Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1885-12-06

oIirs u eAce-e OF Tue grant 4
partial sdI9stmsnt Of TIE grant fer tn,
A'cnison, Topeka Il Santa Fe road IL
hansa5 Indicates thai the excess CD
proved for the benefi, of that e1rDeany
VIII reach several hundred thousand
acres Similar excesses. in various pro,
portions, may be exp cted 10 other cases
Preliminary examinations of other
grants indicate that all have been more
or less overdrawn- Tpe earlier With
drsvals, in States sbere the public
lands had been surveyed and the With
oravais projected on township uaps.
we're more closely eAlcslatsd than
those OF later date. Differences appear
70 nave oroadeasd as time progressed,
particularly IN the larger grants.
Present estimates are that the average
rate per mile of road az shich lands
have been overdravn will reach so
acres per mile. The total length of
constructed aud uuconstfncted land
grant road for which Withdrawals have
been made exceeds 1000 miles. A, an
average rate of 800 acres Der mIi-, tue
aggregate area of overdrawo lands will
amount to 1000 00o acres, xhieh vast
am ont has hitherto been treated as the
absolute property of the corsoratians,
but Is IN fact public land of the United
states, recoverable to the public do
| main.
INDEMNITY SELECTIONS.
Indemnity selections are new pending
for large amounts Of land, priucipally
oy companies delinquent In eonstruc-
ton, and by companies Who have lied
SELECTIONS in excess of prooasls or pos
sIhle losses, and by companies whose
grants have been satisfied or exceed, d.
The effect of such selections IL to give
tos companies presampsivs title 10
the lsnds; to enable them to sell their
| q1it-clalm deeds and to evics settlers
Who refuse, or are unable to paw their
demands, and psrhsRs TO leave purcaas-
ers and valid claimants without re-
dress when, after lapse of years, il is
discovered that the comp .nies can give
40 title and no right TO IN AXE the seiec-
tIons. Through rules officially estab-
lished, railroad selections have been re-
R,rdsd as segre9 atisg the land, and
settlers have be.n prohibited from max
ing entries even suoisct to future de-
| termination Of the raiiro id claim. Sc
iections may ee m sde upon the mot
andacious legal propositions and tie
d .msiest pretexts Of asserted or un-
satisfied right, and these sci .otions, uu-
der the rules, bold tbs land against T. Q
world for terms of years.
In 1888, after the adoption of the rule
requiring future iDdes. nifty selections
TO De made upon basis of alleged loss,
the Northern Pacific Railroad COM
pany was, by departmental direction,
allowed to de its sslertions without
sucb speciications. Numerous oom-
plants we're made to me, alleging that
the selections filed by this company and
recorded in the local land Offices and In
this office exceeded by far any possible
indemnity right, and that the company
under color of such selections. while
selling land in large Quantities to
foreign syniicstes at lox prices. was de-
handing payment from settlers at *
orbitant prices for the lands upon which
their homes had been established.
AS..ExrRAoRpINARY GRAB.
In view of tbess alleg ,tiens, and as
sfferdine a possible index to ths extent
10 which the alleged proceedings had
been carried, have caused an exarni-
nation to be made OF each section and
subdivision of a section in the with
drawn limits OF the grant In Washing
ton Territory, with the following result:
The total area covered by appropria
tiouS OF CiAims ut rtCOrd duNcFse 10 the
railroad claim within the limits of such
Withdrawals is 257 $50 81 acres, exclusive
of unsurveyed lands along portion of
unconstracted road across the Cascade
Mountains, where trifiing or no losses
can exist. The total area of indemnity
selections in Washington Territory filed
by the railroad company is 637 ,928. so |
acres, or $50. .372l Is acres more than as
appears from sacn examination the |
company would be entitled to receive |
II all questions respecting the |
right of the company to indem-
nifty lands on any portion or
tbs whole Of its road were decided Ia |
its favor, and If every tract adversely |
claimed by settlers should prove an |
ultimate loss 20 the company. In
cluded in these lists OF selections are |
lo.e6 acres that we're embraced IN set.
tlsment claims antagonized by the CON-
pany and decided adversely to the SET |
tier or cancelled by relipqnishment. |
Every other adiadicst claim in |
volved in the 257 1856 acres Of possible |
losses as above assumed is also astaRo
nizsd by the railroad claim. and it by |
no means follows that the actual losses |
will approximate that amount even IL
the company were entitled to indemnity |
for Indian reservations. IL is also ap-
parent from the amount of indemnity
selections fled in the other Territories
aud States through which the road runs
that very large exoess selections have
been made in those States and Terri |
tories, as we'll a. in Washington Terri |
tory.
COMPANIES MUST PROVE Losses.
Instructions have been issued since
the commencement of the current year
directing Registers and Receivers OF
United States Land Offices TO require
lists 10 be fled IN every case OF appiicA
tioa by railroad companies for indem
nifty selections, Specifying the particular
alleged deficiencies for which indemnity
is clsimed, and that in cases where iu-
demnity selections have heretofore been
made by any company without sp .cifi
cation of losses, to admit no further
selections by such companies until they
have design ited the claimed deficiencies
to which the lands already selected as
indemnity are TO bs applied and also
directing the Iocii land ofi sers % o. Q
that the laws are observed which require
Indemnity to be taken within prescribed
! sectious and limits nearest the granted
sections in which the loss ecourred.
have also held, under the authority
sf recent decisions OF the Suprsme
Court aud the statutory ambitions OF
railroad land grants, that officIai With
drawais Of lands within indemnity
limits rot being required nor aother
liz d bv law or legal implication are
effective only a information. bot are
not operative a. q psohib ton OF the
exsrcise Of the lawful rights Of citizens
60 make settlements aud entries within
| toe designated limits. Such further or
different action as may be needed tn
protect the pablie interests against
| illegal indemnity reservations and ex-
cessive inde0nity selections iise
within the jurisdiction and power
Of the Executive Department. aud no
| Legislative Recommendations apou these
| points are necessary. call attention
| 90 the situation as marking the anex-
| smpled laxity vith which the isss have
been administered and the impsrasiv
/ need OF whols oms aud efficient reform.
| -
SCrr ruR WAass.-fne case OF MIS-
E. J. Garrett against A. Z. Dickis vas
tried in Jussice Hiils Court yesterday.
Dickie keeps lsandry. He hired Mrs-