The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-08-02

therefore glad AID anxious TO throw
1t open To eutry and settlement as one
Important step In encouraging railroad
enterprise | WAS certain that congress
had provided in the statutes affecting
the entry and settlement of land in
Alaska limitations when would pre-
vent the possibility OF the exclusive
appropriation Of the hurbor and chan
mel of Controller bay or its shores or
upland to any one railroad. This pro.
pose now to show.
The only practicable method for So
curiug title from the government in
such Il tract rs this after It's eiminu
tion Is by the use Of what IL called
soldiers additional homestead right
evidenced by scrip. The statutory I'm
itationS upon this method of acquiring
title are threefOld:
First.-No more than lGO acres can
be entered In any single body by such
scrip
Second.-NO location of scrip along
any navigabe waters can be made
within The distance of eighty rods OF
any lands along such waters. and no
entry can be allowed extending more
than l';0 rods along the shore of any
navtgable water. and along such shore
spnct ut al lenst eighty rods must he
reserved from entry between all sdch
claims.
Third. Nothing I'm the act contained
Is to be construed to authorize entries
to be made or title to be acquired TO
the shore of any navigable waters
within said district.
Under the first limitation the nnvi.
gation company and every other per.
son IL prevented frorI locating more
than 100 acres In one body By the
construction Of the land department.
as shown In the record. this requires
separation between any two entries
by the same person or In the same In
terest OF tract of forty acres This
would prevent the possibility Of any
one person or any one interest acquir.
ing an entire tract like that Of l2.SOO
acres.
Frontage Held by Government.
The second limitation Is important
In that IT prevents the entry of claims
at any point ON the shore having
greater frontage than half mile and
requires that between that and the
next claim taken up there shall be
frontage reserved TO the public and
kept In publh control of a quarter OF
mile. The consequence Is that in
the seven miles of the frontage of this
eliminated tract there must be reSprv
ed Tor government control and use and
such disposition us congress may see
tit to make and free from private ap-
preparation Il frontage aggregating
two and three-quarter miles and SO
distributed along the shore I'm front.
ages OF eighty rods as to make GER
tain Of public frontage of this width
having all the advantage that any pri-
vate frontage can have. In other
words. II tract with half mile
frontage is located at Il particularly
advantageous place with reference to
the harbor then on each side of that
frontage must he reserved to the pub
lie q frontage of a quarter of a mile
or a half mile in all, for public uses.
These two restrictions necessarily
prevent n monopoly of land ahutting
on the shore. and as they necessarily
prevent monopoly by any one To-
In. L.. g
pany- for whom locatOrs are acting
they take away the motive for the ac
QUESTION OF land and frontage merely
for the purpose Of excluding other
companies and possible competitors
and tend to confine locators to the ac-
QUESTION of land to be profitable in its
use.
Since the executive Orfer was Is.
sued. Oct. 2S. 1910. there have been
four locations under soldiers scrip.
three Of them of lGO rods each along
the bay, separated by two divisions
Of eighty rods. shall assume that
all Of them are In the interest of the
Controller Railway and Navigation
company. None of them has been ap-
proved or passed TO patent. but shall
assume they can be passed to valid
patent.
Frontage Left Open.
OF the shore frontage INDICATED
which may be appropriated by scrip
there remain six frontages of 1GO rods
each on the shore of the tract opened
by the executive order facing the bay
and channel. and in addition at least
two and three-quarter miles of front
age distributed In eleven eighty-rod
strips, subject TO public use and the
disposition OF congress There Is thus
ample room for many other railroads
to reach high water mark on Control
ler bay and there to acquire tracts
for terminals. or the 1880 acres the
entries In area have covered only 800
acres. and all the rest Is available for
scrip location under the provisions OF
the act
There Is third reason why the
opening OF this tract TO settlement and
limited private appropriations cannot