Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1885-10-23
, tCopyrip't Secured Au Rights Reserpedl
Driven From Sea to Sea,
Or, JUST A CAMPIN'.
BY @. o. POST.
PUBLISHED ny PERMISSION OF ]. e. DowNEY
g. Co., PUBLISHERS CHICAGO.

CHAPTER xXIv.--CoNTrNUrD.
And they had good neighbors, which
added much to the pleasantness of their
surroundings, for though never content
to be separate from each other, even
for day, our young friends enjoyed
having their acquaintance drop in on
them, and often visited among their
neighbors, spending the evening or
Sunday afternoon.
They heard regularly from Lucy's
parents, and quite freQ Quently from Jen-
ME and her. husband, who were still in
Chicago and doing well. AT least En-
sign had steady employment, and they
were comfortable and happy.
Mr.. and Mrs. Parsons had now fully
decided to sell their home on the mount
ain at the first opportunity, and move
to the Slough their out-of-thc-way To-
cation alone operating against the ready
sale of the place.
Meantime Erastus and Lucy worked
on.
The size of orchard and vineyard was
increased by the planting of other trees
and vines. Rose bushes were set out at
the corners of tine porch and beneath
the windows, and evergreens and
Towering shrubs in the front yard
The main irrigating ditch having
been completed the year before, the
work of carrying the water wherever
needed, by means of small side bitches,
was comparatively easy and rapid, so
that some pretty broad fields of grain
and grass were beginning to stretch
awaI on every side of their cottage.
But now came terrib rumor.
1t was told douhtinglv at first, as
something that could hardly be possi-
ble-that railroad company laid clam
to the lands about the Slough, and
would compel payment of their present
market value, all improvements includ-
ed, or evict the homesteaders from pos
session.
The settlers generally laughed at the
tale, as being sta ted by some one for
the purpose of giving them fright.
"What!' they SAID, "the railroad
company claim our lands! Why, the
land was absolutely valueless. thought
not to be worth paying taxes on, unit
we irrigated it and built houses and put
out orchards and vineyards.
Besides, the land grant by Congress
was made to a company whose charter
fixed the line of their road more than a
hundred miles away, on the other side
of range of mountains; and even this
grant the company has forfeited long
ago, the time in which the road was to
be built in order to obtain the land hav-
ing expired two years since, and the
road is not built yet"
1t seemed absurd for anybo ly to talk
about IA lroad company having a
claim to their lands, when they had re-
deemed them from the desert, and were
almost ready to prove up on them
under the Homestead and Presumption
laws.
Yet there were those who were less
easily disarmed of fear.
They knew that in Iowa q railroad
company had dispos essed settlers who
had actually proved up and received
deeds to their homes from the Govern.
ment.
There were those among them, too,
who had suffered from the overflow OF
hydraul ,cmines, others from the Suscol
Ranch, and yet others who had suffered
from encroachmentS of corporal ons in
other States and other portions of this
State, and these were prepared to be
lieve that nothing was too preposterou;
for the railroad company to claim, if its
officers thought there was the remotesl
chance of enforcing it, either by fair
means or foul.
When Erastus Hemmingway heard
the rumor his heart sunk, for he had
seen too much of the heartlessness and
greed OF corporations not to fear the
worst, and he at once took steps to as
certain the truth.
He wrote to the headquarters of the
company, repeating what he had heard
and asking if there was any truth in the
statement that the company professed
TO have any claim to the land in the vi
cinity of the Slough.
In reply he received letter ana also
a circular.
The letter was signed by the Presi,
dent of the railroad company, and was
to the elect that the company hoped to
be allowed the original grant of lands
made by Congress in aid of the road
but the boundaries of the grant had no
been dc ;ermined, and probably would
not be for some time.
Meanwhile, the letter went on to saw
the settlers could bs assured that in nc
case should they be the losers. as, II Il
should eventually be determined that
the land which they occupied was
within tho limits of the grant to the
road, the company pledged itself tc
transfer it to the occupants ON pay.
ment of the Government price, and at
tention was called to the accompanying
circular, copies of which. the letter
said, were being issued and distributed
all over the State for the purpose O
inducing people to take up land at III,
Slough. This circular also contained {
pledge that If found to be within the
grant of Congress to the road, the com
pany would transfer the land TO who
ever had improved it, Immediately on
payment of the Government price.
Tnis letter, taken in connection Will
she circulars, which were scattered