Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-07-29

England, winch Stih rcloihS hcA ~
madam possessions.
Originally the English colonies
were supposed to extend from the At
lantic to the Pacific coast, but IN
reality no effort was made by them
or the mother country to occupy any
part of the unknown country west OF
the Mississippi river. Even their at
,empus to expand beyond the Alegne-
NY mountains were strenuously and
successfully opposed by the French
Tor many years. E
by virtue of owning land on both
sides Of the mouth OF the Mississippi,
spain claimed control Of that river,
thus shutting in without an outlet all
the country west Of the then impas-
sable mountains. u @ 10 b.
Later Spain was forced to cede the
Louisiana territory to France, but her
sovereignty lasted a compartiveiy
short time. When Napoleon had be-
come 80 involved in wars that ne
stood along against the whole OF Eu-
rope he saw the utter .impossibility OF
protecting his American possessions
against the superior navy Of England,
and gladly seized upon the opportuni-
ty to rid himself Of something ne
could not hold and at the same time
put 100000 gold dollars into his
Golfers in Paris. Mr.. Jefferson, pres
ident of the United States. no less
gladly accepted the chance OF acquir-
ing the territory at an almost nomi-
nal cost, and at the same time taking
the first step toward what afterward
became known. as the Monroe Doc
trine, America for Americans" i4a
This territory OF S75,S25 square
miles, nearly 1S times as large as the
state of New York, contains the
great gold, silver and copper mines OF
the Black Hills and the wonderful
prairie lands which have become the
granary of the world. For this rich
country the United States paid I'D
cents per acre.
Our next royal customer was Fer
dinand VII. of Spain.
Having squandered his ready cash
in vain attemps to regain his South
American possessions he was sadly IN
need of money to keep up his dissi'
pated court and licentious indulgences
which had cost his country SO dearly
in men, morals and money 5ss
Ferdinand's minister Of finance
having exhausted every source from
which funds could be procured, sug-
gested the sale of the Land Of Flow
ers," Florida, as a last resort. Nego-
tiations were Immediately entered
into with the United States, which
resulted in the transfer Of this jewel
from the Spanish crown to the starry
field of the Union flag. Thus, Tor $e'-
500, 900, sufficient to enable Ferdinand
to continue his extravagant pleasures
for brief period, Uncle Sam became
the possessor of 70,107 square miles
Of territory, and one more European
thorn was withdrawn from North
America.
While the cost IL 3-+ cents an acre
was considerably higher than the
Louisiana purchase, 1t must be re-
membered that in those days Florida
was much more accessible than the
territory west of the Mississippi.
In 1S4S after the close Of the wal
with Mexico, that country ceded te
the United States 523,S02 square
miles of land for the sum of $1s,26O''
900, $3,250,000 Of which was to De
paid to the citizens Of the United
States, who held war claims against
Mexico. ........
This magnificent property included
the present states of California, Ari-
zona and New Mexico. containing
some Of the richest mineral and agri'
cultural land in the world. The cos'
was a little less than IL cents ar
acre. ... .... ...
These purchases from France, Spain
and Mexico, for which Uncle Sam paid
$3S,749,769 represents an area OF l.
463,934 square miles. A little more
than two-fifths of the area OF the
United States in North America was
acquired for the cost Of the Manhat-
tan and the greensboro Bridges
across the East River.
In 1853 Uncle Sam became liberal
and made his second deal with Mexi-
CO, the Gadsden purchase, buying
narrow strip along the southern boun-
dairy of Arizona and New Mexico
36,211 square miles, for $10,000,0OO'
or 43.15 cents per acre, the top price
paid for an addition to our territory
For IA years after the Gadsden
purchase Uncle Sam retired from the
real estate market. Then another
royal customer presented himself.
In 1867 the czar of all the Russians
in consideration Of s7,200,00o in good
and lawful coin Of the realm, set over
assigned, bargained and sold to the
Unite States Of America all OF hi!
right, title and interest in and to the
59s,446 square miles Of territory
more or less, known as Alaska, ant
further covenanted to relinquish al
claims to the tract Of land then Joint
ly occupied by Russia and the Unit
ed States and now embraced in tht
states of Washington and Montana
The low price-one and nine tenth!
cents per acre-was doubtless due tt
the inaccessibility Of the property. a
at that time nothing was known O
the gold deposits which were late
discovered in the Klondike and othe'
sections.
Having thus retired every Euro
pean nation except England from tn