Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1901-08-17
A VITAL QUESTION.
Questions OF Right. Justice. Equity and
Law Concerning Homestead En-
tries Made on Black Hills
Forest Reserve.

tries Made on Black Hills
/ Forest Reserve.
Under the recent decision of the In
terror Department Question Of vital
Importance concerning actual bona fide
settlers of the Black Hills Forest Reser-
vation demands the attention Of every
statesman and lawyer. as well as the in
terests of all residents residing in the
Black Hills. 1t is the policy of our
government to oust those who have
settled upon and improved lands upon
the public domain. who have complied
with the spirit of the laws Of the United
States, who have borne the ordeals Of
pioneer life, who have relied with i'm
plicit confidence upon the justice and
equality of our government This il
hardly question to be treated without
great amount of thought, as it con
Germs the homes Of many Of our best
citizens in the counties of the Hills.
Settlers are indignant at the injustice
and expense to which they have been
driven. The mere thought that their
life time of toll, hard privitations, fru-
gality and self sacrifice is to result In
the confscation of their property and
election from their homes give food for
comment as well as legislation, should
the Interior Department persist in fol-
lowing the decision now rendered in this
matter.
The question upon which the Difficult.
ty has arisen between settlers Of the
Black Hills and the Department of the
Interior is the law requiring settlers on
unoccupied lands to file within ninety
days of the filing of the plat. The act of
May IA, 1880, gave to the settlers upon
unsuryeyed portions OF public lands
the preferenced right ofthree months in
which to make their filings. Many of
the settlers through ignorance of this
law, and still greater number not
knowing when the plat was fled oftheir
township, allowed the period of ninety
days to lapse before making their filing.
Now comes the decision of the honorable
secretary to the effect that sntryman's
right to file has been forfeited by reason
of his delay for more than ninety days
of the filing of the township plat Under
the rulings and decision laid down by
the courts of our land, and the rules and
regulations of the land department, the
land department gives to the actual
bona 6de settler preferred right. Those
possessory rights has been recognized
and protected by our government for
the past three quarters Of century.
From the evidence of most of these
entrymen it is an undisputed fact that
they settled upon lands in question for
the purpose of establishing home for
themselves and families Since the date
of their settlement they have placed val
liable improvements upon the lands,
| have cultivated the soil and induced
civilized communities to spring up where
once was q wilderness and baroness.
They haye dotted the land with marks
of improvement and thrift, they have
made prosperous once baron waste
they have titled the stubborn mountain
side until it has burst forth into fertile
field. Industries and institutions have
sprung up in the wilderness. The vii
lage and town have taken the place of
wigwam. The church and the school
house followed fast on the feet of the
increasing population.
Now must they, pioneers of the Hills,
for mere literal and technical interpre-
tation of the law, see seized from them
and their prosperity. the lands Of which
they are the fathers? Must they calmly
be led to the slaughter without one iota
Of resistance, without making plea for
justice and rightp Because they have
not been cognizant Of the statutory limi-
tation, have they perpetrated any fraud
against the laws of tie United States ?
The simple fact that they made not their
filing within the ninety day period does
not exclude thsn from the right to do
so. During that period they had the
exclusive right to file upon the land set
tied upon and improved by them.
Should each fail to do 80 within such
time, third party might file upon his
land thus defeat the right of the settler
to make his filing. IF however. third
party does not file, the settler is entitled
to make his filing. even though the
ninety day period may have expired
The law never was intended to provide
| for the forfeiture of the settlers rights
to file upon the lands improved and cul.
tiyated by him, but was intended to give
him an opportunity to file in preference
to anyone else. In Whitney VS.. Taylor,
Is Sup. Ct. Rep. 796. Mr.. Justice Brewer
announces this same doctrine, as fol-
10 VS.. to-wit:
1.-THE delay in filing, therefore, had no
effect upon the validity of the declara:
tory statement"
The Black Hills Forest reservation
was created by the proclamation OF Pres
ident Cleveland February %, 1897, sus-
pended by act of June 4, 1897, until
March l, 1898, and thereafter changed
and enlarged by the proclamation OF
President Mckinley on September 19,
1898. Thereafter the department of the
interior issued circular to the register
and receiver at Rapid City, in which it
invites the attention to the following
provisions of the act of March 8, 1899.
THAT any person who made acttaf
bona fide settlement and improvement