant until towns are built upon
them are their arabic aud pasture
lands are purchased from the gov
eminent and satield upon. wher the
claimants come forward aud offer
quit claims of title, or demand set
Elements at exc bitant rates. usually
commensurate with the cost of im-
provemeuts, etc, and not infrcquent
~ these claimants are persons no,
in the strict eye cf the old practice,
would have come ~ithin he pale
of punishment fer maintenance and
cham 7erty This class Of claimants
secure control OF tie little papers in
an effort 10 perhaps have the grant
confirmed, in the meantime quit
clsi ing and collecting money IN
The government can
not exercise 100 stringent measures
iu regard 10 the invesi CATION Of
pfiva land claims Of tais character
in This Territory, and especially
those not filed at This time. or those
which are Eled ana in which the
claimants thereto are making no
effort 10 t,rnish evidence,
as This class of gs are a great
detsime | Ia the e'efs[orv, and a
constant nightmare 20 IhN> settlers
thereof
CARP FROM COLONEL HEAM,