52 land in that vicinity, and is not overflowed except in extreme high water, and the land is the first that can be cultivated in the Spring of the year in that locality. Mr. Lowas alleges that he has purchased valuable improvements thereon, and commenced the erection of a dwelling house, and that his improvements on said lots are now worth about two thousand dollars. Our amended plat shows the area of lots one and two to be forty-two acres. You will permit the filing of a declaratory statement by Christopher Lowas, and notify the proper State authorities, that they may have opportunity of contesting the same if they desire so to do. Report the filing, referring to this letter as "G" by its date. What influence produced such antagonistic decisions in reference to land of the same quality we are at a loss to know, and particularly when the very witness who testified in the case of Lowas also testifies as to the lands in township eighteen north, range one west, claimed as swamp, and upon which Howard, Padan, and Fitzgerald had settled. This witness says "that for many years after his first settlement the whole prairie country, from Colusa to Chico was covered with an immense growth of wild clover and oats, two or three feet high, and that he could at any time have cut one thousand tons or five thousand tons of hay, had it been needed; that he has been perfectly familiar with all the prairie lands in both townships, seventeen and eighteen north, range one west, for the last eighteen years, and knows of his own knowledge that the best crops of grain ever raised upon the prairie lands of said townships were after they had been overflowed by one of the heavy freshets which have occurred every few years, and that without such overflow no dependence can be put upon raising a good crop of grain; and that never since his knowledge of the country has there been a year that a crop of grain could not have been put in on the prairie lands in the above named townships in plenty of time to secure full crops, so far as any overflow was concerned; that when freshets have occurred the waters have always subsided in time to put in grain, and that seasons when the very highest floods have swept over these prairie lands have been the seasons when the largest crops of grain have been raised." HON. J. R. HARDENBURGH, UNITED STATES LAND OFFICE, Marysville, California, September 12, 1871. ) United States Surveyor General, San Francisco: SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the map of township sixteen north, range two west, Mount Diablo meridian. Very respectfully, L. B. AYRES, Register. LAND AGENCY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, Hox. J. R. HARDENBURGH, SIR: Having filed the notice with the United States Land Office, as requested by the Act of Congress, approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, in accordance with the provisions of the same Act, I respectfully ask that you cause to be surveyed the following described land applied for by the Board of Regents of the University of California: Township five north, range fifteen east; township four north, range sixteen east; township sixteen north, range two west, Mount Diablo meridian, when a deposit of the cost of survey has been made. Your obedient servant, I, J. R. Hardenburgh, United States Surveyor General of California, hereby certify that the above and foregoing documents marked "A," "B," "C," and "D" relating to survey, etc., of township sixteen north, range two west, Mount Diablo meridian, are true, full, and correct copies of the originals now on file in my said office. Attest my hand and official seal, the day and date first above written. J. R. HARDENBURGH, United States Surveyor General California. There are forty-three settlers who have made their preemptio filings in the United States Land Office at Marysville, on lands in this township, as follows: No. 8,197-Henry N. Gates, No. 8,198-Cornelius J. Thompson, No. 8,039 James Sellick, No. 8,053-James T. Jones, No. 7,967-Jerry Powell. I hereby certify that the foregoing abstract of declaratory statements filed in township sixteen north, range two west, Mount Diablo meridian, is correct. L. B. AYRES, Register. The preemption claims of twenty-five of these settlers, aggregating some four thousand acres, are included in the area claimed as swamp. Several thousand acres of the land in this township is included in a list of lands submitted to the Board of Supervisors of Colusa County in the following petition: To the Board of Supervisors of Colusa County, State of California: The undersigned present this petition and respectfully show: That they desire to adopt measures to reclaim the body of swamp and over flowed lands hereto annexed, and for that purpose to form a district to include the same, in pursuance of an Act of the Legislature of the State of California entitled, "An Act to provide for the management and sale of lands belonging to the State," approved March twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight. A description of the lands which your petitioners propose to reclaim is set forth by township, range, section, and subdivision of section in the said schedule, which is hereby made part of this petition. The number of acres in the whole district hereby proposed to be formed is twenty thousand and sixty acres, of which your petitioners are holders of certificates of purchase, patents, or other evidence of title, to ten thousand four hundred and ninety-five acres, being and representing more than one half of all the lands within the district proposed to be formed. The lands included within the limits of the proposed district are swamp and overflowed lands, and are situated entirely in Colusa County, and lie in one body and are susceptible of one mode of reclamation. The quantity of land within the proposed district, sold, is eighteen thousand seven hundred and forty acres, and unsold one thousand three hundred and twenty acres, and the number of acres in each tract and the names of the owners thereof, when known, and if not known, described as "unknown" are particularly set forth in the schedule hereto annexed. Therefore, your petitioners pray, that an order of publication of this petition be made, and a day fixed for the hearing of the same, and that upon the hearing, and proof of the statements therein contained, you will approve and grant the said petition, and allow the formation of the said district. 