H. LAND OFFICE, PLATTSBURG, Mo., SIR: It is proper, in submitting the enclosed contest of Harden and Jackson, to state, that under the system heretofore prevailing in this office the original application of Harden was received and filed on the 1st day of September last, although, from the press of business, the application could not be renewed and the entry made until the 8th of September. We suppose no point will be made by the counsel for Jackson as to the true date from which the rights of Harden as a purchaser are to be estimated, the understanding having been general and in no instance complained of that the reception and filing of the original application should count against applications or pre-emptions made afterwards. It is in this point of view that, referring to your letter of the 15th of December last, (in Palmer's case,) we deduce the conclusion that a party who does nothing except "stick stakes" until after another party has entered the land cannot count such work as the commencement of a pre-emption to defeat the entry made by another before anything was done looking to the commencement or erection of a house. If correct in this construction of your application of the Attorney General's opinion to that case, our opinion is, that the pre-emption of Jackson is invalid as against Harden, who became entitled to enter the land by his application of the 1st of September, on file in this office, and which was carried into a new and formal application as soon as the then register could do so, and the original application consummated by entry on the 8th of September. We but add, that the system thus adopted, in our own opinion, works better and fairer and less annoyingly than any other plan would. Very respectfully, your obedient servants, JAMES H. BIRCH, Register. THOS. A. HENDRICKS, Esq., I. GENERAL LAND OFFICE, GENTLEMEN: I have received yours of 3d March, enclosing, for the decision of this office, the testimony in relation to the pre-emption claim of Jacob Jackson to the SE. of SE. of 20, 61, 30, contested by William A. Harden, per private entry No. 22,214, and, in reply, have to state, that this office concurs in your opinion, adverse to the pre-emption, for the reason that it appears the foundation of his dwell ing house was not laid until the 6th of September, 1856, whereas the application to enter at private sale was made on the first of the same month. The claim, by pre-emption, has therefore been rejected, and the private entry released from suspension. Please note the rejection on your books and plats. Respectfully, &c., THOS. A. HENDRICKS, Commissioner. Plattsburg, Mo. REGISTER and RECEIVER, K. Personally appeared before the undersigned, an alderman of the city of Reading, in the county of Berks, and State of Pennsylvania, Peter McLaughlin and Henry F. Felix, who, being duly sworn according to law, depose and say, that as they are informed by their representative in Congress that statements have been made by James H. Birch, late register at Plattsburg, Missouri, charging certain officers of the General Land Office at Washington with having a personal interest in certain locations of lands in the Plattsburg district, Missouri, for which the deponents have applied; the said deponents deem it only an act of justice to declare under oath and depose as they do, that neither Thomas A. Hendricks, the Commissioner, Jos. S. Wilson, the chief clerk, John Hood, at the head of military division of 1855, nor any other person in any way connected with the General Land Office, had or have any possible interest in the lands located by us at Plattsburg, Missouri, for ourselves and others, either present, remote, or contingent, nor did they, or either of them, receive, nor have they received, any fee or reward whatever, or the promise thereof, and that the action of the General Land Office, in ordering our locations, was had and induced only and exclusively upon our representation to the Commissioner that we had been at the Plattsburg office, and had been denied the opportunity of locating the lands by the register of that office, upon the pretext that the office was closed; upon this statement we claimed of the General Land Office our right to make our locations through it, under the 2d provision to the 4th section of the act of 28th September, A. D. 1850; so that any and all such declarations imputing interest direct or indirect of the officers aforesaid, in and to the land locations alluded to, are entirely false and unfounded, and that the deponents are the only parties interested in the lands, who were authorized to appear at the General Land Office in the business, and that it was upon our applications that the action of the General Land Office was had. PETER MCLAUGHLIN. Sworn and subscribed, before me, February 27, 1858. WM. B. SCHOENER, Alderman. STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, County of Berks, ss. I, David Fister, prothonotary of the court of common pleas of said county, do certify that William B. Schoener, esq., before whom the annexed was made, is an acting alderman and ex officio justice of the peace of Reading, county of Berks, duly commissioned and qualified to administer oaths and affirmations, and to take acknowledgments, &c., and to all whose acts, as such, full faith and credit are and ought to be given, as well in courts of judicature as elsewhere, and that his signature is genuine. