Arizona republican., 1905-02-01

abasas and San Jose de Sonita land grants, though as matter of fact the greater part of those grants have been declared invalid.
 At the time of the making of the Gadsden treaty the heirs of Luis Ma ria Baca held a tract of land under grant which had been issued by the Spanish government and which em- braced the town of Las Vegas and sur rounding country in all 496,446.96 acres. In 1860 congress enacted a law whereby the heirs of Baca should re- ceive in lieu of this traqt other lands within New Mexico, what is now Ari- zona and Colorado. IL was provided that the locations should be in square bodies and that there should not be more than five of them. these lOca- tions were called "Baca Floats" They were of equal area, each embracing gg,2Sg39 acres. Three of the floats were located in New Mexico and Col orado and two in Arizona. One Of them lay in the western part of Va vapai county and the other, "Hdca Float No. g." in the southern part of the territory. This float had originally been located on the Pecos river but for so-le reason. before the expiration of three years following the passage of 
 location.
 J. $. Watts acted for the Baca heirs in making this location and in some way he became an heir. He vas sue ceeded in his claim by his soIi, J. II. Watts. The elder Watts sought to have the boundaries shifted on the ground that an error had been made in the location. His object was to shift the float about diagonalIy wi-h the world iu such a manner as to coy CT very rich mineral lands in the Pat agonia mountains, including the old SaferO silver mine which had been worked by the Jesuit fathers. Before this phase of the matter had been dis posed of the Watts interest pass cd into the hands of J. C. Robinson. A great deal of testimony was taken as to the character of tEe land in the proposed relocation. The claimant as- serted that it was not mineral land and tha government had no means at hand of ascertaining the character of ij. The records are meager but it is learned that one witness, Thomas Gardner. testified that he lived in the vicinity for twenty years and that the SGIerD mine was "nOtOTiousIy rich" T. had been almost constantly worked until the breaking out Of the civil war. Tn 1863 he said William Wright son and Gilbert Hopkins, who had worked the mine previous to 1860, re- . turned and Were murdered by the Iu- dians. so that at the time that the claimant was applying for a correction Of the lines of his float the mine was not being operated. The govern ment refused to allow the relocation and the lines since then have remained unchanged.
 There has never been a survey Of this float. One was ordered in 1864 and similar orders have been issued since but for some reason they have never been carried out and now the only thing iu the general land Jmce relating to the float is the office dia- gram. It is stated in the letter of in structions just issued that the survey will show that the lines of the float will not coincide with those to be es- tablished by the survey.
 After the location of this float the town of Calabasas sprang up and the land grants of TumaclcaH and Gala basas and san Jose de S0nOita began to be heard of. Of the first grant 20.- eco acres were in conflict with the float and of the latter. 4300 acres.
 Some time in the uineties =. EI-ey and others who had acquired claims 10 land within the float petitioacd the land office for a hearing as 10 their rights. They coutended that the float ought not under the laws of congress to have been located there since also under the Gadsdeu treaty it was sGpu- lated that existing rights should be observed. These rights included pri- vate land grants and here were two private land grants covered by the float. On the other hand it was argued that those private land grants had been found to be for the most part invalid and that there was therefore actually mo reservation in the tract on which the feat was located The de- partmCnt took the view. however. that W neither those land grants were inval- i'd or not their character could not be known at the time of the location and therefore they constituted for all pur- poses a reservation which should have prevented the location. There fF though, no record. if a hearing as ask ed for was granted that the petitioners have yet obtained any relief.
 But the instructions now in the hands of the surveyor general provide for the closing up of the whole mat ter. He will order an exterior survey and will exclude from the float all land that should not have been included al the time of the location. That will of course consist of such parts of the two private land grants cs were not declared to be invalid
 Who the representatives or success sors in interest of the Baca heirs are iE not known. Several persons are known to have had interests of some kind there, among them former Sena- tor Dorsey. I, is also supposed that Col. W. C. Greene is the holder of eE- tensive interests in the float The final survey will have to be preceded by an investigation of records. the taking of mass of testimony, all of which will occupy about three months.
 IA GUARANTEED CURE FOR PILES.