Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1909-07-12
LAND SEEKERS
FLOCK TO CITY
Reservation Opening Drawing Big
Crowd to Occur d'Alene

make this city is home during the
registration and drawing for lands
IN the Occur d'Alene reservation
has commenced to arrive, and it will
Dc matter of few days now until
the city will be filed by people who
come from all portions of the Amer
lean continent to take a chance in
Uncle Sans great lottery for a home.
whether when it is all over they
snail be successful in drawing a
lucky number that will entitle them
70 ME upon a tract of land, provided
they will live upon it, till the soil
and pay Uncle Sam in his own gold
coin for it, remains to be seen, but
In the heart of every man and wo-
man who will come to Occur d'Alene
to register dwells the hope that
they Will be successful in securing
a tract of land-a home for even
that price. There are contained in
the reservation about 1900 claims
that may be taken up under the
homestead law, and certain ii is that
all who apply for them cannot win,
and many are destined to see their
cherished hopes for a home blasted
and probably gone forever so far as
government land is concerned, be-
cause but little remains. The stone
and timber law, SO far as the poor
man is concerned under the recent
regulations of the department of the
interior, is but a cipher on the stat
utue books, and the agricultural
lands of any value have nearly all
been appropriated, and with the
passing of the Occur d'Alene, Flat
head and Spokane Indian reserva-
lions the pale face-the conqueror-
stands side by side with his van
pushed brother, the Indian, bidding
farewell to the last of what was once
a vast public domain. In the Indian
the passing of the lands into the
hands of the white men can awaken
but little regret, because that which
his heart held dearest and most cher
ished-the boundless prairies, the
streams teeming with fish, the for
ests full of game, his hunting ground
have long ago faded into the past
and become a memory. and the lands
In Of Int
tie value to him except to serve as a
grazing grounds for a few spotted.
glass-eyed ponies. But with the
white man it is different. He has
seen the appropriation by settlers of
the last of the agricultural lands of
the public domain and he realizes
that the opening of the Indian lands
in this section is his last opportunity
to secure a home, and with refer
but the great majority of those who
are looking for a home in one of the
reservations opened are going to be
disappointed and see in the appropri-
alton of these lands by those who are
fortunate the passing of their last
opportunity to obtain a home on
public lands.
Many Inquiries Received.
Judge Witten and his ASSISTANTS
still continue to receive hundreds of
inquiries concerning the opening.
and each day hundreds of replies to-
the prospective applicants are sent
out in the mails. They are kept
busy besides by those who call daily
at their headquarters seeking infor-
nation with relation to the reserva
tions in general. and also as their
qualifications to register and draw
for the lands.
The notaries are prepared for the
opening. All of those whose Offices
were ineonveniently suited to Sc
cure their portion of the patronage
of the public have rented office
rooms in the central portion Of ;he
city, or securued a permit to con-
struet temporary quarters during the
opening. Their work will consist
almost exclusively in receiving and
subscribing the oath of the appli-
cants to applications. but there Is
nothing to prevent them from rem
dering other small services. such a.
notifying the applicant. should he be
successful. and charging a eompen-
sation therefor.
Plenty Of Information Dispensers.
The city Is full of dispensers Of in
formation concerning the opening.