Daily Arizona silver belt., 1910-04-24
Claims of J. J. Mackey to Land in Miami Vicinity
 Are Rejected
PROCHASKA GIVEN
 RIGHTS TO FORTY
Last Chapter in Long Con- test Settled by Land
 Office Decision

After struggle at Miami which came near resulting in riot and long contested fight in the district court and before representatives of the territor- ial land office, Cleve w. Van Dyke, manager of the Miami TOwnsite com pany, has secured possession of the quarter section upon which his home is located, lying to the south of the pres ent townsite. A decision from the ter ritorial land office was received by MT. Van Dyke yesterday, giving him the preference right to the land in ques tion.
 J. V. Prochaska, by the same deci- sion is given preference right to forty acres of land situated in the same dis trict
 The claims of J. J. Mackey to q part of the property awarded to Van Dyke and Prochaska are entirely re- iected by the land office, by reason of the prior rights of Van Dyke and Pro chaska.
 This decision gives Van Dyke and Prochaska the right to accupy the prop erty as homestead and prove the property in the usual manner. Both Mackey and Prochaska have thirty days in which to give notice of appeal. Whether or not they will take advan- tage of this right of appeal remains to develop.
 In the decision it is set forth that in March, 1909, while the land in ques- ton was still in the forest reserve that Van Dyke examined the lands and con cluding that they were non mineral, in spite of the fact that mineral loca- tions had been made on the property, applied for a patent. As the land was in the forest reserve, he was granted a permit to occupy the land as home stead. Subsequently, he improved the property by erecting q home.
 At midnight on November %, both Van Dyke and Prochaska declared as homestead the land awarded to them. Mackey appearing few minutes after wards and declaring his homestead in tention Later he was informed by of ficers of the prior declaration of Van Dyke and Prochaska and they ordered him to vacate the premises.
 Mackey's entry is held to be illegal, by reason of the fact that from his own testimony he entered the land to which he laid claim from forbidden ground. It is further held that even if he had made legal entry, such entry was made subsequent to that of Van Dyke and Prochasla.
 In summing up the matter, the de cisiOn says: "A settlement made on any part of surveyed technical quar- ter section gives the settler the right to enter all of that quarter section which is then subject to settlement, although he may not place Improvements on each forty-acre subdivision; but if the sett- Ter desires to initiate a claim to sur veyed tracts which form a part of more than one technical quarter section, he should perform some act of settlement that is, to make some improvements on each of the smallest subdivisions de- sired.' This is held to apply to Pro chaska' s claims in conflict with those of Van Dyke and Mackey's claims against both Van Dyke and Prochaska.
 The struggle for supremacy at Mi ami, at the time Van Dyke, Prochaska and Mackey were cndeavOring to se- cure possession of the land, the distur- bance which followed and the lengthy legal battles in court are well known to the people of this district. That Van Dyke had previously acquired rights to the land by purchase made it apparent at that time that his rights to the land were stronger than those of the other contestants and as the re- suit, the decision of the land office is generally approved.
 When the matter was taken to court, q temporary injunction cnjoining all of the contestants from occupying the land, was issued by the court, in order that the contest might he held open for decision by the land office. As the matter has been decided by the land of flee, Van Dyke and Prochaska will ap, ply to the court at once for an order dssolving the injunction and for a further order ejecting Mackey from the premises.
 Attorney George J. Stoneman repre- scented Van Dyke in the contest, with Alderman X Elliott appearing for Pro, chaska and F. s. Nave acting as cOun' sel for Mackey.