The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1914-08-27
FEDERAL EXPERTS
PROVING CLAIMS
TO MOUNTAIN TERRITORY
Novel Record Found-Denuded
Hil1sides Will be Replanted and
Forest Will be Protected.


a dozen stenagraphers, who are busy
all day long, and will probably be for
months, copying all of the state grants
ever issued for land in East Tennes-
see. Harry Swan, Jr., of Bristol, an
attorney in the Office of the solicitor
of the department of agriculture at
Washington, has been assigned to
Tennessee, to copy these grants, and
with the assistance of the forester, D.
P. Bushnell, to locate all of them and
make a map covering this territory.
This is one of the many branches
of the Appalachian park witch 4 1Dio
Sam has started to acquire in the
southeastern states, which will co.. -
a territory of nine million acres.
The greatest trouble in acquiring
lands for this purpose is the title.
Starting from the time when all OF the
land was owned by the lords p.-oprie-
tor OF North Carolina, and when the
western boundary of the state of
i North Carolina evidently, was intent.
ed to be the Pacific ocean, down to
the present owner the titles present
many interesting and also troublesome
features. Some of the old grants be-
gin on a tree where Col. Robinson
left letter for the Indian chief, "
and some of them where Col. William
Christian marched through in the
night when he went to the Che kee
nation in 1916" These spots at that
| time were well fixed in the minds ii
the pioneers, but at this time it viii
probably be very hard for Uncle Sans
forester to definitely locate them.
Very little idea was then had of tAe
topography of the country, and sur
veyors were scarce, and lane was
plentiful, and the confusion which. re-
suited in this matter, and trying to
work so many puzzles of the harvest
variety that you have never encoua-
tered before. Grants were issued time
and time again for the same land, I'M
| til in one place the forester says ne
has found fourteen grants for the
same tract of land. All of these things
present different questions of law, as
to which is the better title, for ptr.
haps every one of them were made I'M
der a different law, and whether o:
not the grantee complied with the
law is the question which is up to the
attorney examining the title.
II is said that in one of the areas
one of the grants started on white
COW; of course the COW cannot now
be located, and there are also numer-
Gus grants for hundreds of acres
which even the owners cannot locate.
They know-or at least they think
that they have some land somewhere
in the mountains, but where they nor
no one else can ever tell
To add to all of this some of the cid
land books containing grants have
been lost. But from the shiftless way
in which they have been handled here
tofore it is wonder that more of
them are not missing. Also old plats.
maps, ETC., which once formed a part
of the archives of Tennessee have
been lost, and Mr.. Swan is high in his
praise of the late Robert Quarles, for
merly state archivist, for his work in
preserving those that he could find
among the rubbish in the cellar of the
capitol, and also his son Robert for
the work he did in assisting his faith
er. DR.. Lyon, the state land commits
sioner, is also deserving of praise for
having the Legislature to pass the act
consolidating the Offices and placing
them where they could be attended to |
and kept safe.
When all OF this work is completed |
the government will have as near per-
feet map as it is possible for human
ingenuity to make ii, of every acre of
land in East Tennessee, and the ac-
QUESTION of land will then be much |
easier and quicker than it is now, for
the attorney in his investigation of the
title will know just exactly the loca-
ton OF every grant, and if more than
one issued for the same tract of land
he will know from which one emma
tod fha bnf4a,. t;fIo
There are at present about 100000
acres of land under contract of Dur-
chase in the mountains of East Ten
nessee, and great many more are
being considered, and already cordem-
nation suits have been started in the
federal court at Greeneville to el;mi-
nate the defects arising in the titles.
Some ten years ago the work of Sc
curing forest reserve was started by
he government. 1t is becoming ap-
parent more and more that the search
y of timber in the eastern country is
alarming, and also the effect which its
scarcity has on the rainfall and the