The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1905-11-03
LAND SWINDLERS
The Western Country Prolific Section for
this Class.
Some of the Schemes Rescued to to
Get Lands.

, discovered, almost under the nose of
the court which vas trying Senator
Mitchell for cOmpllclty in land frauds.
A young woman made entry on 100
acres, and put up 3 cabin six months
after she. made her entry, and lived In
| tue cabin perhaps week. Six months
later she filed an affidavit that she
was too i'll to go % the land that sum-
ner, and continued to file affidayits
until the suspicious of the Land Office
were aroused. Investigation revealed
the fact that she vas not In any sense
a bona fde settler that she had never
cultivated the Ind, and doubtless
never intended II
In the same nei& borheod a case was
found where nj living in the vii
lage had made mestead entry He
erected a cabin aEd was cultivating
on his claim sea acre of potatoes.
Meanwhile he ha been cutting tile
timber with whic the claim was COW
cred. When det@ted by the agent
charged with inv Ligating such cases
he hal cut timb& worth 81 900 and
had contracted 10 its sale. He had
also sought to ell the relinqmsh-
ment of his clain to some one else
who would becom real settler. Had
he been successfukhe would have ac-
quired $1,000 wdtth of timber, for
which he had giY*p no return what
ever, and would lave deprived the
claim Of just tina dhuch value to the
settler who folloHed him, but who
would have bou ebt his relinqulsh-
ment because II represented three
years of five nece barry to perfect a
title without cast payment.
! In South Dako# u few months ago
a company sent soSt. Paul and Mime
apolls and gathered up on the streets
of those cities twenty-six men who
were glad of an opportunity to perjure
themselves for $50 apiece and six
months board and lodging. Their
claims, had the scheme avoided detec-
tion, would have been "proved up" at
the end of fourteen months under the
communication clause.
| Still another instance has recently
come to light, where man and his
wife, both school teachers, have taken
up homestead valuable for its tim
Der. They have erected little shack
and spent their vacations on the claim
cultiyating to the extent of small
kitchen garden. The fraudulent char
acter of their residence" was detect
ed just In time to prevent their Sc
curing title.
i Ordinarily claims can be entered on
ly where the government has caused a
survey to be made, and the depart
ment of the Interior has sought to
preserve certain forest tracts by re-
fusing to survey them, but even In
these cases have the purposes of the
government been cireumvented by the
ingenuity OF the swindlers. Under
the law claim can be entered, forty
. acres in extent, even on land which
has not been surveyed. and land
/ thieves have resorted to such claim In
numerous instances to acquire posses
sion of the valuable timber. In some
instances band Of men will '.loca te''
as many as six hundred acres under
placer claims. and they have been
known to ''salt" the land in order to
deceive the agent sent to investigate
the character of their mining opera.
lions.
i As soon as their claims are passed
they denude them of the timber,
worth from $50 to 800 an acre. and
then move on to begin operations else
where under new names and under
the supervision Of other land agents
i The great difficulty which the gen.
eral land Office encounters in prevent
ing these frauds, is the looseness of the
law and the fact that the government
has never classified its lands, as de
the railroads and all other institutions
which do business on business prin
, ciples..
A special effort is also being made
to compel settlers to appear in GER
tain specified days before special land
J agents to make their final proofs. II
!, this can be done the land Office can
in advance, send its agents quietly &c
investigate The character of ''cul
], tivation' performed by those person:
j who seek to perfect their titles. and
: where everything does not look right
to cross examine the entrymen wher
j they make their affidayits. Under ex
listing conditions the court Officers
who receive the final proofs are al