The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1911-01-05
The Strater Post Office

tahlished there, and had hauled my
building material back to Malta
70 this should he added that | have
resigned the office of Past Master at
>trater and have returned my COM
.nisSioll.
For the benefit of all concerned
wish to give the following history OF
the case. Last summer | learned
that there was a desire on the part
Qf the people adjacent to Strater to
nave a post Office established there,
and as ] had resigned the postmas-
tership at Cowan and my resigna-
zion had been accepted by the De
l'artnent to take effect upon the APP
continent and qualification of my
successor. ! circulated a petition
For the estnblisllm mt of a post Office
ut Strater and my appointment as
f'ost Master. NO difficulty was en-
t'erienced in getting a sufficient num-
Der OF signatures to the petition, and
n due course of time the Post Office
Department granted the petition,
and qualified for the office. In the
rneAntilne | was looking up a site to
Guild on. There are four parties
pWnin" land near the station, and
%VItiin the required limit SO rods.
! interviewed all these parties sue
INhtt (1t,A l,a r,.t NJ rfhpGn
halfway Co., informed me that it
was against their rules to allow a
building of that kind on their right OF
way. Anpcler. a resident of the VI
clnlty, promised to let me Ilavea lot
tts least so understood him, but he
itllerWaru claimed that | misuluer-
stood him, and as he speaks English
''nt impertectly it is possible that l
~tfld So Two others have not made
lihal proof OH their holneste;lus, ana
'old me they were afraid of being
contested if they allowed another
PARTY to erect Il building on their
Ffomesteans. TO satisfy them. | adj
Crossed letter of inquiry to the
Omitted States Land O!lice at elias
gov, and also to II leading member
Of the Glasgow bar.
In reply the Land Office cited me
%, question 81. in the form for
fnaklng final proof on Il homestead
entry, as f"l}oWs: sis your present
ella wiz ,t, Of
Norated town or selected site of 4
Guy or town, or used i'm amy way Ter
trade or husineSS:' and gave this
rplnl"n "A post office would M t
ne trade or business. The selling #
goods mi ght be all right if clearly
established that it was minor af-
fair and not the main thing the
homestead WAS secured for
The Land office further cited me
to Section 22SS of the Unite States
Revised Statutes as follows: "Any
bona fide settler under the preemp-
ton. homestead, or other settlement
law Shall have the right to transfer
by warranty against his own acts,
any portion Of his claim for church,
cemetery or school purposes, or for
the right of way by railroads, tele-
graph, telephones, canals, reservoirs,
OF bitches for irrigation or drainage
across it: and the transfer for such
public purposes shall in no way yio-
late the right to complete and per-
feet the title to his claim"
luis passage was marked by the
Land N'ict in such a way as to give
the impression that a post office
would y. ia line with the other
'pnh!ir pHrposes' for which "A trans
Ter OF Il portion of Il homestead |
would be lawful,
AS | wanted the location for a post
Office, and expected to engage in
trade or business only in Il very
small way, which would certainly
be a "minor affair." and as the |
homesteader WAS living upon and cul-
tivating his entry, it seemed to me
that this ought to be satisfactory.
Further, | have Il letter from a
leading lawyer OF Glasgow, referred
to above, who said, "With refer
pnce to the establishment of a house
or post Office on government land. | |
can not see that it would be any
harm for the entrymau to do this. |
took the matter up with the land Of
lice otficla Is, and they stated that SO
far rs they We're concerned, it seemed
all right to them. OF course, it
would never DO for the owner of the
government land to commence to
sell town lots or to agree to do SO
when he had received his patent.
The land office would he likely to
consider this an alienation of the
right and might possibly cancel his
entry, but do not see how he can
be preJudiced by simply permitting