The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-06-19

tnOSe VINO did not see the spectacle it
may be stated that il was picturesque,
but not thrilling. The thousands Of land
lockers from every state in the Union,
the Wild-eyed men with large arma-
ments strapped upon their persons,
the scene of carnage by day and the
wild orgie by night failed utterly. en-
tlrely and completely to materialize.
An idea of the size Of the crowd of
farm seekers at BlackfOot may be
gained from the fact that at 10 o'clock
this morning the line i'm front of the
land Office door had dWindled away TO
not more than q dozen people. Yester-
day tWenty-seven applicants secured
land, and IL was estimated that 100
were turned away disappointed When
the doors were opened for business this
morning al people were expected to
respond for that many had received
numbers the night before 1t will be
seen that according to the most ac-
cUrate statistics available, just 26s
persons engaged in the grand rush tor
agricultural lapd.
The Number of Sooners.
More will come in from time to time.
but the fact remains that the opening
was indisputably Disappointing. The
! first reports sent out from BlackfOOt
as TO the number of "sOoners" were
wildly exaggerated. The number OF
contests filed shows that this was not
the case. Without doubt a liberal pro
portion of the total was composed of
.sOOners,' but the mere fact that one
man filed on land ahead Of another
man doesn't necessarily prove that he
acted illegally That many Of the con-
/ tests viii be successful, however. is
( certain
Land was fled on by men who didn't
go five miles away from BlacIzfOot and
despite their strenuous claims that by
/ relays of horses they made an honest
rush, the most casual observer can see
l that they couldn't shave accomplished
/ the undertaking claimed if they had
Travelled in flying machines. The at
/ torneys of BlackfOOt are consequently
! enjoying just now the latest pickings
! of their lives They are so busy that
I the exact meaning of the often used
/ expression doing a land Office busi-
/ ness, is no longer fOggy.
/ IL Will require later developments to
! make the rash for the mineral lands
within the HocateilO five-miie limit of
( much more importance than the agri-
+ cultural and grazing rush. Up to noon
l today only four notices Of location had
] Ha
/ county clerk This paucity Of business
/ is accounted for by the fact that To-
! Gators of mineral claims have thirty
+ days in which to file their notices
\ Many men are out in the hills now
/ looking for ground and they may not
! return for two or three weeks, per
haps longer.
Choice Land Rare.
Returning to the agricultural land
| for a moment. it is necessary to say
that the major portion Of it is not at
/ tractive to settlers. OF the 100000 acres
I classified as farm property, or possible
[ farm property. only a comparatively
small fragment is what might be
| termed choice. That is the reason so
/ many were disappointed the first day.
! Dozens of men had been looking
/ through the reservation for days and
| al! of them picked out the best sec
tions. In the case Of what is known
as the Smith ranch, which is the very
/ best of all the land fully fifteen ap-
plicants appeared. This ranch con-
| tains go acres, and is valued at $4,000.
/ Under the law. a hOmesteader is en-
/ titled to only $50 acres. and the ranch
/ was divided into two lots of $50 acres
! each. 1t went TO George Gregory and
( Hugh Miller, who must defend two
/ contests already filed
/ One Of the most successful of the
! rustlers was G. A. White. q Salt Lake
! newspaper man. White dashed nine
/ miles out of PocatellO and nine miles
| back again on a pink-eyed broncho,
/ and then caught the Short Line spe-
| cial for BlackfOOt Arriving there he
/ didn't care to wait until he could get
/ out of car door, but took the swifter,
/ if somewhat more hazardous method,
| of a flying leap through an open win
| dow. Alighting gracefully on his
( hands and his face. White picked him
I self up and dashed for the land office.
4 100 Yards away He was in a place
] where he had to hurry. for six strenu-
/ Gus gentlemen were also after that
/ same land. White beat them all out.
| however. and tied up his homestead
/ beyond the possibility Of a contest.
Salt Lakes Opportunity.
What he got consists of eighty acres
/ Of beautifully watered ground near Ink
UNI The Short Line runs across il
and the location is ideal for a stock
/ slaughteriHg industry. OF course White
I wouldn't do such a thing. but a bad
| man would buy all the animated
/ clothes racks he could find fin them
: full Of delicious water ana lead them
/ gently to the railroad tracks. Tt is
/ a well known fact that no railroad
/ ever killed an animal that didn't have
| a pedigree reaching back to the dino
! saurus, at least, so the profits in the
/ industry suggested are readily appar-
! ent. White returned to Salt Lake to-
/ day carrying his own satchel and I'm
other ways depOrting himself as
1 though he still belonged to the peas
/ antry
/ Frank Daniels, a gallant Utah bat
! teryman who lives in Salt Lake, made
/ the run for himself and II. j. Dininny.
/ the Salt Lake attorney. He expected
/ TO secure 100 acres of excellent farming
| ground. but when he reached the land
/ Office he found that all except forty
( acres of it haG been filed on. Both Mr.
! Daniels and Mr.. Dininny are convinced
| that they were not beaten fairly and
/ they have instituted a contest which
will be prosecuted vigorously.