Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1901-02-06
NEW MEXICO'S
SCHOOL LANDS.
A Review Of the Annual Report Of
Land Commissioner A. A. Keen
to Governor 0tero.
A MAGNIFICENT DOMAIN.
The Work of the United States and Terri
torial Land Commissioners as Well as
Of the Land Commissioners Office
Has Been Well Done.

a vague idea about the mature of tn
grants of public lands.which have bee
made to the territory by congress fo
the benefit of the public schools and tn
territorial institutions; nor do man
people understand the duties and func
tions OF the United States and terrific
rial land commissions as well as of tn
commissioner of public lands, an offic
very creditably and ably filled the pas
twenty two months by A. A. Keen.
In his annual report to Governo
Otero Mr.. Keen gives a very clear in
sight into these matters, and at tn
|same time renders a comprehensive ac
counting of his trust He relates tn
history of the grants and of the organ
ization of the board of public lands, tn
difficulties that had to be overcome il
the beginning, the delays to which leas,
applications were subjected at Wash
ington, and explains why the persona
| appraisal of lands to be leased, as re.
quired by the Washington authorities
is impra cticable, for the cost of sucf
appraisal would he greater than the
| rental received. The annual rental of a
section of land without water has been
| fixed at $3.50, and with water at $32
or course, where there are several bid
| ders for sections the highest bidder re-
ceives the land and a larger sum than
the prescribed minimum is realized.
The best lands in the territory have
already been selected or are included In
forest reserves, private land grants or
reservations. Therefore, while the grant
of lands made to- the territory is vast in
extent, it's value is not very great. as
most of it can be utilized only for graz
ing purposes. Nevertheless, $13,546. 90
have been received in less than two
years for leases of public school lands,
sum which compares favorably with
the amount received by neighboring
states for their school lands. Union
county took ths largest number of
leases, 149, covering 90, APO acres, paying
therefore $3,731.50; Chaves county
comes second, with go leases; Colfax, So;
Eddy, S3; Mora, rs; San Miguel "a;
Guadalupe 21; Grant, 20; Socorro, IA;
Sierra, 13; Lincoln, 10; Bernalillo, 9;
Santa Fe, 2; San Juan, 2; Rio Arriba, l.;
Taos, 0. The funds received are dis
tributed, however, among the counties
according to school population, and not
according to the amount paid by each
county for leases. There remain 1O1
leases unapproved; Al applications
awarded, but not yet completed; 95 ap-
plications not approved or withdrawn;
and 3S9 leases cancelled, relinquished or
withdrawn.
The United States land commission
was created to make selections of the
lands granted the territory by congress.
The total acreage of land thus granted
consists of 477O,2S260 acres, of which
the public schools received sections 16
and 36 in every township, making to-
tai of S,427,20O acres, a princely domain
indeed. The other grants are: For pub
lie buildings, $1,000 acres; for the Uni
versity of New Mexico, III, 800 acres,
together with all saline lands within
the territory; the agricultural college,
10000 acres; water reservoirs for irrl-
cation purposes, 100000 acres; improve
ment of the Rio Grande in New Mexi-
co, 100000 acres; insane asylum, $4,000
acres; school of mines, $4,000 acres;
deaf and dumb asylum, $4,000 acres; re-
form school, $4,000 acres; normal
schools. 100000 acres; institute for the
blind, $4,000 acres; miners hospital 50,-
900 acres; military institute, $4,000
acres; penitentiary, $4,000 acres; old
palace 1T Santa Fe, 260 acres.
1t will thus be seen that the Uni
versity of New Mexico is the best en-
dowed institution, and should be the
first to- be seif-sustaining. OF the land
to be selected only 4SS,1O4.s5 acres have
been picked out, and 211, 1,3O767 acres of
these selections have been approved, or
only about one-eighth of the total
grant. The selections made are as fol-
lows: Agricultural college, 51,5S1.7S
acres; milital v institute, 33,SS4.S4 acres;
deaf and dumb school. 33,217.04 acres;
University of New Mexico, 59,66499
acres; insane asylum, 34,056.71 acres;
institution for the blind, 1857 acres
school of mines, 33,7O9.37 acres; reform
school, 33.S6S.49 acres; water reservoirs
for irrigation purposes, 49,645.06 acres;
normal schools, 67,112.52 acres; miners
33,S3O.40 acres; penitentiary,
33.096.65 acres.
Unfortu nately, the funds available for
paying the necessary fees for the entry
of these lands were not available until
July, 1900, and even then would not
have been sufficient for the purpose.
The land commission was, therefore,
very gla d to accept the offer of the
A1amogordo Lumber Company and A.
r. Burkttoll to pay in advance for tim
Der lands to be selected by the commits
sion. From that source, $7,990.50 were
and enabled the territory to
make and enter the selections for the
territorial institutions.
In reference to the old Palace in San
ta Fe, Land Commissioner Keen rec
that the United States gov
again assume control over the
building. giving the Smithsonian insti-
tute it's supervision. The revenue re-
ceived from the old Palace amounted to
81, 1,04S.5o, while the expenditure was SIC.
Five per cent of the proceeds of the
sale of public lands within the territory
by the United States is to be used as a
perma nent fund, the interest of which