Arizona republican., 1910-06-16
PICKED UP s5O0O
 FARM FOR NOTHING
Bert Cullen Files Homestead Entry Near Peoria on Land Worth
 More Than $100 an Acre.

When Bert Cullen walked into the land office the other day and took out d homestead entry on forty acres up near Peoria it was just like picking up a S5.000 bill that someone had dropped in the street The only diff ference Is that compunctiOn of con science might compell the finder to return the bill. while nobody in the world can take away Cullen's forty acre tract-worth at least s5,0OO-be- cause nobody owns it.
 By some strange freak tract Of forty acres in the center If rich and well developed farming district, has lain idle and unclaimed for many years Farmers have driven past this tract year after year and some per haps have wondered who owned 1t and why they did not begin to cultivate It. None of them had the curiosity to come to tht land office and find out who was the owner. It is well with in the reclamation district and en- titled to the waters of the Roosevelt reservoir It's value. uncultivated and unimprovcd as it is. is between S10O and $50. Land on all sides of it is ' land usually bring this amount. Yet for at least ten years the land has had no owner. has lain there like dia- mond in the dust. waiting for a claim ant-thc property of the first person who came along.
 Some ten years or moro ago a man filed on 1G0 acres of which this forty was part. For some reason or "th- or he decided that he had moro land than he wanted pr could use At any rate he rclinquishcd to the government this forty acres. Years went by and it anyone thought of the matter Ut all he supposed that the forty still be- longed to the man who had homestead ed the lG0. It is probable that the county assessed the taxes on the forty to the original homesteadcr and that he never noticed the difference and continued to pay them.
 On Friday of last week Bert Cullen walked into the land office and told Registrar Parker that he would like to file on forty acres up Peoria way.
 You're a little late" said Parker; all that land was filed on shortly after Mir. Noah anchored his scoW on top of Ararat. Come around d little earlier next time"
 I'm not so sure about that replied Cullen. kindly look up the record on this tract and tell me who owns it." He indicated d piece of land not very far from Peoria. In a perfunctory sort of way Parker went through the rec ords and to his amazement discovered that one of the finest farms in the Peoria district was going begging for an owner. It was just like giving the man 5000 in currency over the coun- ter The application was filled out and the land was bought by Cullen for lo cents an acre with the stipulation that he live on it five years-which he is very glad to do.
 About a year ago q somewhat Slml- lar entry was made at the land office by Ed Shaw for tract in the Mesa district worth an enormous amount of money ShaW's entry was accepted at the time. though the land was in the middle Of d big tract owned by Dr X. J. Chandler and his associates. It was later shown that the land had really been filed on by Chandler. though the records of the land office did not appear to show it. and Shaw's claim was disregarded. In the pres ent instance it is believed that Cullen has actually found q piece of valuable land that belongs to nobody and that he will gain title tO it through the usual process incidental to all home stead entries