Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1886-10-27
Cost OF lands remain
ing unSOld...........

| lcOu 10 os,cUo,iio
| - POS go So
Cost Of lands remain
ing uuSOlu. ............ 81 Ia, HSJ@DJ
Although 1873 600 900 of acres have Oct n
| disposed OF. ms remaining lands nave
cost the government nearly $50 600 Geo
more than the original cost of the whole
OF the 75S 900 900 acres disposed Of
! less than G5 0U0 900 acres have been dis
posed Of uuder the homestead and tim
ler culture acts, aud the fees collected
under these acts make up almost 90 per
cent Of the I'm UNITS received by the gov
rnmeut from 1860 to 1881
Prior To 1860 ,ess than % 600 600 acres
lad been granted 10 railroads, canals,
etc. From 1860 To 1880 under Tepub
| lican rule, neaely 1913 900 600 acres have
Oeen granted to railroads. canals. etc 8,
and hu odreds of millions of acres have
been patented TO private persons VINO
claimed under spanish and other foreign
| grants. FIr instance, LIZA 765 acree
we're in 1879 patented to one claim ant.
and 600, 600 acres were in 1884 patented
| TO another claimant.
In 1880 the private claims pending in
the general land office covered nearly
| 587 900 600 acres.
When the democratic party came into
power in March 1885 it found pending
private claims for hundreds Of millions
of acres OF the public domain.
1t found that railroad companies had
sequestrated the homes of hundreds of
| thousands of settlers;
That there had been hundreds OF thou
sands of fraudulent lsnd entriee;
That 6 100000 acres OF the public
lands had been taken possession OF and
inclosed by land grabbing corporations
| without any color OF right or title;
That large tracts of valuable timber
lands had Deen fraudulently appropri.
ateu as an instance, an English syndi
date had appr ,pristed loo 600 acr, Of
the fuest redw ,od land in California.
worth at least $40 600 600;
That millions OF acres Of land had
been taken possession Of by railroad
companies under fraudulent system of
measurement Of grants made;
That even the Indian reservations had
been invaded by land grabbers.
That the government surveying sys-
tenn was corrupt, indeed the land ffices
seemed TO be in league with land grab
bers
That seven alien land owning syrdi
Gates were in possession of ID 500 600
acres of land and 20 Others were Ia DOS
session OF 30 600 acres.
The democratic administration deter
mined TO put stop 10 this wholesale
plunder of the public doInein--the peo-
pies heritage - and halt has been
called.
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE
The surveying system has been
purged.
Five hundred and fiftv thousand acres
OF land granted TO the Texas and Pacific
rs lroad have been restored TO the pup
lie domain.
Two million acres granted 20 the At
lantic and Pacific railroad nave been re
covered TO the people
Commissioner SDarks has given de
cision, by the terms Of which 2 500 600
scras granted TO the Nor hern Pacific
will be returned to the public
sur has been commenced TO recover
100 600 acres fraudulently appropriated
Oy the Oregon Central Wagon Road
company
Suits have been instituted To set aside
patents for 80, 600 acres. uulawfully
issued TO the Atlantic and Pacific rail
road.
The Portage Lake and Lake Superior
Canal com pany received grant of 400.
900 acres 10 aid ia building q ship canal
which was never properly coustru ted,
and tne company selected 10000 acres
Of m neral lands, although the act ex
pressly excepted these lands. Suits have
been recommended to sci aside these
| illegal patents.
The soquestration Of the homes of
set lers has been stopped.
Railroad grants have been resdiusted
--re-surveyed-and ss result the area
| taken by the Union Pacific has bs en- re.
duced, in Nebraska alone, about 322 100
acres, and the reduction in Wyoming and
Uiah will be much greater. A reduc-
tion of over one million acres In the lands
grabbed by one railroad company.
The area Of the grant to the Atchison.
| Topeka and Santa Fe road in Kansas has
BEEN reduced 1884 754 acres.
BY q continuation Of this process Of
reduction millions OF acres will be re-
stored TO the public domain.
The "Perslra" claim embracing an
area OF 4 600, 900 acres has been declared
wholly fraudulent
The Nolan" claim, embracing 575,-
965 acres has been declared fraudulent.
A claim presented by The Csmerons Of
PennsylvsDis. embracing thousands of
acres. was approved by the last republi