Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1908-02-28
VICTOR FOR STATE.
By Decision of Secretary of Interior
State Obtains Title to Land
Valued at Ovee 100000

The Boise Statesman says that the
attorney general 4 Office is in receipt Of
a series Of five decisions from the secre- I
tary of the interior, finally deciding i'll
favor Of the state the contests inN wing
about $4,000 acres of land in nor b
Idaho. These lands We're claimed nd
yersely in the state by the Northern
Pacific Railway company and by cell
tain entrymen who were endeavoring
to obtain title to the land on account of
the valne of the timber. The tract in
voyed some of the best timber lands in
the state, which is estimated to be
worth between $500 900 and 800 900.
Quarter sections of the timber l,nds in
this vicinity have sold within the last
year at from SIS 900 to ST.. O10
The townships of lands inv olved "A
north, ranges and east were sur
veytd in the summer Of 1905, the survey
having been applied for in the year
1901 in accordance with an act of con-
gress which gives the state prefer
ence right Of selection TO- GO days after
the fling of the plats of ~ vey. The
state rendered its application to select
these lands in satisfaction of various
school grants. and was met by the OBJ
lection in the local office that the lands
in question had since the year 1901 been
entered by scrip selections Of the
Northern Pacific Railroad company.
and some OF it by settlers who had
squatted upon the land subsequent to
the attaching of the states rights. The
state thereupon appealed. In June,
1895. the commissioner OF the general
land office handed down decisions fe-
Yersing the local land officers and sns
tanning the states contention. The
various parties who We're defeated ap
pealed to the secretary Of the interior
and oral argument was had before the
department in Washington last June.
The decisions inst rendered are a
sweeping victory for the state, its con
tentions on every point being maintain
ell. The states rights are held superior
to all the scrip selections made by the
Northern Pacific Railroad company
since the date of the states application
for survey in 1901, and superior to all
sqna ters' rights inaugurated since that
date The decisions are not only valu
able to the state on account Of being
from a money standpoint the most i'm
plrtant litigation In which the state
has ever been concerned, but are i'm
portant as establishing precedents o
FIR reaching Importance, as the de
cisions in these cases will control in tn,
matter of other townships still unsur
veyed but for which the state later will
make application.
There are two decisions in the serie
of cases which have not yet been ren
dered, in which the state attacked tn
validity OF scrip entries of the rallroa,
file prior to 1901 The state is hopeful
of having its contention in this regar
sustained also, in which the title of TIL
Northern Pacific Railway company t
many thousands of acres in Idaho an
Montana will be invalidated.
These lands which the series of dc
cisions affect are located on Marbl
creek, tributary to the St Joe river
and have furnished the scene of Idaho
and here 1t was that Fred Tyler an
others were foully murdered beeaus
they dared to venture as squatters upo
disputed territory. For the murder 9
Tyler. steve Adams was tried at Ratl
drum, the jury disagreeing.
BY these decisions the very acre
over which the. XII ing occurred no
pass in to the possession of the stat
Among the squatters' claims cancele
were those of Jack Simpkins. the MasoI
and others who were conspicuous dun
ing the claim jumping era, and sever
who were Adams witnesses at the r
cent trial. as practically the entil
community is embraced in the swee
ing decisions foa the state.