The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-02-06
IT'S A MIGHTY STEAL
How the Northern Pacific Is Getting in
lis Gait.
TAKES EVERYTHING IN SIGHT
The Mineral Land Claims Of the Inn
mense Corporation Cover Nearly
the Whole County of Sill
yer Bow.

BUTTE, Feb. 5.--The committee recently
appointed by the chamber of commerce,
consisting of f. b. Howell, w. McC.
White and William Thompson, to exam
inc the land selected by the Northern Pa
chic in Silver Bow county. have completed
their investigation and intend to follow
the example of Madison county and enter
general protest against the selections
made on the ground that the land is all
mineral bearing. The committee has de-
velOped facts that look very much as if
The Northern Pacific was attempting TO
take snap judgment on the people, which
il can easily do under the ruling of the
interior department.
Under the ruling of the secretary the
railroad company is required to publish a
notice only of those selected within q RAJ
dius of six miles of known mineral dis
covery. OF all selections made outside of
such radius there is no record except
IA the department to which notice is
directly sent. All selections of land made
in Silver Bow county are in what is
termed the lien limit. or indemnity limit,
comprising 10 miles outside of the origi-
nal 40-mile limit.
The extent of the selections in this
county is not known, as the only record
here Is of those within six miles of a min
eral discovery. OF this character of selec-
tIons the chamber of commerce commit
tee has discovered about half a hundred,
making in all about SO sections, or an en-
tire township. The selections were made
by the railroad company at a time of the
year when 1t is impossible TO make an ex-
animation of the ground by any one and
the published notices only give the town
ship end not the section of land, so that
other parties claiming it have no means
OF knowing whether their land is taken
10y the railroad or not unless a trip is
made TO Helena and the records of the
land Office examined. The notices with
the meager description are published only
occasionally in an obscure corner of an
obscure paper where there is the least
probability of discovery.
The time for fling protests expires next
Sunday, Feb. 10, and the committee is
anxious to have all persons who are af-
fected by the railroads appropriation to
call and make out affidavits and have
their protests entered. While again the
protests may be made effectuaI, it is by
no means as certain as where specific
allegations are made.
The committee has secured a copy of
the records at the Helena land Office and
finds that the railroad has selected nearly
ali of the odd-numbered sections on the
flat south of the city and extending out to
the reservoir and to the foot hills on both
sides of the valley. 1t includes parts of
sections, 2, 8, 81 and 80, in township 3
north and range Z west, all east of the
timbered Butte and within three miles of
the heart of the city. In township north.
range west, all of sections and 6, and
parts of 8, 10, II, 10 and u are taken.
In township north, range west, all of
sections l, 3, IL, Is, % and 20 are selected
and the north half of section 10. p .t
Along the line of the Union Pacific over
the divide, for a distance of six miles on
either side of Feeleys, all the odd sections
are taken, in whole or in part, on both
sides of the railroad up into the foothills.
Ii is stated that section /, east of Fee
leys, which is among tho land selected, is
covered with mineral and developed loca-
tons and that a quartz mill is on it, and
yet the company pretends that it is not
valuable as mineral; but the owners of
the ground probably dou't know that they
are in danger of losing il.
The remainder of the lands selected is
on the Upper Big Hole and in French
gulch, where almost every available piece
of ground in the odd sections is taken.
1t is estimated that fully one-half of the
land selectrd contains discoveries of min
erals moro or less developed, and that
mineral is known to exist in nearly every
section taken. But for the investigations
by the committee il would never have
been known what land was selected in
Silver Bow county until patents were is
sued to the railroad company.