The San Francisco call., 1896-06-25
|LAMOREUX HAS
A PET SCHEME,
The General Land Commis-
sioner Here From
Washington.
TOUR OF INSPECTION.
Would Facilitate Survey and
Settlement of Govern.
ment Lands.
NOTABLE MEN IN THE PARTY
Visited Yellowstone Park and Will
Denounce the Scheme to Cut
Off a Corner.
MEN IN THE PARTY

S. W. Lamoreux, Commissioner of the
General Land Office at Washington, ar
rived here yesterday, in the course of an
extensive tour through the Western States
for the purpose of perfecting his plan to
facilitate the opening up of Government
lands for settlement.
In the party with him were his nephew,
Frank B. Lamoreux, "a lawyer of Wisconsin;
Charles H. Webb, head of the big New
York drygoods firm of Dunham, Buckley
& Co., of which Governor Buckley of Con-
necticut is member, and A. J. Britten of
Washington, D. c., of the law firm of Brit
ten & Gray, and known as one of the big
lawyers of the country, partly because of
having framed most of the laws pertaining
to the public domain.
Through the courtesy of the Southern
Pacific Railroad special train was in
waiting at Portland and brought the party
into this City yesterday forenoon after an
all-night stop at Red Bluff. W. H. Mills,
land agent of the Central Pacific Railroad,
and Will S. Green. Surveyor-General of
California, accompanied the Commissioner
and his friends on the trip from Oregon,
While the tour is partly for pleasure, it
is mainly one of official inspection. The
Office of every Attorney-General is being
visited, as is it is Commissioner Lamo-
reux's purpose to see the land officials in
the several States, and to discuss a num-
Der of important matters with them. His
pet scheme and the main purpose of his
visit is to have instituted a more rapid
system of surveys.
He wishes also to learn what additional
help each State wants in its land Office,
this years appropriation for Government
surveys being one-third larger than for
several years past and consequently allow
ing for additional work.
California, as one of the comparatively CO
new States, will have more than a third
extra work done, for she will get more than
a proportionate one-third increase of Gov
ernment funds.
Utah, California, Washington and Mon
tana all desire speedy extension of their
surveys, while the older States are not so
much concerned.
Since Mr.. LaInoreaux assumed his pres
ent Office he has introduced some of the
rapid methods he is at present advocating.
A few years ago the system of business
between the State offices and the general
land office at Washington was very COM
plicated. From two to five years were re-
quired from the making of the contract to
the filing of the plat eventually opening
the land for settlement. Some surveys
made in California twelve years ago. Mr..
Lamoreux says, are not yet adjusted.
Already he has succeeded in reducing
the time to year and he wishes to estab-
lish system that will shorten the work
to six months. This he believes can be
done by having examinations made In the
presence of a deputy.
To save time Mr.. Lamoreaux had Sur
veyor- General Arnold of Oregon and Sur
veyor- General Green of California meet
him at Portland, where he talked over all
his plans and schemes.
At Helena he conferred with the Mon
tana Mineral Commissioners, who have
charge of the classification of the mineral
lands of the State.
He spent a week in the Yellow stone
personally investigating the proposition
to cut off the northeast corner of the Ma
tional Park in order to permit railroads to
bring the travelling public practically into
the Government reserve, on which no rail-
roads can encroach.
The plan, as introduced in Washington,
was to changethe park boundary line from
the summit of mountain ridge down to
the base. The change had been urged by
the Montana delegation.
Mr.. Lamoreux says that he learned
that the Montana delegation had never
seen the place, and he also saw for him
self that the mountain side is heavily tim
bered, and the only shelter in winter for
the elk and antelope that are in the park.
He is now determined to oppose the
railroad proposition and to report ad-
versely on it when he returns to Washing
ton. He says he thinks what he will say
will prevent the revival of the scheme for
good many years.
Mr.. Lemoreux will leave here to-mor-
row for Los Angeles. From there he will
go to Salt Lake and Denver and finally to
the Democratic National Convention at
Chicago.
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