Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 September 1885 — LUMBERMEN FRIGHTENED. [ARTICLE]

LUMBERMEN FRIGHTENED.

Some 816,000,000 Worth of Public Lands Declared Public Domain. [Washington dispatch. I Secretary Lamar has rendered a decision in regard to the Ontonagon land grant, which is calculated to make a commotion among a number of prominent capita'ists in the West. For several years efforts have been made in one guise and another to get a confirmation by act of Congress for the title to a large amount of lands in Northern Michigan. This land was withdrawn from sale because it was granted to the Ontonagon & Brule River Railroad. In spite of repeated directions from the General Land Office the land agents at the Marquette Land Office sold these lands right along to lumbermen at $1.25 per acre. For years these purchasers have paid taxes on these lands. Settlers who could defy the purchasers went and built bouses and cleared farms on the tract, trusting to time to give them title. The lumbermen claim they bought in good faith and should be given patents. The last bill before Congress proposed to confirm titles only where there was no counter-claim by settlers. The property is worth from $16,000,000 to $20,000,001), and covers a number of mines and several fine, growing villages. The question of title was argued recently by ex-Senator McDonald for the settlers, and Assistant Secretary Jenks wrote the decision which Secretary Lamar has, after careful consideration, approved. It simply upsets the cash-entry men and throws into the public domain the greater portion of the land in question.