The record-union., 1893-04-08

for land. and separate series of location
numbers, designated as warrant locations,
was Kept by the locating agents and the
State Surveyor-General."
Now, then, how did Mullan get in on
them?''
During the administration of Sur
veyor-General Bost Mullan applied for
a large tract of land in San Bernardino
Land District, covering many thousands
OF acres, as school warrant location, for
which he promised the Surveyor General
that he would surrender school land war
rants"
Did he ever do SOP"
HE never did. Based on the promise
OF Mullan to surrender the warrants. the
ouryeyor-General,a as State locating agent,
maze application to the United States
| authorities for all of the said land, which
was IN due course of time listed to the
state as part of the 500, 000-acre grant.
Ihe lands stood, of course, in Mullan's
name by virtue of his location"
How long did they so stand?"
Many years. Eight or ten years after
ward the surveyor General allowed those
lands TO be located in tracts of 800 acres or
whereabouts each, and the purchasers and
!ocators were permitted to make payment
IN cash on the basis of 81 % an acre. They
paid 20 per cent. and interest"
The warrants not being surrendered?"
NO, they never put IN an appearance"
w hat happened?"
well, In consequence of this and one
or two other similar cases, the grant was
exhausted without calling bin all of the
warrants. Under an opinion rendered by
Attorney-General Marshall, inasmuch as
the warrants had been sold by the State
originally at 81 an acre, the balance of the
81 per cent. due from the land purchasers
was permitted to be paid in, at the rate of
a N Qnrn ~ :
exhaustion OF the grant had depressed the
warrants to merely nominal figure, and
the spectators bought them up and then
used them TO pay up the 50 per cent. due
as referred to. They either sold the war
rants to the locators. or, as was more
likely, they were the locators them
selves"
Are any of those warrants out YETI"
Possibly few.'
Did the warrants at 81 hold that value
long? ''
No: Within two or three years after
their issue they sold in some cases as
low as 81 an acre"
How about the indemnity locations
on unsurveyed lands'?"
me United States never recognized
such locations, and the Supreme Court of
California held them to be illegal. In
1866 Congress passed the 'Conness Act
10 confirm all illegal selections made in
this State, provided there was no adverse
claimant under the United States home
stead or presumption laws"
how dld MuIlan and his crowd use
that fact?"
1.-The spectators would file applica-
tons and use lieu in the unsuryeyed loca-
tlons that the Supreme Court had decided
lIlegali as basis for new locations. thereby
rendering the locations intended to be
confirmed by the CONFESS Act deficient
IN Ileu' or oasis which had to be sup
Piled before the land could be confirmed
70 Inc state, and to the purchaser. Very
probably the very parties who appropri-
ated the lieu, would sell the men who in
good faith were purchasers, other lieu to
make good their location"
can you give me any single instance
OF thickness in the shutting out of a
genuine locator?'
on yes. Many years ago. when I was
c1erk III the State Surveyor Generals
ONCE, received letter from a citizen a
stranger, in some distant county. who
knew me by reputation probably. He
asked II certain half-section was suh-
Ject 10 location. 1t was in region where
to that time, there had been but little in
curry for land. [ referred to the sales
map and found that the land was clear.
applied to the Surveyor General in per-
son, who. L knew, supervised those mat
tiers, and called his attention to the letter
and asked him if there were any loca-
tons in his hands or in the office affect
ing that land. He looked at it with some
interest and said there were none. l told
him then l would fill out the proper
blank and send it to the citizen with the
proper instruction. 1 wrote to the party.
lnclosing the necessary papers, and told
him the land was then clear and subject
to entry, but as to how long it would so
remain could not tell; to qualify, swear
to the application and return it with the
filing fee of So would be his duty if he
wanted to locate the land told him if.
on receipt, the land was clear, I would
file his application. Well, it took five or
six days to get reply from him, and so
L did not again look at the maps until his
application came along. When it ar
rived went to the maps with the inten-
tlon OF offering the mans location for
filing, when to my surprise 1 found that
several days before, just about the reou1-
site time to write to San Francisco and
get reply from the date of my first ex-
animation, an application had been filed
on that very land by prominent land
firm in San francisco. With feelings of
modification l returned the application
and fee to the party. To this day he
probably believes that l am the man who
swlndled him out of the land he wanted. -