Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1892-02-18
MR. WORK.
The State LAM Commissioner States the
Difficulties Under Which he Labors.
IGreat Falls Tribune.1

kefN atio A'i'AA
Hon. Granville Stuart, state land
commissioner, arrived in the city
from Helena or yesterdays east
bound train. Mr.. Stuart will leave
this morning for Belt creek to view
forty acres of a school section, which
is being claimed as coal lands. In
reply to a question by a Tribune rep
resentative as to the progress he is
making in the selection of lands
granted for various purposes to the
state under the admission act Mr..
Stuart in substance said:
"Under the admission act the state
is entitled to 622 900 acres OF land.
My duty is to select these lands and,
incidentally, to look over and make a
typographical survey of the surveyed
school lands and the seventy-two sec
tions OF university lands, the latter of
which were selected in 1888, and to
report their location, character of
soil, availability as agricultural lands,
etc. have travelled over 5000 miles
on horseback in the work before me,
and expect to travel many thousand
miles more before it can becompleted.
] have made a great many selections
of land, but the prospects are that
many, very many, OF them will not
hold. The trouble is that the Great
Northern extension has flooded the
Flathead country with an army of
timber land l%ocators, who have squat
ted upon my selections about as fast
as / made them. We asked Secretary
MIL - --
such townships as l selected in the
tlathead country, but he refused,
being inclined to give settlers the pref
erence in the choice of lands.
During Governor Toole's recent
visit to Washington he succeeded,
however, in pershadlng the secretary
to withdraw six townships from the
northern portion OF the Flathead
valley, subject to the claims of those
already upon the lands. There are
but few, however, upon them, and we
are sure of that much anyway. But
| do not think we will get one-tenth OF
the other selections made. / have
been in the country about forty years,
but have never seen during that time
such a scramble for lands as is now
being made on the line OF the Great
Northern west OF the range. 1t is as
tonishing how they are squatted
upon. They are wanted for the tim
Der upon them, for it would take an
ordinary lifetime to make the lands
fit for farming, they are covered with
such a dense growth of timber.
''The fact is Montana was about a
state. Ii we had been admitted be-
Ea.o 1,,, sl,,+o.s could lo-a Iaa,
made and withdrawn for surveys in
advance OF the present rush OF timber
land seekers. There is, however,
nothing to do now but to make the
best OF the situation and select the
remaining 100000 due as best we
may. Next season | shall look over
the northern and eastern portions oil
the state. There are some fine agri.
cultural lands in those sections which
may be obtained for the state"
Mr.. Stuart added that the Difficult
ties in the work before him were i'll.
ere ased by the evident reluctance Of
the government to pay a living price
tor surveying lands in the state. Ii
the lands were surveyed, or If the in
terror department would Withdraw
from settlement the lands selected,
the situation would be simplified. AS
it is, every selection made on unsur
veyed lands may be jumped or squat
ted upon by settlers and the state has
no redress. 1t must be content with
what it can get. In conclusion Mr.
Stuart said consolation may be found
in the fact that Montana is a biz
state. 1t contains somewhere neal
90, OOO,O 900 acres of land, and it will
be surprising if 100000 acres o.
pretty good land cannot be found
and credited up to the state before
the inevitable, i~rrepressible land
hunter fastens upon it all.