Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-06-02

Land Agents report of November 80,
1873. He says:
! THE following summary OF
the present interest Of the State in
the wild lands of Maine. gives BIRDS
eye view of the duty now devolvlns
on the Land Agent, and the extent Of
his jurisdiction
| by the act of March "a. 1864, chapter
401, and the subsequent act of March
g. 1868, chapter 6o4, "all the timber and
lands belonging to the State. situated
upon the waters of the Penobscot and
st. John rivers" were granted TO the
European & North American Railway
Company. to aid in the construction OF
its line of railway, except the lands and
| timber, granted or voted by that or
previous Legislatures: also, all lands
set apart for public schools and all
lands set apart and designated for set
Element under existing laws. BY re-
solve of March q. 1864. chapter 32G. the
timber upon ten townships was appro-
priated for the permanent school fund
with the right in the State to take it
off in ten years, the term being after
wards extended until 1884.
| "All the land then belonging to the
! state upon the PenObScOt and st. john
| rivers, except only those specially re-
served. passed to the Railway Com
pany. This grant embraced about 1O0,-
600 acres. A few small tracts alone re-
main. located in the northerly part Of
| Oxford and Franklin counties, and con-
| tanning, as nearly as can be estimated,
about 1900 acres in all. These are rel
atively of little value, and a sale of
them is advisable as soon as reason
able opportunity offers.
| I'm addition to these, about 1l4,001
| acres remain unsold in townships set
apart and designated for settlement.
only about One-fifth of which is SuppOs-
ed to be fit for that purpose. These
are remnants Of many townships here
| tOfOre set apart for settlers in various
parts of the State, and are much scat
tered. So far as they are unfit for set
| tlement. it would undoubtedly be advis-
able to have these lands sold as soon
as may be, either at auction or private
| sale.
Besides the lands last described
there are about $4,000 acres of lands Of
| the same class, which have been act
not yet fully performed tn 4 settling
duties and hence have not yet received
deeds from the State. With respect to
| these it is the duty of the Land Agent
To see that these duties are performed,
and deeds given.
Lands set apart for the permanent
school fund, and remaining unsold,
contain about $3.50 acres. These re-
main TO be sold as the Legislature may
provide"
1t will be observed from the foregoing
that out of a total of S.00O.OO0 acres of
wild land that had once been held by
the State. only 2l3.SS0 acres remained
after the lavish gift to the European
& North American Railroad. 1t is true
that the title to 10000 acres of settling
land, which had been taken up" but
whose settlers had not fulfilled the con-
ditionS necessary to entitle them to
deeds still vested in the State a portion
of this would remain with it as settlers
here and there grew faint hearted and
gave up their attempts to make homes
in the wilderness. There We're also a
considera BILE body of lands which had
been voted to certain public uses and
trust by the State for those purposes.
Certain lands which had previously
been set aside for settling purposes
We're claimed by the European & North
American Railroad and were then in
litigation on a test case which was
subsequently settled in favor of the
State.
Unouestionably the men who advo-
Gated the giving of the munificent
100000 gift to the European K North
American Railroad, honestly believed
that the State of Maine would many
times recoup itself for this outlay IN
the development of its Northern sec
ton that would follow the establish
ment of a railroad connection With the
outside world. Supplied as We are to-
day, from one end of the State to the
other. with a splendid system of rail-
roads it is not easy to comprehend or
appreciate the sacrifices which the peO-
pie of Maine We're willing to make to
secure them in the early days of our
State.
Following this gift to the European
& North American Railroad there
war a very general feeling throughout
the State that there was no need of
longer maintaining the land office. in
asmuch as the State had parted with
the great bulk of the lands which had
once been the special care of that de-
partment. This was the opinion of
Governor Dingley who. as member of
the legislature of 1868. had voted
against the big grant Of the States
lands to the European a North Ameri-
can Railroad. and il was also the
opinion of many other strong men of
that time who had felt as he did re-
garding the princely gift of the States
domain which had been made to the
European & North American Railroad.
Indeed this was unquestiOnably at that
time the prevailing sentiment through
out the State. Even those who ia
Vored the retention of the land Office
felt that it would be but a few years at
most before it's affairs could be closed
up, and the State relieved of the eN-
pense attending the further mainte-
nance of the department. There was
no conspiracy" in this as some have
endeavOred to make it appear. 1t was
simply the opinion of the Governor and