Arizona republican., 1904-04-11
THE PRIVATE. LAND COURT
A Session Will be Begun in Phoenix
 Tomorrow.

1OmOrr0W.
 The United States court of private land claims will convene here tomor- row and that will probably be the last day of the court, or at any rate the last session to be held in this territory. The matter before the court is the San Jose de Sonoita grant and it will come up on motion to approve the survey. The case was tried at Tucson at which time the grant was confirm ed. An appeal was taken to the Unit ed States supreme court, which affirm ed the Judgment of the land court.
 There is an interesting history con- nected with this grant as there is with nearly all of the Spanish or Mexican land grants. The San Jose de Sonoita grant was made on May 15, 1925, by Juan Miguel Riesgo, commissary gen. eral ad interim of the treasury, pub lie credit and war of the sovereign state of the Occident of the Mexican republic. The grantee was Don Leon Herreros and the grant lay within the jurisdiction of the presidio of Tubac. It was made at an auction sale and 1t cost the grantee $1O5. This grant lies now in Santa Cruz county, but in 1889, when it lay within Pima county, survey was made of it by George Roskruge, then county surveyor.
 The suit resulting in the confirma- ton of the grant was brought by the United States against Santiago Ainsa, administrator of the estate of Frank Ely, Rollin R. Richardson, William S. Fleming and c. c. Watkins.
 The decree of confirmation was that the answer filed by Ainsa was sus tained by legal and satisfactory proofs and it was also shown that said grant and sale of the tract herein described constituted a valid title lawfully and regularly derived from the government of Mexico and that the said title was perfect and complete at the date of the acquisition of the territory by the United States and that said grant and sale to said grantee, Don Leon Herre- ros constitutes such a valid title that the United States are bound by the principles of public law and by the provisions of the treaty of cession to respect it as a valid, complete and per feet title at that date"
 It is also interesting to know that the right of the Mexican authorities to make the grant ran back through two laws, one of 17S6 and the other still earlier, of 1754.
 The early dissolution of the United States court of private land claims has been predicted for the last four years, there seeming to be little left for it's consideration. But upon the acquisi- ton of the Philippines. it was supposed that the court which by this time had become especially prepared for the solution of such problems as were likely to be presented, might be indefinitely perpetuated.
 This is the only court of the kind in the world. The formation of it by an act of congress of 1891 was vigorously opposed and the opposition came from quarters which would naturally have been the most benefited. The wisdom of the government in providing for such court has since been proved by the restoration by it to the public do- main of 33,000,000 acres. There have been before the court 3O1 land grants embracing 36 900 acres. Eighty seven of these grants have been con- firmed. In some cases the grant was neither wholly confirmed nor rejected. but greatly reduced so that the total number of acres allowed claimants has been 3.OO0.OO0.
 The most famous of the cases on which the court has had to pass was the often described Peraltareavis grant embracing the best part of central Ari- zona, including the Salt River valley. That was rejected and there was there by dissipated a fabric of fraud which had hfen twenty years building and had, perhaps in good faith, the assis- tance of the best legal talent of the United States. It was never shown, and it may be said that it has hardly been suspected, that anybody except James Addison Reavis was knowingly engaged in the fraud. Even his wife, whom he had found as a little girl of unknown parentage and whom he had educated to believe herself to be the heir to the Barony of Arizona, is be- lieved to have been innocent.
 This fraud was disclosed by Mallet- Provost, who had been engaged by the government to assist in the investiga- tion of the claim. It was not believed by the government that the claim it. self was fraudulent, for Reavis had brought such apparent proofs of it's genuireness. The government. how ever, doubted the heirship of the wife