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and affixed the seal of said courts, this 27th day of February, A. D. 1858. [SEAL.] DAVID FISTER, Prothonotary. No. 1. GENERAL LAND OFFICE, SIR: A letter has been received at this office from Horace Everett, esq., dated Plattsburgh, Missouri, June 24, 1856, enclosing thirtytwo applications which were presented to you that day for the purchase of land in your district, and were rejected by you for the reasons stated on the back of one of the applications, as follows, viz: "JUNE 26, 1856. "By reference to the register's letter of the 4th instant, the Commissioner will perceive the manner in which, for a length of time, the business of this office has had to be conducted. It is, therefore, that Mr. E. is not registered for entry at all, and as it would be impossible to wait upon him, or any of the additional parties (similarly situated with himself) whom he represents, without neglecting others, in their proper turn, whose names are regularly registered, the register has declined and refused to entertain this and similar applications for himself and others, (by Mr. E.,) and that he makes this hasty memorandum in order that Mr. E. may test the correctness or the impropriety of the course of the district office by referring the case to the department at Washington. "JAS. H. BIRCH, Register." An application has likewise been submitted to this office which was presented to you on the 28th of June last by Mr. Everett for Solomon J. Sprigellery to locate sundry military warrants thereon designated, and to which is appended a note by you rejecting the application and referring, for an explanation, as in other instances, to your letter of 4th June last. I can find no such letter as that of the 4th of June last to which you refer, and can, therefore, have no clear understanding as to the man ner in which the sales and locations have been generally conducted at your office. If, as inferred from your statement, it has been in the habit of permitting persons to register their names without, at the same time, filing applications for and designating the lands which they desired to enter, and where their names should be reached on the docket, allowing them to make any number of applications, and to enter or locate any quantity of land they might desire, such proceedings are wholly unauthorized, and you will take care hereafter to avoid a recurrence to such a system. In the present case, it is not shown that Mr. Everett filed his regular application and tender of the consideration in time to be reached in its order during the regular transaction of business in the official day, and therefore, on the showing made, we have no power to award the entries and locations sought for. You are referred, for further information relative to the proper method of conducting your official business during a great competition to enter land, to the letter of the 12th ultimo from this office to the register and receiver at Council Bluffs, Iowa, a copy of which is herewith enclosed, and which will also serve as an answer to the interrogatories propounded in your letter of the 30th ultimo, just received at this office. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, JÓS. S. WILSON, REGISTER, Plattsburgh, Missouri. Acting Commissioner. GENERAL LAND OFFICE, GENTLEMEN: Your joint report of 26th ultimo is received respecting the application of Horace Everett to enter certain lands in your district, which was the subject of my letter to you of 11th of same month. In connexion with the subject, I herewith enclose a copy of a letter, dated the 17th June last, to the register at Fort Dodge, Iowa, and take this occasion to inform you that, in the administration of the land business of their district, it is the duty of the register and receiver to receive applications for the purchase or location of any lands in the district subject to entry at private sale, in the exact order of the filing of applications and tender of the consideration, without restriction as to ranges, taking care not to allow a monopoly of purchase in favor of any one person, and not permitting each to purchase at any one time more than the extent of an ordinary entry. Where greater quantities are desired by any one applicant the party must take his turn according to the principle here laid down, until, from time to time, he may be accommodated, with proper regard to the equal privileges and rights which others also may have to make purchases. Should occasion arise for restricting entries to ranges for a limited period, it can only be done by the register and receiver, pursuant to express authority from the department, and after public notice. A copy of your report, the letter of 17th June, and of this communication, will be furnished Mr. REGISTER and RECEIVER, Council Bluffs, Iowa. Commissioner. GENERAL LAND OFFICE, SIR: Your report of the 28th ultimo has reached this office, in which the following facts are certified; that on the 19th day of May, 1856, Robert K. Wilson filed his application for the entry of certain lands; that the rule adopted, and in force at that time, was that each person desiring to enter should file a written application for the tract he desired, and await his turn; that on the evening of the 22d of May, 1856, the said Robert K. Wilson's application had not been reached, and on that day the register closed the land office pursuant to telegraphic instructions from this office. That on the 23d of May the said Robert K. Wilson applied to locate the tracts which he had previously applied for on the 19th instant, and made tender of land warrant, together with fees upon the same, and the excess upon fractional lots, to cover all the tracts applied for which are at this time vacant, designating the particular tract upon which he desired each land warrant to be located. The facts are thus certified, it is presumed, to obtain a decision upon the question as to whether the register shall now award the locations of the land to the applicant. This office, therefore, decides in view of the facts that the register cannot lawfully make the desired award. Had the application been preferred and lawful tender made at a period when in the regular discharge of the current duties of the day the register could have received and allowed the consummation of the location, but neglected through error of judgment, or otherwise, to do so, this office would unhesitatingly order the recognition of the location if the grounds of objections were found untenable, or had disappeared. But here there is a very different state of the case. The application preferred on the 19th of May could not, in the order of business, be reached, and was not reached, until after the closing of the office, the period at which the tender was made, and at a time when the land was withdrawn, under instructions pursuant to the legislation of Congress. The application, therefore, did not lawfully belong to the 19th of May, but to a subsequent period, viz: the evening of the 22d of that month, when the office was closed, and therefore the said application is barred and inadmissible. Very respectfully, WILLIAM H. MERRETT, THOS. A. HENDRICKS, Commissioner. Register of the Land Office, Fort Dodge, Iowa. |