SCHOOL LANDS. THE FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND ACRES DONATION. in making these locations. There are instances of affidavits having been I would respectfully suggest, through you, to the Legislature, that the School-land Law of April 23, 1858, be so amended and explained as to require the twenty per cent. of the principal, and the ten per cent. interest on the balance to be paid within thirty days after the approval of the Surveyor-General is recorded by the Locating Agent; that the interest shall be considered to date from the approval of the location in the United States Land Office; that the subsequent year's interest be paid yearly in advance, at the rate of ten per cent., until the whole of the purchasemoney is received; and that all affidavits required in applications for land, which have been subscribed to before the Locating Agents, be declared lawful and valid. STATEMENT. At the time the School-land Act of April 23, 1858, was passed, the Balance of 500,000 acres not sold under Warrants, 262,240, which, had been sold School-land Warrants as follows: Nos. from 1 to 838, for 160 acres each at $1 25 per acre, would amount to.. Twenty per cent. of $327,800.. Ten per cent. interest on balance, $262,240........ Total....... ..$327,800 ..$65,560 26,224 .$91,784 Total acres.. School Fund. Counties. STATEMENT. .$475,520 65,560 Which will probably be paid to the County Treasurers before the first of March. Which, deducted from 500,000, leaves a balance of 262,240, to be sold u der the provisions of the Act of 1858. The whole of this amount ha Of this amount, $65,560 will be expended by the Board of Examiners been selected, although full returns have not yet been received at thin the purchase of State Bonds, which will be placed to the credit of the Office. Purchasers, in every instance, preferred to pay twenty per cer The interest-money, $26,224, will be subject to the order of the purchase-money, and interest, at the rate of ten per cent. per of the Board of Education, and by them apportioned to the different num, on the balance. This method of payment is much the best for th School Fund; as, in the event that the full amount of the purchase-mone were paid, the law requires it to be converted into State Bonds, beari The lien up interest only at the rate of seven per cent. per annum. the land is ample security for the payment of the balance. Section six of the Act providing for the sale of these lands, on a cred is obscure in its language, and difficult to be rightly interpreted. reads: "Or if said purchaser prefer, he may pay twenty per cent. of purchase-money, and one year's interest on the balance, in advance, the Register of the State Land Office shall deliver to him a certificate purchase." The law does not say when this money shall be paid, does it provide for the payment of more than one year's interest, altho the credit extends to one year after the locations are approved by General Government. Sold under School Warrants, 237,760 acres, at $2,00...... ..$37,875 60 26,224 00 .$64,099 60 Ten per cent. on $262,240, amount still due for land.. To prevent misunderstanding, I instructed the Locating Agents in case to receive applications unless they were accompanied by an agruary ment to the following effect: The applicant to pay one dollar and twent five cents per acre, when the land is located in the United States La Office, in the following manner-twenty per cent. of the principal, interest on the balance, at the rate of ten per cent. per annum, in advan instances in which, after the locations had been made in the United Sta SCHOOL-LAND WARRANTS. I would respectfully call your attention to the present condition of the School-land Warrants and the lands upon which they have been located. An Act of the Legislature of 1852, provided for the issuance of Warrants for 160 and 320 acres each, one person not being allowed to purchase more than 640 acres; although one man could buy from individuals as many Warrants as he had money to pay for, and locate them to the full The same Act allowed locations to be made upon unsurveyed lands, while the Act of Congress making the grant, expressly provides that the dating as above, from the time of the location. Inasmuch as there selection shall be made of lands surveyed according to existing laws The holder of the Warrant was required to apply to the County Sur veyor to have the land desired to be located, surveyed by lines running to the cardinal points. A copy of the field-notes, certified to be correct by the County Surveyor, was to be recorded in the office of the County Clerk, and then, as far as the provisions of the Act were concerned, the location was complete. Nothing is said as to what disposition shall be made of the Warrant; nor is it even required that the fact of location shall be endorsed upon it. The purchaser of course retained his Warrant, and, if he chose, could sell it to a second party, who, ignorant of the prior location, would proba bly locate it a second time in some other County. We will then suppose a Warrant to have been located a dozen times in this manner, each one having been made in exact conformity to the law Which one will hold? Suppose, again, that A, the original holder of Warrant, locates it upon a certain piece of land: After the location i completed he sells the land to B, and the Warrant to C: C locates the Warrant, in a different part of the State. For which of the two tract of land will the State give title? As the land which A sold to B was the first location, and no float had been made in the manner prescribed by law, the supposition is that it will hold good. But suppose C sell the Warrant to D, and he locates it in the United States Land Office under