56 The State of California, or parties in the name of the State, has set up two claims to the lands in this township: first, under the grant to the Agricultural College, which never claims swamp lands; second, by the State Surveyor General, as swamp land-both claims made without any regard to the claims of settlers under the preemption laws of the United States. Judging from the following advertisement in Green's Land Paper, the lands in township sixteen north, range two west, must be valuable: "Colusa County.--Two thousand acres.-The southeast quarter of section twenty-one; the southwest quarter; west half of southeast quarter of section twenty-two; the east half of section twenty-eight; the west half; the southwest quarter; the south half of northeast quarter and northwest quarter of northeast quarter of section twentyseven; the west half of southwest quarter; southwest quarter of northwest quarter of section twenty-six; the northeast quarter of section thirty-three; the north half of section thirty-four; the west half of northwest quarter of section thirty-five. All in township sixteen north, range two west, Mount Diablo meridian; swamp and overflowed land; needs but small reclamation to make very valuable farming land; most of it is in good condition now for farming; all under fence; two miles and a half from Colusa; price, nineteen thousand dollars; terms, half cash, balance in twelve months, at current rate of interest." SHERMAN DAY, Esq., DEAR SIR: I see that you have advertised to hear the evidence of settlers in regard to the swamp and overflowed lands in this part of the State, on the twenty-first instant and first of December, with a view, as I have reason to believe, of ascertaining the facts in regard to our valley lands. Unfortunately for the interests of many parties here, as well perhaps as of the government itself, there are those amongst us who are personally and particularly interested, whose pecuniary condition utterly precludes the idea of their being present at either of the days you mention, but there are those in our midst who are trying to hold nearly if not all the lands in this valley as swamp and overflowed, who will be present, and will, it is feared, produce evidence, and perhaps the affidavit of one of the United States Deputy Surveyors, to the effect that Indian Valley lands are mostly if not entirely swamp and overflowed; while the facts are that a very large proportion of our lands are as good, dry, and tillable as are any lands in the State. Not wishing to tax your time to too great length, and being personally interested in the settlement of this question, allow me to state the following facts, the truth of which can be substantiated by the affidavits of any number of citizens of this county: In the month of December, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, I moved upon and claimed by preemption the following lands in this valley, to wit: The south one half of the northwest quarter of section twentyone, township twenty-six north, range ten east, and the north one half of the southwest quarter of section twenty-one, township twenty-six north, range ten east, and erected thereon a dwelling house, with a view of proceeding at once to improve and cultivate said lands. These lands were at the time unoccupied, except that they were inside the enclosure of a party who claims to hold several quarter sections, and are situated more than one mile from his residence. A party of armed men, of which the party claiming these lands as swamp and overflowed was one, burned my improvements, and forcibly ejected me from the premises. These lands are good and dry, in fact too dry for cultivation without irrigation, and I am unable to conceive how any Surveyor can, in view of the facts, return such a segregation as to make them swamp or even wet lands. The affidavits of any number of our best citizens can be obtained who will testify to the above facts, and which if desired will be forwarded to you without delay. It is hoped that the interest of actual settlers will be protected, even if their pecuniary circumstances does prevent their being present in San Francisco at the time you designate, and that moneyed men and land grabbers will not be permitted to "swallow up" the public domain, without regard to the rights of bona fide settlers. I shall be pleased to hear from you at your convenience in regard to this matter, and will furnish further information whenever desired. any We would call special attention to the following letter from the Commissioner of the General Land Office at Washington, to the United States Surveyor General for the State of California. From its dictatorial tone, and the readiness evinced to assail the position taken by that officer, and the evident traveling out of his way to defend the action of the "Swamp Land Ring," circumstances would warrant the suspicion that the influences of this powerful organization are felt even at "headquarters at Washington." Following this, we quote from a letter of Ex-Surveyor General Sherman Day, sustaining the action of Deputy Surveyor Brown, in answer to charges preferred against him by settlers in Indian Valley. The affidavit of Mr. Brown, which follows, acknowledging, under oath, the inducement which caused him to change lands at first returned by him as "high and dry," into swamp and overflowed, fully sustains the correctness of the position assumed by Surveyor General Harden 8 burgh, who has, during his whole term of office, evinced a disposition to administer its functions fairly and impartially, and to see that equal and exact justice is done alike to the honest settler and swamp land claimant. