The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-02
PUBLIC LAND SURVEY
Years Operations in the North.
ern States.
Globe Special Washington Service.
1117 C Street


1417 G Street.
WASHINGTON, D. c., Nov. Pub
lie lands covering an area OF 22z,ooo
acres were officially surveyed In Min
nesota during the last f1scal year.
Commissioner Richards, of the generai
land office, says in his annual report
made public today, that the appor-
tionment for this work was Increased
to $4,000 in order to close up the sur
yeys in the state. Eleven full ana
fractional townships of Indian reser-
walton lands were surveyed. The sur
veyor general asks for an Increased
force of clerks in order to meet the
demands of Office work in connectlon
with the Minnesota surveys.
The public lands surveyed in North
Dakota during the last year covered a
large area, for settlement in that state
is rapidly on the increase. The sur
veyor general reports $500 miles or
lines established. The commissioner
report on work in South Dakota says:
mo apportionment was originally made
at the beginning of the fiscal year Tor
surveys in South Dakota, as the unsur-
Veyed portions of the district lie mostly
within the Sioux Indian reservation. One
contract was let for $1,000, and Indian
reserya ton SURVEYS We're contracted for
to the extent of $1,000. The office WORK
dimensions, owing to the Indian surveys
and mining claims. Deposits for once
work on mineral surveys aggregated Sll,-
$50. The number of miles of surveys upon
which Office work was. completed, approved
and returns thereof transmitted amounted
to 1855, and in addition to this some LOO
miles of surveys have received office at
tention. Fifty townships OF agr1culturai
ipin mr.
mineral surveys have been approved: The
surveyor general recommends a field ex-
animation Of mineral surveys"
In regard to the ceded Chippewa lands
in Minnesota, the report says:
1.-The examination of ceded Chippewa
lands in Minnesota was resumed Dec. Is,
1902, under the act of Jan. IA, 1889, as
sixteen examiners in the field under Mr..
E. L. Warren. chief examiner, the num-
Der of examiners being increased to
twenty-six in March last. The corps first
completed the examination of lands in the
former Chippewa of the Mississippi and
Winnibigoshish Indian reservations, where
they examined 159,313.1S acres, Of which
So 1856. "A acres were classified as pine"
lands. ON which there were estimated to
be 127 ,512,0 600 feet of pine timber, after
which they moved to the Red Lake reser-
walton and have examined thereon to date
IT'S, 1850 acres, of which amount "a, 24534
acres are reported as "1)ine" lands eSti-
mated to contain 26,S78,000 feet of TIM
Der.
"On March 2 1908, the first sale of pine
timber under the acts cited was held at
the district land office at Crookston, Mimi,
there being offered &c, 67S, 900 feet of pine,
described as being on 12,21O.77 acres in
sections 16 and Sc on the Red Lake and
four coded townships on the White Earth
Indian reservations. Sealed bids were re-
ceived for 14,77I, 900 feet of timber eSti-
mated to be on 7,7371S acres, the bids
and 81 to $475 for Norway and aggregat-
ing $6S.674.70. There were no bids re-
ceived on 5,9070 900 feet of timber. des-
cribed as being on 4,474.59 acres, doubt
amount of timber mentioned had been re-
moved by authority of the state, for
which settlement had been made.
ION May 20, 1903, notice was given of
the sale under the acts cited at the dis
trict land Office at Cass Lake, Mimi. to be
held on Dec 5. 1903, of 234, 407 500 feet Of
pine on 109,757.34 acres of land in the
Leech Lake and parts of the Chippewa of
reservations, and on June 20, 1903, notice
was given of the sale to be held at the
same place on Dec. 20. 1903, of 95 per cent
OF the pine timber on 89.70S.S3 acres. esti-
ber included in those parts of the Cass
Lake and Chippewa of the Mississippi
reservations selected for the Minnesota
National Forest Reserve"
Walter E. Clark
WASHINGTON, D. c., Nov. 1.-The
annual report of w. A. Richards, COM
missioner of the general land Office,
says that there is a large increase in
the total number of supposedly fraud
ulent land entries over the preceding
year. He attributes their discovery
largely to an order of the secretary
of the interior, dated Nov. 2, 1902, d.
recting the investigation of all entries
made under the timber and stone act
in California, Oregon and Washing
ton. Under this order alone 10000
entries have been suspended and there
are now fifteen special agents of the
land Office in that field engaged in
ferrettng out the fraudulent entries.
During the year there were reported
125 unlawful enclosures of public
lands, covering an area of 2,605, 1870
acres Seventynine of these enclos-
ures have been removed and proceed
ings are pending to compel the re-
moval of the remainder. Complaint
is made of the operation of the act
of March II, 1902, to facilitate the en-
tries. The commissioner says:
The privileges gained by the act
have been often greatly abused, par
ticularly by United States commits
sioners, who have been often parties
to wholesale frauds in connection with
entries made before them. Affidavits
ana entry papers have been prepared
In the names of fictitious entry men,
and variety of other ways have been
devised by these officers to assist par
ties to evade compliance with the re-
quirements Of the law"
The report makes a strong plea for
larger force of special agents, say
ing:
Complaints come to this office from
every section Of the country Of fla
grant violations of the various laws re-
lating to public lands. Thousands Of
entries are beig made for speculative
purposes with scarcely any attempt
to comply with the legal requirements,
vast areas are unlawfully enclosed to
the exclusion of actual settlers and
hundreds of thousands of dollars
worth of public timber is being taken
unlawfully.''
Speaking of the forest lieu land Sc
lections, the commissioner says there
were 5,504 of them pending on the
first of last July, and they involved
an approximate area of 1,263,136 acres.
He recommends a change in the law
permitting the exchange of patented
lands within the reservation for un-
patented land on the outside, saying:
I'm the exchange of lands within
forest reserve for other public land
1t frequently occurs that land from
which the timber has been cut is ex-
changed for land having timber. This
is manifestly unfair to the govern
ment, but cannot be prevented under