The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1892-12-31
TIMES THAT ARE NO MORE
Flush Days Of the Land Agent in
South Dakota.
The Mad Rush for Claims in the Earl,
Days When the Prairie Pioneers
Started the Word Anew L
the Northwest.

MITCHELL, s. D., Dec. .7.-The rap
idly decreasing business in the variou,
land Offices of this state has brought on
quietness quickly noticeable to tho
old settlers who had business to ID
with these free home dispensing places
in the earlier years of the states his.
tory. The homesteaders who now
make final proof comment on the diff
ference in land Office business at this
time from what it was when they first
filed on their claims seven years ago.
The universal remark is that LAND
Offices don't look much like they did
years ago. In the early days long
line of people could be found reaching
from the land office door away bacR
into the street, many of whom,
anxious to get ahead of some other
party, would have been holding on the
land Office door knob nll night long.
This was when the land attor.
ney rcaped II rich harvest, and
many of these attorneys NOWADAYS,
when in reminiscent mood, delight to
tell of the old times, of the many con.
tests for land titles, and how they won
or lost in the effort to secure n Ger.
tain tract of land sought after by diff.
ferent parties.
The mad scamper for Dakota lands
which took place early in the sos
made it possible for land attorneys and
others who covered up" titles to Sc.
cure large fees and many fortune was
made in those exciting times. The ad
ministration of Land Commissioner
rlr ,,1v
affairs which through the numerous
cancellations and suspensions of land
titles which took place at that time
continued to throw large volumes OF
business into the attorneys hands and
kept up the business in the l,cal land
Offices to a considerable extent All
this has changed and it is now eX.
tremely difficult to tinl the once nu.
merous land attorney even in cities
where the government land
offices are located. The figures fur.
nished by the various government
land officers, however, show the change
which has taken place even more Ger.
tain than the absence of the land at
torneys. The greatest volume of busi.
ness was of course done in 1882, 1893,
1854 and 1885 and the business has since
been decreasing each year until now
the decrease is more and more marked
with each passing year. In 1886 the
Aberdeen land Office had 4,773 entries,
aggregating some $4,000 acres
and taking in s22l,4a in pay.
ment for the original and final entries
on the lands fled on. In 1892 there
We're only 900 entries; 1858 acres
taken up and but s33,5s9 col
tod IN ~, nrn
tries made at the Huron office and
S267, ,Oso taken IN, the filings covering
$4,000 acres. In 1892 the figures are
1.O7s entries, S19,652 collected and 164.
ss4 acres filed on and proved up.
In 1886 3,O07 parties filed on or provei'ss
up land in the Mitchell district. secur!
ing thereby 100000 acres of land and
paying in Sl37,33s into the government
Golfers. In 1892 the extent of the de-
crease is shown by these figures; Num-
her of entries, 9ss: number of acres
taken. 147,067; amount of monies coli
lected. $$ss,296. AT Yankton the filings
in 1886 amounted to 1.7l1; the number
of acres filed on and proved up. 1l2.234.,
and the fees, commissions and purchase
money paid in, s100,576. For the fiscal
year ending June 80, 1909, which time
tf5SSSi Ho ollG M, VI Cd VI tilc OlucE DlllCeS,
$40 entries were made, G5, acrel
taken, and but $11,sO4 collected. Tho
only Office in the state to anywheres
near approximate the old time figures
is the Wntertown Office whose business
was nearly doubled for 1892 over proceed.
ing years by the opening of the Sisseton
reservation AT this office in 1886 i,167
entries were made, 49s. .OO0acres of land
taken and S154,oa taken in. In 1892
3,6as filings and proofs We're made, 337,.
952 acres filed on and proved up and
s75,545 collected. A similar decrease OF
business is noted regarding the land of.
flee at Rapid City, which was formerly
located at Dcadwood, while the other
two Offices in the state at Chamberlain
and Pierre are doing very small bus,
mess. 1t is but question of time, and
"a short time at that, when consolida.
tion of several offices into one will nee.
essarily have to take place, and when
salaries of officers will be scarcely
worth striving for by would-be Office
holders