the provisions of the Act of the Legislature of 1857-many loca tions have been thus made, and in all instances the United States Regis ter retained the Warrants and certified the location to the Department at Washington as a selection of the State-the supposition is, that the United States would patent to the State that tract of land located by D and B would consequently, lose his land. Section twelve of the School-land Act of 1858, provides, "That al School-land Warrants now in circulation, shall be received for schoo lands, and may be located as now provided by law." A number of applications for lands have been received where the par ties agree to for the same with certain School-land Warrants. The pay locations have been made in the name of the State, and I have accepte them as State selections, but in all cases have refused to issue certificate of purchase to the applicant until some action shall be taken in the ma ter by the Legislature. The same Warrant may have been located be fore, and if it is decided that the first is the only valid location, then course the applicant under the Law of 1858 ought not to receive a cert cate. As the Law now stands, the Register has no power to issue certif cates of purchase for locations made in the United States Land Office under the Act of 1857. From information derived from the Registers the United States Land Office and the County Surveyors, I have made ou a list of all the School-land Warrant locations made in the State, showing year's interest, amounting to $4,608, from the unpaid balance, with ing when, where, and by whom, they have been located. This list be found in the Appendix, and I trust will be printed. I do not know that it is entirely complete, but I think it will be found to be nearly 8 By circulating the list, interested parties will be able to find out whethe other locations than their own have been made under the same Warrant and if so, can inform themselves whether the same were properly floated Twenty per cent. of principal, and interest on baletc. By communicating the result of their inquiries to this office, w can in time arrive at a correct knowledge of the true condition of thes Warrant locations. Even the Law of 1858 does not require the Warrants to be cancele after the location is made. This exhibit will show very clearly the advantage to the Fund, of prolonging the credit allowed the purchaser until there is actual need for. the use of the whole principal. By the terms of the Act, it can be called in whenever the Legislature so desires. I would recommend, therefore, that so much of the Act as requires the Board of Examiners, on the twenty-third of April next, to invest $57,600 in State Stocks for the benefit of the Seminary Fund, be repealed, and that provision be made for the purchase of State Bonds, with so much of the principal as may be paid up, with the interest accruing on those Bonds, and with the interest upon that portion of the principal which remains unpaid. PUBLIC BUILDING LANDS. The Act of Congress granting to the State the seminary lands, also donated to her ten sections, or 6,400 acres, to aid in the erection of public buildings. This grant probably escaped the attention of the last Legis lature, as no provision was made for the selection or disposal of the same. As, under the Act making the grant, the Governors of the different States had the power to make these selections, at your suggestion, and as your agent, I last summer proceeded to the country about Clear Lake, for that purpose. I found, however, no vacant land of sufficient value to author ize me in making the selections. I would, therefore, recommend that law be immediately passed, authorizing the sale of the Public Building Lands at the rate of two dollars per acre, twenty-five per cent. of the principal, and ten per cent. per annum interest on the balance, to be paid when the location is approved, and interest to be paid yearly in advance, at the rate of ten per cent. per annum, with the whole of the purchasemoney when called for by Act of the Legislature. The whole grant can thus be disposed of, if the Act is passed sufficiently early in the session to enable parties to locate the lands before the February sales. COUNTY BOUNDARIES. But one survey of a County line has been returned to this office-that between the Counties of Santa Clara and Monterey, under the requisition of the Board of Supervisors of Santa Clara County. A commission was issued to Chas. T. Healy, Surveyor of Santa Clara, as Deputy. Notice was given the Board of Supervisors of Monterey that instructions had been issued, with a request that they would appoint a Commissioner to accompany Mr. Healy. The boundary has been established to the satisfaction of both Counties, and the survey approved. The Board of Supervisors of Placer County made application for a survey of the boundaries of their County and recommended Mr. Elliott, the County Surveyor, as a proper person to establish the lines. I appointed him some time since, but he has not as yet made his returns. Applications for boundary surveys have been received from the Supervisors of Napa and Sonoma Counties. 