The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1914-02-26
CLEARING TITLE TO
STATE SCHOOL LAND
Commissioner Tallman Is to
Formulate Bill Relieving
Situation in the West.
SUCCESSFUL MISSION
Visit of Officials to Washing
ton Is Productive of Bene-
fetal Results.
SUCCESSFUL MISSION

The commissioner of the general land
office will draw up proposed Dill, the
purpose of which VIII be to straiShten
out the state school land.federal miner
al land controversy, and this Will be
presented to congress, as result or the
conference held with Commissioner Clay
Tallman, Secretary of the Interior
Lane and his first assistant, A. A.
Jones, by Governor Spry, Attorney Con
eral Barnes. w. d. Candland, president
of the state land board, and w. j.
Lynch. secretary of tho board. The
four state officials who, with Henry
Gardner of Spanish Fork, went to
Washington on land matters, returned
TO Salt Lake yesterday morning.
The decision of Commissioner Tall
man to draw up an act Of congress was
a concession TO the Utah delegation,
which, like delegations from other west
ern states, demanded that the land de
partment make some allowances Iii the
matter Of clearing titles to school land
held by the state, Owing to the fact
that whenever school section is filed
on as mineral or coal land, it is taken
away from the state By the govern
land held by the state. the various
western landholding states. and Utah
IN particular. wished the department a.
Washington 10 clear up the matter. The
propositions made to the federal Off
cials by The Utah representatives were
that the government should either give
all school lands, whether of mineral
clear title or make further survey and
determine the exact nature of all land
how held as school land by the state.
May Resurvey.
The federal officials refused to con-
slider the first proposition, as the de-
partment has always held that the
granting of sections 2, l6, 32 and So in
each township to the state as school |
land when this state was admitted, car
RED the proviso that IN the event such |
lands were found to be of mineral char
acter they should pass to the govern
ment and other land should be substi-
tuted, However, they agreed that the |
second suggestion is the real solution of |
the problem, even though it will take an
act of congress to accomplish it,
Attorney General Barnes says that |
Secretary Lane admitted the injustice
of the present land system, saying that
he could see the possibility of the gov
crnment coming in after 100 years and |
claiming land for which the state had |
given title that many years previous. |
This has been the principal contention
of the state. While it has been incon-
Venient where unsold school land has
been taken away because of it's mineral |
character and other land given In lien,
the principal objection was that the
government, after the state had granted
patent and the man securing the land
had transferred it by deed, might final
1y take the land.
To Give Stability.
The remedy proposed. and the gist of
The bill TO be prepared, is"'that a new
mineral survey shall be made; all land
having a mineral character shall pass
to the government, and every section
ceded to the state after the survey
shall have stability of title.
Mr.. Gardner Of Spanish Fork. who
the water users Of the |
Strawberry government project in their
protest against the cutting off of the
supply of water there, says that he be.
lieves he convinced F. NJ Newell, chief
of the reclamation service, that the gov
ernment should compromise with the
farmers The government has been
seeking to cut the average season wa
ter supply from 47.l50 acre-feet, the
average for the past ten years, to 3s,-
500 acre.feet. The farmers protested |
and finally offered to agree to $4,000
acre feet. Mr.. Gardner believes that
the. $4,000 acre-feet will not be enough
water, as he says the farmers did not
have enough water under the old ar
He says about 1000 prior
right owners of the river will be af.
fccted and that the price Of water will
be raised as Il result OF the change