The record-union., 1895-10-18
A SAMPLE Case.
ForcibIe and Concise Answer to
Malicious Charge.
How the Title to Certain Piece of
Agricultural Land Was
Acquired.
From the San Francisco POST

To the Public IN General: An article
signed by one D. l.. Brown was pub
lished in the San Francisco Examiner
last week, stating that a foothill rancher
in an undetermined way bought forty
acres of land from the railroad company
in section 20, township 20 north, range 4
east, which said land had been surveyed.
staked out, held and worked as mineral
land for more than thirty five years by
one of mis- miner friends. | would state
that L am the person who bought that
land, and l Dough: it from the railroad
company. He further says: AS an
illustration of tie contemplate tricks re-
sorted to by the railroad company in
grabbing mineral lands and selling what
it never owned, Mr.. Ricketts, read the
following letter"
Now, I would like to state the facts to
D. l.. Brown, Mr.. Ricketts, and the pub
lie III general; tacts which are shown by
the records at OrOville, Butte County,
Cal, and also by the records IN the rail-
road office in san francisco. Prior to
my filing on the land | had prospected
the same Tor mineral purposes, running a
! tunnel over 100 feet long. sinking shafts
and working the surface ground, and I'M
gold or any other mineral In paying
quantities Oh SAID land. Having satisfied
| myself that the land was not mineral in
character, l filed on the same as agrlcult-
ural land on March 10, 1856.
AL that Time The land was open to any
one, either as agricultural or mineral
! land. FROM that time on / held the filing
and commenced 10 improve this land,
ana nave continued to do so up to the
present time. On the "a or Sd OF October,
1870, was notified by the railroad con-
pany That a miners location mad been
! MADE upon the land, and for me 10 APP
pear a. tlielr Office on the 10Th day of Oc-
tober, 1897 ~ 10 o'clock y. NJ, in San
francisco, to prove the character of SAID
land. On arriving there. they called the
roll OF ali persons applying 10 purchase
said land from thenI. The roll was called
the second time and no miners answered
They had hearing, and after the hearing
w. II. Mills, the land agent, gave the
miners notice again, and gave them
ninety days time TO go ahead and sur
yey and stake out their claims, aud told
them that after that he would sell the
land to whom he pleased II they did not
appear. l ask any fair-minded man if
that was "a contemplate trick" of the
railroad, as Mr.. Ricketts, says, or If they
were acting III any underhanded way, or
II l was acting in an underhanded way
IN buying the same.
In August. 1891, / bought the land from
the railroad company and put the deed
on record, and from that time on il has
been assessed to me and l have paid the
taxes on the same. Mr.. Brown, in his
letter, says that the miner has offered TO
the foothlll rancher to give him the rail-
road prices for the land and the use of the
surface ground for grazing purposes.
That is ali II Is good for.
| The facts are these: Prior to the time
the letter was written by Mr.. Brown, the
! miners friend came to me and asked if
| we could not arrive at al understanding,
and L made him the following PROPOSE
ton:
You go ahead and work this ground
az long as you live and any gold you Iind
on it the lind is yours. In the meantime.
il the land is sold az mineral, ! will give
you two-thirds and keep oue-third OF the
sale.'
1 again ask the pu bile in all sincerity if,
after making such generous offer TO this
miner, the writing of a letter as Mr..
! Brown wrote later on does not Indicate a
malicious intent, and 10 say to MIR. Rick
etts, the representative of The Miners
! Association, that he has a fair example of
the uuderhandedness TO go ahead with
the miners fight against the railroad, if
they will state the facts as they actually
exist. / think that no falser misrepre-
| /.
Brown to create sympathy for this miner,
and that Mr.. Rickett must be willfully
making d malicious attack against tue
railroad company. After they have given
just ana honest trial to this miner and
offered him chance to establish The
quality OF The land, is it fair?
As 10 the quality OF this foothill land
which sir. Brown says Is good for MOTH
ing but grazing: Again | would state The
following facts 10 the public: AT the three
citrus fairs held In OrovilIe the products
OF my iOOthIll ranch were eXhiDite by
me, and were seen by thousands OF peo-
pie all over the Union. l have shown
what The ioothiI ranch can produce. d..
l.. Brown further says that the miner is
willing to give one half 10 any one who
will secure his rights. ID. l.. Brown,
you or somebody else knows the value OF
Il good piece OF agricultural or horticult-
ural land.
Let US figure the working of a mining
| claim for thirty years or more the miner
says forty years 10 make so much out OF
IL 10 pay Tor the land. Surprising that
miner ever wanted said land, then 500
would have paid all expenses TO get the
land. mat means a saving of 81 only.
one glance viii show To anybody that
there exists no paying mineral alter
working the mine forty years, and then
10 offer One-haII To anyone 20 secure his
rights.
! gain I suggest to Mr.. Ricketts, that
tho remark Ee has made, wit: "con-
tempIibIe tricks resorted 10 by the rail-
road company in grabbing IMMORAL
lands" is "a remark full OF malicious in
tent, according TO Mr. Browns letter, 10
iniure the railroad company IN obtaining
patents Tor their land. The public in gen
oral Will SEQ by the statement made by
me that there were no contemplate
tricks rusorIcd 20 by the railroad com pany
ana no undgrIand buying by me and no
buviug at all until after they were noti-
| lied the second time.
In concluding my letter will state that
if this miner, ID. l.. Brown or somebody
else. can prove that he was not notified
and did not know what was gong on,
and that the railroad com pany resorted to
Guy tricks or that there WAS any uudor-
hand buying by me- | will myself cheer
iully give . 09U TO the Miners Associa-
ton TO ght the railroad company. Yours
respectfully, JOSEPH ENTzMAN,
South Table Mountain Ranch, October
| If, 1880
COUNTY FINANCIAL STATEMENT.
Auditors Report OF Assessed Values
.}onds and County Property.
The Auditor yesterday made his report
to the Board of Supervisors of the values