Box 23, Folder 4: Wisconsin: Geographical & Topographical 1844

34 PUBLIC LANDS.

[Chart of Sections in the North, East, South, and West.]

At the corners of each section, four trees are marked, (one standing on each section) by the Surveyor, with the number of the township, range and section, thus:

T7 T7 T7 T7 R 14 R14 R14 R14 S14 S15 S22 S23

377.706 acres [offered?] at GBay 1845 5,737.085 subject to entry in Wis June 30- 1846

MINERAL LANDS. 35

These marks represent the corners, at which sections 14, 15, 22 and 23 come together.

By means of these marks, aided by a "sectional map," a person can, at any place in the woods, find his exact position, and relative situation, and the distance from other places.

The sections are divided into quarters of one hundred and sixty acres; and the quarters are divided by a line running north and south, into two equal half quarters, or eighty acre lots. They are designated as the east or west half of the quarter.

At the land sales in the Mineral Point District, all those tracts on which lead mines or diggings were found, or on which they were supposed to exist, were reserved to the United States, and have not yet been sold. These lands are claimed or occupied by miners, who hope to obtain a pre-emption to them from Congress. They were at first leased, under certain regulations by the government, for a rent of ten per centum of all the lead raised. This rent they are not now required to pay. Many veins or mines of lead have been discovered since the sale, on lands belonging to individuals; and it is supposed that these now yield as much lead as those on the reserved or public land. Any attempt, therefore, to collect the rent lead, would have the effect to cause the public mines to be abandoned, as the occupants could not compete with their neighbors who have no rent to pay. Hence it is believed that the best policy for the government to pursue is to dispose of these reserved lands, as other public lands are disposed of.

36 MINERAL LANDS.

The Register of the Land Office at Mineral Point, in a letter to the Commissioner of the General Land Office,* says, that "among the regulations for the government of the mining country, there was one which required that a mining lot should be two hundred and twenty yards square, (ten acres) and bounded by lines running due east, west, north and south. The usual course adopted by persons wishing to try their fortunes in the business of mining, was to seek out an unoccupied spot, where they supposed they could find lead, and commence digging. If they found ore in sufficient quantities to warrant a continuance of labor, they would measure off their ground and fix their corner stakes, and then continue their works until they traced their discovery to a valuable vein or sheet, or found it to de delusive. In a vast majority of cases the labor expended in these attempts to discover lead ore was entirely lost; and there are instances where men have expended years of labor, and large sums of money, and have never had the good fortune to discover a valuable vein or sheet or ore; consequently the property of the miner, in a valuable vein or discovery of lead ore is held inviolable by most of the residents of the country; its sacredness is recognized by the courts and juries of the country; and he clings to it with a tenacity which will admit of no relaxation. The lots claimed would probably embrace about three thousand acres. They are the sole dependence of numerous families; their value has been discovered by — *Dated March 23, 1838.

CANAL LANDS. 37

the labor and perseverance of the mines; and were they disposed of them by government, their families would be reduced to want. It is thought that the miners have an equitable and just claim on the government for aid and protection; they accepted its invitation to labor upon its territory and to develop its wealth; they have staked off, and labored for years upon some five or six hundred ten acre lots, and have paid the government about two hundred and thirty thousand dollars for the privilege."

Efforts are not making to induce Congress to change its highly impolite course in relation to these mineral lots and reserved lands, and to dispose of them to individuals. It is believed that this course would have a very beneficial effect upon the state of the mines, and even upon the character of the miners themselves.

The Milwaukee and Rock River Canal Company, in 1838, in pursuance of authority granted in their charter, applied to Congress, on behalf of the Territory, and secured a grant or donation of land, consisting of all the "sections and fractional sections which are numbered with odd numbers on the plats of public surveys within the breadth of five full sections, taken in north and south tiers on each side of said canal, from one end thereof to the other." This grant is made to the Territory to aid in the construction of the canal; and the land (as well as the even numbered sections within the same distance from the canal,) cannot be sold for less than two dollars and fifty cents per acre, being double the usual minimum price of public

[illegible] for 4 years $6,354.74 Expenses — same time 26,111.11 ! Poles [message?]

about 1,000.00 acres of mineral land [secured?]

38 UNIVERSITY.

lands. Consequently the government, by taxing double price for the even sections, realize exactly the same amount of money from the sale of these lands as if the grant or donation had not been made.

In July, 1839, a sale of Canal lands was held at Milwaukee, at which forty-three thousand four hundred and forty-seven acres were sold to the occupants of the land, at the minimum price of two dollars and fifty cents per acre, upon the following terms: one tenth of the purchase money was paid at the time of the sale; one-fourth of the remainder to be paid within five years, one-fourth within six years, one-fourth within seven years, and one-fourth within eight years, with interest after the twenty-second day of June, 1840, at the rate of seven per centum, payable semi-annually. The amount of money received at this sale, was twelve thousand three hundred seventy-seven dollars and twenty-seven cents.

The purchasers at this sale, feeling the unjustness of being compelled to pay double price for their lands, have induced the Legislature to remit the interest due; to repeal all laws authorizing further sales, and even to decline having any thing further to do with the grant, and to ask Congress to repeal the act making the same, so that the lands may revert back to the general government, and be sold as other public lands, at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre.