Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 May 1887 — Ten Million Acres More. [ARTICLE]

Ten Million Acres More.

There are over 10,000.000 of acres of the finest grazing and farming lands in Dakota lying west and north of Devil’s Lake, which have been withheld from the operations of the homestead and pre-emption laws because of the questionable claims of a small band of Turtle Mountain Chippewas to the land. In January, 188(5, Surveyor General Taylor, of Dakota, contracted for the surveys of 1,50 ',OOO acres of these lands in compliance with existing relations, but in less than a month, w.ih characteristic ignorance and perversity, Commissioner Sparks issued an order indefinitely postponing ths surveys, and even went so far as to decline to place on file plats of several townships surveyed under contracts approved prior to the. action suspending surveys, after their examination in the fie d and tlieir correctness was affirmed. Mr. H. C. Green, as contractor for these surveys, appealed .to the Secretary of the Interior, who has recently overruled the Land Commissioner’s action amt ordered that the suspended contracts be approved and plats of surveys already made be tiled in the proper local land offices for disposal under the land laws. The Surveyor General has instructed the contractors to proceed with the surveys as rapidly as possible. This action causes great rejoicing among the settlers in the Devil’s Lake land district, hundreds of whom nettled upon unsurveyed lands after the reversal, in 1882, by Secretary Teller, ol the order of Secretary Schurz, made two years previous, withholding the lands from occupancy. Secretary Teller, in his opinion, now affirmed by Secretary Lamar, says: “I am of the opinion that the claim is not well founded, yet if it should appear on a careful examination of the facts that such a claim does exist, it will be the duty of the Government to make proper compensation to the Indians. I do not think nearly 10,000,005 acres of valuable lands, on which a great number of settlers are now located, should be withheld from the operations of the homestead and pre-emption laws because a question has been raised whether the small'Daticr of Indians (not exceeding three hundred) have a claim on this land or not. It is not contended by anyone that the Government has recognize 1 this claim of the Indians by treaty with them, and the Indians make no" use of the land except to roam over it, not cultivating, I 'tliitik, any of it.” ” The vast tract of land now opened to settlement possesses natural advantages unsurpassed by any other part of Dakota. If? lands are exceedingly fertile, affording the choicest pasturage, and producing wheat of the finest qua'ity, and rivaling that of the famous Saskatchewan country. There is an abundance of wood along the streams, providing cheap lumber, as well' as fuel for the eirly settlers. The extensive coal deposits of the Turtle Mountains, and in the ’Mouse River valley, insure cheap fuel for the future, and invite manufacturing industries. The removal of all barriers to the settlement and development of the country will hasten the completion and extension of the Cando, Bottineau, and other projected branches of the Manitoba Railroad Company. With its free lands, wealth and diversity of natural resources, and present and prospective facili_tieg_foi- reaching the primary market*, we know of no region offering so many inducements to intending enTgrants. —-—~ During the next two or three years we shall witness a tide of immigration into the extreme northern part of Dakota, and a transformation of virgin prairies into fine farms, and homes of prosperous and happy people, scarcely equaled in the history of Dakota, and which was impossible in tlie settlement of other States and Territories.— North Dakota Farmer.