The San Francisco call., 1899-08-03
MILLIONS WORTH OF TIDE
LANDS IN LITIGATION
1T INVOLVES VALUABLE OAK
LAND ESTUARY FRONTAGE.
Mary Gwin Claims to Be the Successor
of Original Grantee and Demands
United States Patent for
the Property.

A petition involving the title to several
million dollars of tide land property on
the San Antonio Creek, the Oakland es-
tuary and other places in Alameda County
has been presented to United States Dis
trict Judge de Haven, and will be argued
before him on Monday, September 4.
The petition is from Mary E. H. Gwin, as
intervenor, and asks that the Secretary
of the Interior be instructed to issue a
patent to her for the lands of the Rancho
de San Antonio better known as the
Peralta grant.
The averments of the petition are that
in January, 1852 Antonio, Vicente, Ignacio
and Dominica Peralta filed a claim for
the lands mentioned before the United
States Land Commissioners. The Com
missioners and the United States District
+ Court confirmed the validity of the claim
of the petitioners on January 26, 1855. In
1856 the United States Supreme Court con-
firmed the validity of the grant and the
claim of the petitioners and remanded the
case to the United States District Court
for further proceedings. The District
Court on November 80, 1859, amended it's
decree to conform to the decision of the
Supreme Court of the United States. In
1866 Congress passed an act that in the
event that no survey of the grant had
been requested before the passage of the
act nor within ten months after its pass
age the Surveyor General of the United
States was authorized to survey the grant
in conformity with the decree.
The petitioners had not asked before the
passage of the act or within ten months
after it's passage for a survey, and in 1895
the Surveyor General surveyed the grant
and approved the plat of survey In
the petition Gwin and Francisco San
Jurjo (since deceased) asked the Com
missioner of the General Land Office for
a patent of the grant, but the Commits
sioner refused. The Secretary of the In
terror confirmed the decision of the Com
missioner and refused to issue the patent
Boyd & Fifield appear for the petitioner
who claims to have succeeded to the title
from the original grantees.
Mr.. Boyd said last night that the San
the United States as part of its Cali
fornia concession. BY some oversight or
mistake when the matter was brought
into the United States Court squatters
were allowed TO come in to raise a
contention as to the location of the
United States undertook to confirm
and make valid to the grantees of
the Mexican Government all the land
which Mexico had granted to them But
as there could be but one owner of the
property, 1t was not possible for the Mex
ican grantee and the State of California
to own the same property The Tinted
States compelled the Mexican grantee
Antonio Peralta, to submit his title to
the United States Court for examination
and the court agreed that the grant of
land was his.
In forcing Peralta into that tribunal the
United States assumed the attitude of. an
ordinary litigant and abdicated its SOW
ereign right of exemption from suits and
the effects of judgments or DEGREES
Mr.. Boyd, in reply to question admit
ted that 1t was barely possible that other
lands might be. involved in the matter.
and that there were adverse claimants.