The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-02-17
LAND ABOVE THE CLOUDS
This Man Claims to Own the Tor
of Pixies Peak.
Dr. Albert G. Lewis Believes In His
Title to the Snow-Cappcd Sum
Asserted His Rights to the Prop
erty-The story of His Occupation.

|
to for reasons which the Government is
not disposed to recognize. The aspirant
for the private possession of public LAND
would seem to disdain the common level
| upon which the majority of his fellow
| citizens build their abodes, and to seek
| out remote localities such as mountain
submits and secluded valleys where he
may assuredly be said to be Far from the
madding crowds ignoble strife Whether
this passion on his part arises from a
| romantic desire to fly
| To the gloom of some desert or cold rocky shore
! Where the eye OF the stranger may haunt him nc
| more,
or whether he be actuated by more world
| ly considerations may form interesting
matter for conjecture. Certain it is that
the parties in question are seldom salts
| fed with anything under mountain, al
| though they sometimes evincc n partial
| ity for mere hills or even valleys when
| these are sufficiently impossible in the
eyes of the average settler. or Of grotesque
| or remarkable formation.
Word has lately been conveyed through
the medium of the press that Dr. Albert
G. Lewis, former Mayor of Manitou, Col,
is coming TO Washington to obtain title
20 the top of Pixies Peak. He is said to
have secured the services of several we'll
known land and title lawyers who. in his
behalf, will endeavor to convince the
United States Supreme Court that he is
the rightful owner of the south half of
the southwest fourth of section Z. town
ship IA, range 6S west, in Ell Paso county,
Col, which land is and comprises the en-
tire summit of the famous mountain.
Lewis claim, which was rejected by the
Commissioner of the Land Office, octo-
Der &c, 1889, and by the Secretary of the
Interior, on appeal, March 80, 1891, is
based upon an application filed by the
claimant on February 2 1889. This docu-
ment was what is known as a d. g.. or old
old soldiers declaratOry statement, the
validity of which, in absence of supple
mentary data furnished in the interim,
expires in six months time from date of
filing. Lewis neglected TO continue his
claim, say the officials of the Land Office
by making the necessary requisition
thereby FORGETTING all legal right to the
property in question which he may other
wise have established by proving settIe-
ment in good faith
The meaning of this latter term is not
always fully appreciated by "squatters,'
whose selection in many cases negatives
the construction put by law upon this
pithy phrase. which is virtually that the
settler who locates" on certain portion
of open" land Qand not reserved by the
GovernmenD, shall do SO with the full
intent of making a homestead there and
irpprevinG and cuItivating the place so that
IL may be regarded as nj human nabita-
ton. The locality claimed by DIR. Lewis is
1i,170 feet above the level of the sea, and
is perpetually white with snow. No desert
can be more barren of vegetable growth.
and the place is manifestly unadapted for
the abode of man. or indeed any living
creature. Yet DR.. Lewis made his home
winter and summer, for three years on
this bare strip of rock ownership to which,
ipso facto, he is now erdeavoring to es-
tablish.
Description of the Land.
The Secretary Of the Interior, in reject
ing the claim, said: 1.-The land is included
within the limits of the Pixies Peak mill
tary reservation, which, by proclamation
of the President, on the 2Zd day of Janua-
ry, 1889, was turned over to the Secretary
of the Interior for disposal under the act
of July 3. 1884 t23 Stat, 103).
Under said act no one was allowed to
make entry thereon, except those settlers
who were in actual occupancy of some
portion of said reservation prior to the
location of such reservation. or who had
settled thereon prior to January !, 1854,
in good faith. for the purFose Of securing
a home and of entering the same under
the general land laws, and had continued
in such occupation up to the date OF the
passage of the act.
THE applicant herein was not such
settler. either before the location of the
reservation, or on January l, 1851"
Considering the undesirable qualities, in
many respects, OF the site selected by DR..
Lewis. the question may well Oe asked:
What induced the claimant to locate in
such an out-of-Jheway place? Was ii &c
centricity of character, or a gloomy de-
sire to fly the h1unts OF mankind that led
the doctor to establish himself at such an
altitude even at the convenience of the
bitter climate and the barren soil? But
then. let il be remembered that, in the
very improbable event of his appeal be-
ing allowed by the Supreme Court. he
would have control of the most famous
mountain peak in the world, and could ex-
act tribute at the rate of IS each from
the tens of thousands of tourists and
sightseers who make the top of Pixies
ings, and who would cheerfully pay the
sum mentioned just to ride the nine miles
to the summit.
The story of the Doctors occupation of
the mountain is as follows: During the
latter part of Clevelands first term and
for some time prior to the abandonment OF
Pixies Peak as a signal station, one OF the
officials organized a society in Colorado
Springs known as the Meteorological So
ciety for the purpose of obtaining a twenty
years lease from the Government for the
purpose of carrying on the scientific work
The society, prior to the abandonment of
the reservation, filed a bill in Congress
setting forth its request. In the latter
part of January, 1889, President Cleve-
land transferred, by proclamation, the
Peak to the Interior Department On the
day following this executive action, Dr.
Lewis read OF il in the newspapers and
at once came TO the conclusion that the
transfer made the land the same as any
other part of the public domain, and the
Immediately set out for the top of the
Peak to take ii as a claim. The noun
tain at that time of the year was covered
deep with snow and the bold adventure
was two days In reaching the summit He
arrived there on January 30. and at once
occupied the abandoned Government build
ing as it afforded the only shelter from the
cold. On the night Of the Both he slept in
the dismantled structure, the wind and
snow beating in upon him through the
broken doors and windows.
The location had at this time teen
abandoned for several months, and all the
Government instruments used at the sta
ton had been taken away. Lewis at once
posted notices that he had taken the
claim, these documents. affixed TO the
Of ha bui hot lad