1 have not as yet deputized any one to perform the work. J. W. Spann.... John G. Corey.. E. B. Ryan...... W. S. Morrow, A. B. Smith... C. R. Bond....... H. Grissim..... Charles Varian.. Charles E. Kelly..... Wm. H. Patton. T. T. Tidball... William H. Angell.... A. J. McKinsey... John S. Dudley.. Benj. H. Brown... N. Nuckalls..... E. B. Beard...... County Assessor of Placer County, County Assessor of Plumas County, ...County Assessor of Sacramento County, (Deputy)......County Assessor of San Bernardnio County, ....County Assessor of San Diego County, ..County Assessor of San Francisco County, ..County Assessor of San Joaquin County, ...County Assessor of San Luis Obispo County, County Assessor of San Mateo County, .County Assessor of Santa Clara County, County Assessor of Santa Cruz County, .County Assessor of Shasta County, County Assessor of Sierra County, County Assessor of Siskiyou County, ..County Assessor of Solano County, ....County Assessor of Sonoma County, ..County Assessor of Stanislaus County, County Assessor of Sutter County, ..County Assessor of Tehama County, County Assessor of Trinity County, ..County Assessor of Tulare County, County Assessor of Tuolumne County, ..County Assessor of Yolo County, ...County Assessor of Yuba County. D. E. Hamblen.. R. B. Robinson... These will be found in the Appendix, and contain a great deal of very valuable information. There have been received this year, reports from: James T. Stratten.. Daniel Small..... E. W. Welton....... Alex. Garbi... .County Surveyor of Alameda County, County Surveyor of San Joaquin County, ..County Surveyor of Santa Clara County, ...County Surveyor of Sierra County, ..County Surveyor of San Francisco County, Some of these reports are also very full, and contain information of much interest to the State at large. They will also be found in the Appendix. STATE LAND OFFICE. The Act creating a State Land Office imposed new and arduous duties upon the Surveyor-General. It was known that the landed interests of the State were in great confusion. Various Acts had been passed, authorizing the sale of both the swamp and the school lands, but, from the fact that no one officer had been intrusted with the care and management of the same, both the purchaser and State were daily suffering, from the uncertain and complicated proceedings necessary to acquire title. Lands to which the State had no title, had been sold by her agents; other lands, undoubtedly her property, had been disposed of by the General Government. In some instances, title for the same tract of land had been issued to two purchasers. Neither the number of acres sold, nor the amount paid for the same, could be arrived at, from the fact that no officer possessed the requisite information. Since my appointment as Register, I have diligently striven to overcome these evils, and bring order out of chaos. My success has not been as great as I could have wished. I have been very much cramped, from the lack of a proper clerical force. It was supposed, by the Legislature of last year, that the fee of three dollars for each certificate of purchase would enable me to pay the clerks necessary to perform the duties of the office. These fees for the year amounted to $798. The duties of the Land Office required the services of three clerks. During the last six months, I have always had one employed-sometimes three. The fees would not properly pay the salary of one. One It will be readily seen the disadvantages under which I have labored. unacquainted with the duties of a Land Office can scarce realize the amount of labor required to perform its duties. During the past year we have sold nearly the whole of the five hundred thousand acre grant, and the seminary lands; also, some ninety thousand acres of swamp land. With the money furnished by you I purchased about one hundred United States Township plats, and, from the contingent fund of my office, about twenty more. These have all been copied on tracing-linen, and transmitted to the Surveyors of the various Counties. Nearly one-half of the time of myself or Clerk has been occupied in giving information to parties desirous of purchasing lands, or to those who, having purchased, and fearing that the titles they had derived from the State were imperfect, wished the opinion of the Office in relation to proper mode of perfecting the same. the The law requires the Register to decide to whom the certificate of purchase shall be issued, when there are conflicting claimants to the land. These contests, about thirty in number, have taken up a large portion of my time. The land in dispute oftentimes did not amount to ten acres, for which the State would receive one dollar per acre. Frequently, per. sonal spite, more than the value of the land, was the cause of contest, yet I would have to hear the testimony of probably a dozen witnesses, in do. ing which time was occupied which could have been employed in a man. ner much more profitable to the State. One reason, probably, of the many contests, was the fact that I made no charge, the law not authoriz ing any. I therefore ask, that the Register be allowed the same fee as a Justice of the Peace, or else that contestants be compelled to go into the Courts, and there settle these claims. I have had employed in the Land Office, for three months or more, a Draughtsman, who has been platting, upon sheets, on a scale of one mile to the inch, the various Districts of the State, showing the lands that have been offered for sale by the United States, the school, swamp, and seminary lands, which have been sold by the State-Rivers, Counties, etc., enabling one, at a glance, to ascertain whether any quarter-section has been sold, how sold, etc., with a reference to the proper Book of Record. They will not be completed for several months. In view of the small amount of fees collected during the last year, I ask that you reccommend an appropriation for the salaries of two clerks, for the month of December last; also, for one from the first of January to the first of July, 1859. I trust that the fees of office will enable me to pay for the additional assistance required, without again calling upon the Legislature for an appropriation. All of which is respectfully submitted. H. A. HIGLEY, Surveyor-General, and Register of Land Office. TAXABLE PROPERTY. |