The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1910-07-21
GOOD NEWS FUR SQUAT Tl ElsS
UNSURVEyED LANDS IN VALLEY COUNTY TO DE- SURVEYED
FUNDS PROVIDED FOR IMMEDIATE WORK

| immediate future work will be started
on the surveying of public lands il
Montana. This will relieve thou
sands of settlers who, because the
plats have not been available. have
been compelled to hold their claims
under squatters' rights. The most
pressing need for surveying is in the
counties of Chouteau, Valley, Daw-
son, Custer and Fergus, where II ,O0O,-
acres of public land remain unsur-
veysd. 10 remedy this Senator Car
ter at the last session of congress in
troduced bill which was enacted
appropriating one hundred thousand
dollars to defray the cost of making
the surveys. In addition to this spe-
cial sum there is available forsurveys
in other parts of the state eighty
thousand dollars.
Work will be started first in this
part OF the state where petitions from
settlers have been received, urging
che Imperative need of the surveys.
The request received by the interior
department indicate that in VALLEY
and Chouteau counties the most set
tiers will be benefited, and so it is
relieved that the surveying crew will
take the field there first. Surveyor
General J. F. Cone is busily engaged
IN working up the preliminary details
for the crews.
The work will be performed by sur
veyors employed by the general land
office, instead of through the contract
system. 1t is believed by Commits
sloner bennett that the change will
effect an enormous saving of time.
For several years the land Office has
been voring to obtain authority
from congress to do it's own survey
ing. Permission has been refused
until the session just closed, when
eight hundred thousand dollars was
appropriated for the work. This was
an increase of three hundred and
seventy-fve thousand over last year.
Under the old system, after the
contractor had made his survey, it
had to be inspected by an examiner
OF the land office. 1t was never less
than two years, and often three or
four years, before the work was ac-
cepted and the land made available
to enter.
Under the new plan of employing
the surveyors the delays previously
encountered, it is said, will be oblit-
Grated. Two supervising surveyors
will be placed in the field and will ex-
anime the work constantly as it pro-
crosses.
AS soon as practicable the survey
ors will be appointed by civil service
examinations. This cannot be done
as the system must first
be installed and placed upon a work +;
ing basis.
General Cone has received a tele- |
gram from Commissioner bennett |
him that a supervisor will
be here as quickly as possible to Or
ganiZe the forces for the field. Con-
tinuing, the commissioner requested
him to tentatively arrange unsurveyed
desirable lands in the counties of |
Chouteau, Dawson, Valley and Fer
gus. There will be seven groups or
camps with two transmit men to each |
camp to be selected by the supervisor
from among reputable surveyors.
Special instructions and diagrams
Ire now being prepared in the sur
geyor generals office for each group
so that when the surveyor reaches
Helena he will find everything ready
FOR the parties to take the field at
'nce.