Imperial Valley press., 1910-11-26
EXPLOITING PATENTS
 TO RECLAIMED LANDS
Imperial Valley Settlers Now Reading Their Titles
 Clear
General Land Office Stirred Up By Special Agent Satterwhite, Passes to Patent all Delayed Final Proofs And Promises Clear Deck By First of January.

Patents to Imperial Valley land are coming from Washington so fast that it is difficult to keep count of them, and it is promised that all pending final proofs will be acted upon and patents issued for a total of about 800 claims by the first of January. All school section cases but two have been disposed of, and final adjustment of iand matters in the valley is in sight.
 This is the report of results made by Special Agent Satterwhite, who re- turned to El Centro this week after a busy summer and fall in the General Land Office at Washington. The claims of all settlers entitled to patent have been approved, and Commits sioner Bennett has promised to keep extra clerks on the job until the patents are issued and the valley land situation cleared up.
 Between May and November, 492 cases were approved and passed to patent and 200 final proofs that had been pigeon holed and forgotten for years were found by the special agent and put through the routine of the patent division. The Board of Equit- fable Adjustment had gone to sleep 4 over ninety cases that could have been disposed of in as many minutes, and Satterwhite dug those cases out, carried the papers about and had them signed by the proper officials, and in less than twenty-four hours had them in the patent division. In all this expediting of the land office, Satter white had the support and aid of Oscar Lawler, Assistant Attorney General who kept the promise he made to the people of Imperial Valley when he discovered that they were actual settlers and farmers and not dummy locators for corporations en- gagged in pulling off gigantic land grab.
 Where there are conflicts in claims resulting from variations in surveys, MT. Satterwhite is empowered to have new surveys made in order that de- scriptions may correspond with actual locations on the ground, and as soon as he is ready for that work, a survey ing party will be assigned to duty in the valley under his direction.
 About 5000 land entries of all kinds have been made in Imperial Valley. Deducting the claims disallowed and that there are about 2,500 valid en- tries, of which forty per cent have reached the final proof stage and will be entitled to patent by the first of January, and he is confident that the General Land Office will have thaG business completed and patents issued soon after that date. The office then will have only current business to handle for the valley and should have no difficulty in keeping the deck clear.
 In the northern and eastern parts of the valley are about 125,000 acres of land that could be irrigated from a high line canal. A considerable body could be irrigated from extensions of existing canals. Part of this land has been withdrawn from entry at request of the Reclamation Service, which has no project in the valley and never will EaYe. About 25,OOO acres are claimed
 the Southern Pacific under it's rail kvad grant, but the railroad sections cannot be identified with certainty because of defective survey, and up to date the government has refused to authorize a new survey. MT Satter- white reports that there is reason to believe that survey will be ordered at an early date and that it is possi- ble that the land withdrawn for the Reclamation Service may be restored to entry soon.