CHAPTER XXII. GRADUATION ACT. The graduation act of August 4, 1854, and amendments, was to "cheapen the price of lands long in market for the benefit of actual settlers and for adjoining farms." It graduated the price of public lands, which had been in market and remained unsold for ten years and upward, to actual settlers, the prices varying from $1 to 124 cents per acre, according to the length of time the tracts were in market, respectively. All lands that had been in the market for ten years, and were unsold, were to be sold at $1 per acre; for fifteen years or upward, and remaining unsold, were to be sold at 75 cents per acre; for twenty years or upward, and remaining unsold, were to be sold at 50 cents per acre; for twenty-five years or upward, and remaining unsold, were to be sold at 25 cents per acre; for thirty years or more, and remaining unsold, were to be sold at 12 cents per acre. Thousands of entries were made under the provisions of this act, and in pursuance of regulations made by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, the periods and principles of which were confirmed by act of Congress of March 3, 1855. These entries were of two classes: The first, consisting of such as were made by persons already residing upon and cultivating adjoining farms, and who entered the lands for the use of such farms; and the second, consisting of such as were made by parties who either already were settlers and cultivators of the entered tracts, or who contemplated at once becoming such. In entries of the first class, if on examination at the General Land Office they were found regular in every respect, as reported from the district land offices; if the preliminary affidavit of the person on which the entry was allowed was found to designate the original farm tract, and this to adjoin the tract entered for its use, according to law, the entries were patented and the patents delivered in regular course, without further proof being required. In entries of the second class, proof that settlement and cultivation of the entered tract had been made as contemplated in the law was required to be produced before the patents were delivered. Many entries of this class were made, the proof of settlement and cultivation produced, and the patents delivered according to rule; but there were many other cases in which the required proof was not forthcoming, and in these the delivery of the patents was suspended to await its production. Under the confirmatory act of March 3, 1857, the patents were delivered, on application therefor, without the proof being required in all such cases, where the entry was allowed prior to the passage of that act, and where it was not found to have been fraudulently or evasively made. Subsequent to the passage of that act, and prior to the 2d June, 1862, when the graduation law was repealed, a large number of entries were allowed under that law, and in the course of business there came to be many patents for entries so allowed, the delivery of which was suspended for the reason that the required proof of settlement and cultivation was not forthcoming. To this class of cases the confirmatory principles of the act of March 3, 1857, were made applicable by the act of February 17, 1873, and the issuing of patents has since continued. The quantity of land sold under the graduation law of August 4, 1854, as shown from the General Land Office reports, is 25,696,419.73 acres. Lands sold at graduation prices in the third quarter, ending September 30, 1862, after the repeal of the graduation law, June 2, 1862, and before district officers were aware of such repeal, are included in the above. CHAPTER XXIII. COAL LANDS. Prior to 1864 coal lands were not specifically noted for reservation or sale, but were disposed of as other public lands under settlement or other laws, until the passage of the pre-cmption act of 1841. The act of Congress of July 1, 1864, for the disposal of coal lands and town property on the public domain, authorized the sale of the coal lands which had been excluded from sale, as mines, by the pre-emption act of 1841. Under this act they became subject to pre-emption at the minimum of $20 per acre, after offering, under proclamation of the President, at public sale to the highest bidder, in suitable legal subdivisions. March 3, 1865, an act was passed by Congress supplemental to the act of July 1, 1864, giving citizens of the United States, who were engaged in coal mining for commerce, the right to enter, at the proper district land office, 160 acres of land, or less, at $20 per acre. The act of March 3, 1873, gave a pre-emption right of 160 acres of coal land to a person, and 320 acres to an association, upon payment of not less than $10 per acre, where the lands lie not more than 15 miles from a completed railroad, and $20 per acre where the lands lie within 15 miles of such a road; and further provided that when any association of not less than four persons have expended $5,000 in working and improving any mine, located within limits as above, they may make an additional entry of 640 acres at the several limit prices. (See secs. 2347-2352 R. S.; Regulations of General Land Office, April 15, 1880.) The rectangular system of surveys is extended over coal lands, and they are sold in conformity with the legal subdivisions thereof. The method of designation or classification, by noting character of land in field notes by deputy surveyor, and marking on plats, when known, or of proof at the district land office prior to time of filing, is similar to the method of segregation under the mineral act, and is given in detail in the Regulations of the General Land Office, April 15, 1880. ESTIMATE OF AREA OF COAL MEASURE. The estimated area of coal lands on the public domain, the property of the United States, is as follows: Arizona, no coal yet discovered. Nebraska, the coal-bearing rocks cover an area of 3,600 square miles, but on account of the smaliness of the veins-none exceeding one foot-the coal is of no commercial value. Indian Territory, the coal-bearing rocks cover an area of 13,600 square miles. Arkansas, the coal-bearing rocks cover an area of 12,000 square miles. Total acres. .. 5,528, 970 New discoveries in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Dakota will increase the amount given above considerably. ENTRIES UNDER THE COAL LAND ACTS. From 1866 to June 30, 1880, under the coal land acts there have been 78 entries at district land offices, containing 10,750.24 acres, for which the United States received $146, 999.25, as follows: Cash sales of coal lands by fiscal years to June 30, 1880-Continued. Amount. Entries. Acres. 1870. Amount. 200.00 $4,000 00 1 160.00 Entries. 200.00 4,000 00 1 160.00 California Oregon 1 Utah 160.00 $1,600 00 2 400.00 4,000 00 3,100 00 New Mexico CHAPTER XXIV. DONATION ACTS. TERRITORY OF EAST FLORIDA, OREGON TERRITORY, WASHINGTON TERRITORY, AND TERRITORY OF NEW MEXICO. August 4, 1842, in view of Indian difficulties therein, in "An act for the armed occupation and settlement of the unsettled part of the peninsula of East Florida," Congress provided "that any person being the head of a family, or a single man over eighteen years of age," able to bear arms, who had made or should "within one year from and after the passage of this act make an actual settlement within," a certain portion of the peninsula, should be entitled to one-quarter section of land for which he should receive a permit. The whole donation was limited to 200,000 acres of land. This was the first of the donation acts to induce settlements on the public domain in dangerous or distant portions of the nation. By an amendatory act of the 15th of June, 1844, settlers might erect their dwellings and reside upon other than the quarter section described in their permit, provided the lands upon which they erected their habitation should be paid for; and authority was given to certain settlers to perfect their title to the quarter sections described in their permits, by paying for the same. And by an act approved July 1, 1848, all persons to whom permits were granted, and who made settlement without having voluntarily relinquished and abandoned the same, but continued to reside south of the line specified in the act of 1842, were declared entitled "to a grant and patent for the land so occupied or settled by him, the same as if all the conditions and stipulations of said acts had been fully and strictly complied with." This act also provided for an agent to take testimony, and required him, within five months from the commencement of his duties, to transmit all proofs and report his opinion to the Commissioner of the General Land Office for decision. Accordingly, Hugh Archer, esq., of Florida, was appointed agent on the 18th of August, 1848. His duties commenced on the 12th of October, 1848, and terminated on the 12th of March, 1849. By a clause in the general appropriation act of June 3, 1849, the provisions of the act of July 1, 1848, were extended until the 1st of October, 1849. There were no entries made under the act of August 4, 1842, but it was amended after 1843. This act resulted in the patenting of 1,317 claims, as follows: Number of entries made under the armed-occupation act of August 4, 1842, with the approximate acreage, and number of entries made in each land district in Florida. |