St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-06-26
.PUDLICLAND SURVEYS
Difficulties Of the Task Dis
cussed by Surveyor Gem
eral Compton.
Field Notes of Surveyors In
accurate and Oftentimes
Fraudulent.
Land department. at Wash
ington Forced to Act With
Extreme Care.
AIlroad and Mining Corn
panies Apparently Hog
ging the "Phat.

Ajlroad and Mining Corn
panies Apparently Hog
ging the "Phat. -
Occasionally criticism of the sur
| vey of public lands gets into print that
the facts do not justify" is the nature
of an observation made to a CLIO BE re-
porter by Surveyor General James
| Compton. Proceeding with general
| talk Mr.. Compton stated that during
the past year 100000 acres of swamp
lands have been surveyed by the
| government i'll Minnesota and thrown
| open for occupancy and settle ment.
| There has always been a controversy as
| to the designation of swamp lands" as
| to whether they should be determined
| by the field notes of the surveyors act
| ing under the governments f the United
| States or the state should furnish other
| evidence as to their character. The
| state lie gislature in 1851 agreed that the
| field notes of the surveyor should be
taken as evidence. This agreement was
ratified by the commissioner of the gen.
eral land office. but his ruling was re-
yersed by the secretary of the interior,
who held that it was competent to con-
test the correctness of the field notes.
The matter has not yet been decided.
The attorney general in 1888 asked for
hearing on the matter, and the commits
| sioner of the general land Office, in his
report Of 1888. stated that there had
been many complaints In Minnesota
that surveys had been falsely and cor
ruptly made, and large bodies of lands.
especially in the northern part OF the
| state. which are valuable for farming
| and for minerals and timber, had been
Fraudulently Returned
| as swamp lands or overfowed. 1t was
| claimed that the surveys were made in
| the interest of railroad and mining COM
| panies to which the state had granted or
| sold swamp lands. The government
sent out DR.. l.. j. Wooden. chief of the
! swamp land division OF the land office,
| who, after an examination made in the
| fall Of 1887, reported that the surveys
| previously made were unreliable in a
| number Of instances, and the state had
secured valuable lands that were not
| overfiowed. The matter is still pend
| ing, and the secretary of the interior
| even now indefinitely postpoDes the
| granting of patents to the state OF lands
| certified as swamp lands, or at least
| until after the lands can be thoroughly
examined, and it is decided that they
should be patented to the state.
| Mr.. Compton says that the controversy
! still goes on. and there is still great
! amount of complaint Many contests
| have arisen between the state and the
| government, and in nearly every case
| the state has been beaten. He stated
| that the only guide he has in designat-
| ing swamp lands is the field notes of
| the deputy who makes the survey and
| the lines he designates in the surveys he
| makes OF the outside of the tract. The
| deputy probably cannot tell more than
the direction Of the swamp by his sur
| vey. The notes may not show that the
center of the tract is swamp, and if not
shown to be such the lands are not
selected as swamp lands. The notes of
tile deputy surveyor are sent to the de-
partment at Washington and
The State Gets No Title
to the lands until it is so decided at the
department. Since being in Office Sur
veyor General Compton says he has re-
quired the deputies to furnish affidavits
in addition to the field notes to the effect
| that they have made careful and Suf-
ficient personal examination as to the
| topography and physical features Of the
| lands surveyed; that they believe all
| the subdivisions are characterized as
| swamp and overflow lands as character
| lied by the lists, and that they were
| such in truth and in fact OIL March II,
| 1860, the date of the swamp land act Of
| congress. The deputy is also required
| to make oath that it would be impossi-
| BILE for the surveyor in the conscientious
| discharge of his duty to SO survey and
| measure the lands as to give them any
other substantially different character
| from that indicated in the survey. The
surveyor generals office requires great
care In its conduct, and that he take
| every practicable precautiOn to dis
/ charge the duties SO that his acts will
| stand the severe tests that are constant
| ly being applied.
| The Importance of the surveys of
lands is readily perceived when it is
| considered that many millions of acres
| OF land have been disposed of in various
ways. and there are $50 townships of 316
| sections each, or about 5000, acres of
| land that have not yet been surveyed.
| This is in addition to the several re-
servations within the borders OF the
! state. The grants to railroads within
| the state have amounted to many mill
| ions of acres-an extent that is equiv
! alent to about One-seventh Of the entire
| area of the state. The railroads have
not yet had their grants filed, and are
| slow to do so. They have adopted.
| A Plan of Waiting
| until they have sale of land, and then
| will select only as much as they sell,
| for instance, forty or eighty-acre tracts
are disposed of. There is about 1000. 600
acres of land due the railroads that are
not yet selected. The last legislature
| passed an act requiring the railroads to
make their final selections Of lands
| within two years, and it is the policy of
| the state to get these grants off its hands.
These refer to the state grants of lands,
! and do not include the grants made by
| congress within the state to railroads.
| Besides the railroad lands there are
great quantities of other lands in the
| state that are not subject to taxation,
| and this in addition to tine lands that
are not surveyed. First, there is large
quantity of the school lands that en-
| braced the Sixteenth and thirty-sixth
/ sections of land in every township i'll
/ the state. Many of these sections in the
surveyed townships have not been sold.
! Then there ale the capitol lands in KAN
! diyohi county, amounting to 1896 acres.
There also remains a large quantity of
| the internal improvement grant of lands
| that originally amounted to 100000
/ acres. Then there are the swamp lands
| that were set aside for the university,
! the insane asylum. the state prison, the
deaf. dumb and blind asylums, and the
J normal schools amounting to $4,000
acres-much of this is not yet disposed
of. There are also the agricultural col
! lege lands.
The giants of lands by the state to
! railroads make an aggregate of nearly
! S.OD0.00O acres in addition TO lhe grants
direct by the omitted States.
The Importance OF looking after the
public lands aud the swamp and other
| lands is obdons when it is considered
! that the sale of school lands alone has
raised fund considerably larger than
/ SO. 900 900 and is increasing at the rate
] Of more than a million dollars per year.