Los Angeles herald., 1910-05-17
LAND CLAIMED BY
EARLY DAY BOAT
RIDE IN A WAGON
Application Made 35 Years Ago
for Big Tract May InvaT-
date Titles
REPORTED TO BE A SWAMP
Applicants Said to Have Rode
but Not 'RoWed,' as They
Asserted

q ETTLERS of the Palo Verde val
- ley assert that their rights to
~ lands valued at perhaps $2,5OO,OOO
have been put in jeopardy through a
remarkable piece of trickery played
upon the federal government thirty
five years ago by a San Francisco
ulti-millionaire. now dead. The long
lapse of time will make legal proof of
their contention difficult. The story
they tell is as whimsical as anything
yet devised by fictionists. Its central
feature is a trip by boat over $4,000
acres of rich land, the boat having
been carefully loaded into a wagon
and the driver guiding his team from
a secure seat in the bow, while his
made himself comfortable amidships.
After this unique experience the
voyagers are alleged to have taken
their oaths that they went all over the
land in question "by boat" The set
tiers today admit this was done, but
maintain that while the old-timers
actually rode over the property they
couldn't have rowed over 1t if their
lives had depended on the feat.
Following that boat ride the voy-
ayers, it is said, secured title to the
lands traversed under the swamp
and overflow" act, when as matter
of fact the land was desert land, dry
and useless for agricultural purposes
unless irrigated.
TITLE QUESTIONED
Title to this particular $4,000 acres
Is not now in question, but the in
cident, say the settlers, has been seized
upon as a precedent bearing upon the
contention of a powerful land syn
dicate which is said to covet some
$4,000 acres of adjoining land, much
of which is now in possession of bona
fide settlers.
The dispute hinges upon the proper
classification of the land. If dry and
arid agricultural lands" the federal
government is in possession and the
settlers who acquired their rights from
Washington will be confirmed in their
titles, but if the land is held to be
swamp and overflow" then 1t belongs
to the state of California, and govern
ment-secured titles are valueless. In
cidentally-and here is the little joker
there is today on file In Sacramento
applications for practically all of this
10000 acres, duly filed under the swamp
and overflow act, though none of the
filings has been made by the men now
in possession
The dispute, which upon its face ap-
pears to be a controversy between the
national government and the state,
will come up for hearing before United
States Surveyor General Archer, sit
ting as a judicial Official, in the Los
Angeles land office June 10 next. The
settlers however assert that the con-
troVersy really is between themselves
and a land-grabbing syndicate, and
complain that the federal government
is doing nothing to protect it's own
and their rights.
LAND SETTLERS LEAGUE
In order that their side of the case
may be properly presented they have
organized the Land Settlers Protec-
tive league of the Palo Verde valley
and will employ attorneys to represent
them at the June hearing. This league,
just organized, has already fifty men,
bers 1t will meet today at 127 North
Broadway, at which time it is expected
the membership will be largely in
creased From $50 to 200 settlers are
expected to be in attendance, the meet
ing having been called for the purpose
of settling upon policy of defence.
The officers of the league are Robert
Furlong, president: Alexander Mac
Donald, vice president. and L. c. Har-
rs, secretary. President Furlong yes
terday made the following statement
of the case, from the settlers view
point:
Prior to 1903 few settlements were
made under this classification. In 1903,
however, the government projected
reclamation work, it being proposed
to bring water from the river by ca
nails, and the lands were withdrawn
from settlement temporarily. Later
this project was abandoned and on
January last the secretary of the in
terror announced that the lands would
again be thrown open to settlement
April IS.
TWO HUNDRED CLAIMANTS
"Citizens generally were invited to
go there and take up homesteads.
About 200 availed themselves of the op-
portunity. Then, two days later, the
Los Angeles land Office sent out notices
declaring the lands again withdrawn
pending settlement of the contro-
versy regarding their classification ana
fixing June 10 as the date for the hear
ing. Settlers were advised that the
state of California claimed title un-
der swamp and overflow" act and in
vestigation proved that applications
for the land under this act already
were on file in Sacramento. The land
really Is worth from 40 to $50 an acre,
but under the swamp and overflow"
act 1T can be taken up for 81 an acre,
the statutory price. That. of course, is
much cheaper than it could be secured
from the federal government, which
explains the effort to have it declared
state land. The government already
has issued patents on some small par
GELS of this land, but they will be in
validated If the classification is
changed"
Asked upon what the claim of the
"state" is based, Mr.. Furlong related
the story of the boat ride, undertaken,
he explained, merely because 81 an acre
was less then, as it is now, than the
price at which these lands always have
been held by the United States.
"They're trying to use that bogus
boat ride as precedent he explained.
Somebody rode in that boat, all right,
but they never rowed in it. There's a
difference, and it's important today
vitally important to us-even though
the voyage in controversy was made
thirty-five years ago."