The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-02-25
thereafter open to settlement and

presumption.
Accepting the figures as correct,
the Company is therefore entitled to
372, 548 acres of land more than it
has received for road actually con
structed under the original Act of
August 1856.
On investigation, however, the
records of the Land Office show that
there are but 2O,652 acres of Govern
ment Lands within the designated
limits that are subject to the provis-
ions of the grant, and an application
on behalf of the Company has been
made by selection and is now pend
ing before the Land Commissioner
for conveyance of this land by GER
tilted lists in the usual form.
1t has been brought to my notice
that in Bills before Congress for the
forfeiture of lands granted to aid in
construction of railways, because of
alleged default or failure to construct
within the time fixed by the grant
the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific
Railroad Company successors to the
Vicksburg, Shreveport & Texas R. R.
Company is named as one of the
Companies in default, and local news
papers haveassumed and argued that
the intention is, to declare forfeited
not only the 2O,652 acres for which
the Company is an applicant for GER
tilted lists before the Land Office, but
also the 353,212 acres conveyed in
1859 by the Government in form as
prescribed by law, the title to which,
for more than ~ years has been un-
challenged.
The effect of such possible Legis-
lation and the statement made by
local newspapers as to recent rulings
and action of the Land Department
in connection Herewith, has been to
unsettle values where sales of land
have been made-to prevent other
parties now occupying the lands from
taking title from the Railroad Com
pany-and of course to prevent imi-
grants from coming into the State
and settling because Of such cloud
upon the title to this large body of
land that the Company has for sale.
I write therefore to make inquiry
First. Has the Interior Depart
ment made any ruling or declaration
indicating that any portion of the
353, 212 acres certified to the Com
pany in 1859 are now subject to entry
as public lands of the United States
Second. Has the department made
any ruling as to the 20,652 acres for
which application for certificate is
now pending,-that they are now
open for sale and public entry be-
cause of a default on the part of the
Company in completing the roads
| Third. Do the protests fled by
Hon. N. G. Blanchard and Hon. j.
Floyd King, Members of Congress
from Louisiana, apply to the 20,652
acres for which our application for
certificates is now pending, or to the
353, 212 acres that have already been
certified to the Company-or to both?
and what is the nature of their pro-
tests9
I will only add for information of
the Department, and not as having
any legal bearing on the matter, that
the present Company has proposed,
and is willing that all bona 6de set
tiers upon any Of the lands heretofore
certified, or for which certificates are
now asked-on proving such occu.
pancy in the usual form, shall have
the right to take title FROM the Com
pany on payment of $500 per acre
for the agricultural and farm lands SO
occupied, not in, or Immediately adj
joining cities or towns.
AS a similar arrangement was made
by the New Orleans Pacific Railroad
u ~