The Harrison times., 1915-09-25
HOMESTEADILANDS]
IN NORTH ARK.
The Vacant Government Lands and the
Ozark NatiouaI Forest.
[By Albert c. Speirs.l

include the agriculture land in the
Ozark National Forest which is
subject to homestead entry. The
land is OF course mostly mountain
land and in most cases is some dis
tance from the railroad. On most
quarter sections there will be found
about 40 acres of good tillable land
and very fertile; a great deal of it
will be valuable fruit land and make
excellent grazing land.
Most of these tracts are covered
with fine virgin timber, which at the
present time may be too far away
from the K. X. to make marketing
profitable but it will only be ques-
tion of short while until there is
more railroads for at the present
time there has been more than six
surveys through this part of Arkan-
sas alone for railroads.
The timber is mostly white and
black oak with considerable yellow
pine. The largest body of White
Oak timber now standing is found
in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas
w. F. Eatman, receiver at the
Land Office, reports homestead en-
tries in the Harrison land district
are running from 70 to 100 per
month A noticeable feature is the
large number of homesteaders from
the cities. The majority of these are
mechanics.
The U. S. land Office has just issued
their report and it shows how rap
idly the lands are being taken up,
as year ago at this time there
was just twice as many acres vacant
as there is today.
However there is vacant in the
following counties in the Harrison
land district:
Baxter, 17,119. Benton, 2,1OO.
Boone, 3,340 Carroll, 4,2OO.
Crawford, $50. Franklin, Ito,
Fulton, 10,945. independence, 72O
lizard, 16,1OO. Johnson, $40. Mad
ison, 1920. Marion, 9,9S2. New
ton, 1870 Searcy, 1928. Stone
1O,955. Van Buren. $50. Washing
ton, $500. This does not include
the agricultural lands which may be
allotted to homestead Entry in the
Ozark National Forest
THE LAW On HoMEsTEADs
The laws which you must follow
and live up to in taking up a home
stead are not hard, and they read
in part;
All native born citizens of the I.
S and persons who have declared
their intention to become citizens
thereof, and are twenty-one years OF
age or the head of a family Except
marred women living with their
husbands if they have not already |
exercised or forfeited their home
stead right and are not the proprie-
tors of more than 100 acres of land
may homestead not to exceed 100
acres. For this fee of $14 is
charged. After you have paid your
fee you have six months in which |
to move on your homestead, this
gives person plenty Of time to make
his arrangements to move to his
new home, and then you must put
in cult vation one sixteenth of the
area of your homestead the second
year and the third year one
eight must be in cultivation, and the
entryman is allowed one absence in
each year not to exceed FIVE months,
but must notify the land Office of the
date when he leaves and when he
returns At the expiration of three
years from date of establishing
residence on the land or at
any time within two years
thereafter, by making proof that he
has complied with the provisions Of
the law, the entryman can obtain
patent to the land If the entry.
man, after fourteen months resi-
dence and cultivation, desires, he
may purchase the land at $1.25 per
acre by making proof in the same
manner as three year proof is made.
The best way to find homestead
is to get some who understands and
knows the country, and who makes
practice of this work. For al
though have been doing this work
for sometime and havelocated many
find it no easy task. For all one
has to guide with are shallow
marks on the trees made years ago.
Houses are OF course few, and still
another trouble is the fact that large
lumber companies own immense
tracts of land sometimes ten to
$4,000 acres in single bodies and the
blazed trees have been cut down,