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, J. R. HARDENBURGH, ESQ., UNITED STATES SURVEYOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, I would state for your information, if you are not already advised of the fact, that a letter from E. D. Coleman, Esq., to Hon. A. A. Sargent, containing charges of a similar nature, was forwarded to and now is on file in your office. This letter is dated January thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy, and in our letter of March first, eighteen hundred and seventy, inclosing the same, the Surveyor General was directed to exercise the greatest diligence possible in ascertaining if the allegations. made in the said letter were true, using all possible means to correct any wrong or fraudulent action which might be developed by the investigation. He was particularly enjoined to examine with the most critical care the returns of surveys of said township made by said Brown, to the end that no lands embraced within his contract might be improperly returned as swamp or overflowed. After a careful investigation of the matter, the Surveyor General reported here July eighth, eighteen hundred and seventy (see records of your office), exculpating Mr. Brown entirely; "that he could find no facts to implicate him as having made any false segregations in collusion with any one. The Surveyor General's report was approved by this office July twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy, and the plats of the said survey approved by him November thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy, and forwarded here January nineteenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-one. I have, therefore, to instruct you, in view of the foregoing facts, that you are not empowered to revise and re-try charges upon allegations heretofore made and adjudicated. That the original approval of said plat is not within your jurisdiction, and that, as your duty in the matter will be merely ministerial, you will forward, without unnecessary delay, to the United States Land Office at Susanville, triplicate plats of the survey of township twenty-six north, ranges nine and ten east, and give due notification of the fact to this office. Very respectfully, WILLIS DRUMMOND, Commissioner. SIR: Referring to your letter "G" of March first, inclosing copy of letter from E. D. Coleman, of Plumas County, to Hon. A. A. Sargent, I have the honor to report as follows: The two deputies to whom my attention was directed especially by your letter are D. D. Brown and Thornton F. Battelle. The region comprised within the contract of the latter was of so rugged and mountainous a character as to leave not the slightest ground of suspicion in his case. Mr. Brown happened to be in San Francisco at the time of the receipt of your letter, and I had with him several interviews on the subject of the segregation of swamp lands within the scope of his contract. I had also opportunity to converse with several gentlemen from the same region who were more or less conversant with the subject, and whose interests were on different sides of the matter in dispute. Mr. Brown had not handed in nis field notes, nor had he finally determined upon his segregations of swamp land. He had only performed the half of his contract on account of the approach of Winter in those high mountainous valleys. I could find no facts to implicate him as being connected with any ring of swamp land speculators, or as having made any false segregation in collusion with any one. [Signed] STATE OF CALIFORNIA, SHERMAN DAY, United States Surveyor General. City and County of San Francisco. D. D. Brown, being duly sworn, deposes and says: That in eighteen. hundred and sixty-nine, as United States Deputy under Hon. Sherman Day, he made the survey of township twenty-six north, ranges nine and ten east, Mount Diablo meridian; that after he had made the survey sundry individuals of Sacramento objected to said survey, on the ground that I had not made the segregation as swamp and overflowed land, and threatened to "burst up this survey; "that it being his first contract with the Government he did not exactly know how to proceed; that affiant withheld his field notes of the said survey of said township twenty-six north, ranges nine and ten east, Mount Diablo meridian, until the following July, eighteen hundred and seventy, when he returned to said township and made the segregation, as appears upon the township plat of said township in the United States Surveyor General's office, approved November thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy, by Hon. Sherman Day, United States Surveyor General; that for making said segregation of said township affiant was paid and received his actual traveling expenses and expenses on the ground; that Messrs. Blood, Taylor, Ashheim, R. Huff, L. Huff, et al., and all the settlers upon the swamp land set forth in said township plat agreed to and with affiant to pay him one thousand dollars for the additional work, and as pay for the change of the previous year's work in making said survey and segregation of said township aforesaid. I was notified and told by parties In conclusion, we would express the hope that even at this late day in the session something may be done to protect the justly acquired rights of the settlers upon the public domain lying within the bounds of our State. While those who are seeking through urgent means to reap the fruits of the labors of that class who may well and truly be said to have "borne the burden and heat of the day" in the early career of our people, besiege the halls of legislation in full power and force, this humble class, lacking the means to make themselves heard, their just claims acknowledged, and their rights properly respected, are left in the background, and have consequently been largely the sufferers, through hasty and ill-conceived legislation, cunningly devised and covertly smuggled through by designing and interested parties. The State should no longer place herself in direct antagonism to the honestly acquired rights of the best class of her citizens, whose interests are inseparably connected with their title to the lands they have entered upon in good faith, and by its cultivation added to the material wealth and contributed to the healthy growth and well being of the community. The gross injustice and almost insufferable evils resulting from the improper segregation of lands held and cultivated by this class for years, and through collusion, chicanery, and the basest frauds-abundant evidence of which is given in the foregoing pages-returned as swamp and overflowed, call loudly for reform from those whose province it is to see that equal and exact justice should be meted out to all parties whose grievances demand redress at their hands. It is furthermore to be hoped that the National Congress will without delay pass such enactments as shall prove a permanent check upon the frauds practiced upon this class-the indisputable evidences of which we have herein set forth and placed upon the record. One of the wisest sages of an ancient republic defined that to be the best government, "in which an injury to the humblest citizen should be regarded as an insult to the whole community." It is the duty of the law makers of the land to use every endeavor to protect and perpetuate the right, and to see that the ends of justice are fully accomplished. H. K. TURNER, Senate Committee. J. M. DAYS, J. N. TURNER, LOOMIS WARD. |