El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-01-11
MimBrss Valley Land Titles are Perfect
By R. BsdieheI, Dsming. n. n.


~ UB to the fact that in California
and other portions Of the west
- old Spanish land grants have
Z interfered seriously with the clearness
Of titles to land there is an opinion
held in some quarters that land titles
I generally in New Mexico are clouceq
I IN one way or another by these old
grants. This is an entirely erroneous
opinion however when held with re-
gard to many sections Of New Mexico
where the land titles are perfect Just
as fIaWless. in fact, as the United
States government can make them.
The AIimbFes valley. for instance, so
far as it has passed into private hands,
is held by direct patent from the Unit
ed States government with ABSOLUTELY
no cloud upon the title OF any nature
whatsoever. The government made a
survey OF this whole district some
thing like 20 years go. and the stakes
Of that survey are for the most part
intact There are several townships
that have Just recently been surveyed
by q government force.
Acquiring the Land.
Now this land can be acquired from
the government under two acts OF
congress. One an act allowing home
stead entries and another allowing
desert entries. Under the homestead
act, certain requirements are MADE
before patent to land viii issue. In
the first place, the homestead entry
nan must be a citizen OF the united
States and IL foreign By birth, ne
must have taken out naturalization
papers in the regular way. Further, ne
IS debarred from making homestead
entry if he has already exhausted MS
homestead rights by previous entry. IN
certain cases even though person
has made previous entry some years
ago rights have been restored.
The principal requirement for secur-
ing title through homestead entry IS
residence Within six months after
making filing upon government lanu
the enfrvman must establish residence.
Establishing residence consists IN gong
on the land. building a house ana pre-
pairing to live thereon The required
term of residence is five years, ana
then upon showing OF having made the
land in some way profitable. patent is
sues to the entryman upon the payment
OF a small fee. At the end or rourteen
months bona fide residence after
making the usual Improvements ana
made some part OF the land protitaole'
either BY gardening, farming or graz
ing, the entryman elect 10 commute
l. e. he may elect to pay the govern
taking patent at that time, instead OF
waiting for five years.
Filing on Desert Land.
The desert entryman before tillnB
a desert entry must qualify as a resi-
dent Of the state. After making entry,
the entryman must eXpend upon the
same in Improvement looking TO its
ultimate reclamation at least one dollar
per acre per year. Four years Is allow
ed by the government for making final
proof on a desert entry, and this proof
consists IN showing that the entryman
has grown successful crops on one
eighth Of the entry, and has developed
sufficient water supply to irrigate the
whole tract that is, all Of the entry
that is susceptible Of irrigation. II
for any reason. a portion Of the entry
cannot be irrigated this must be salts
factorily shown. OF course. II the
entryman so elects he may make COM
pIete proof the first year. the second
or the third or wait until the fourth.
In certain cases, where the entryman
shows that he has made bona flde
effort to reclaim the land. and from
some had luck or unfavOrable cOndi-