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Show 104 HISTORY OF PUBLIC LAND LAW DEVELOPMENT new board, possibly influenced by a line of decisions the Supreme Court had begun rendering in 1830, proceeded in its reports of 1834 and 1835 to overturn earlier decisions and to confirm 345 claims and to reject 152. All the prominent families of St. Louis were among those generously treated, the Chou-teau family being confirmed in 38,000 ar-pents, the Pratte family in 20,000 arpents, the St. Vrain family in 16,000 arpents, the Mackay and Lorimier families being each confirmed in 30,000 arpents, the DeLassus family in 65,000 arpents, and the Gratiot family in 10,000 arpents, and a 14,102-arpent claim confirmed to Carlos de Villemont.49 Of claims over a thousand arpents, 87 were confirmed for a total of 570,000 arpents or an average of 6,551 arpents. The Commissioner of the General Land Office and Congress still had to pass on these claims but they had made a marked step forward with the report of the board. Most of the claims which this new board rejected were small settlement rights, but they did include two Clamorgan claims of 536,904 and 500,000 arpents, a ridiculous claim of 112,895 of the Vicar General of Louisiana, and a claim of Regis Loisel of 44,800 arpents.50 Such liberal treatment of Missouri claimants by the Board of Land Commissioners brought forth a strong protest from Richard K. Call, assistant counsel on land claims to the Commissioner of the General Land Office. Call took the position, after a detailed examination of Spanish land law and customs, that titles to land equivalent to the English fee simple title were not confirmed under Spanish law until the grantees had performed the condition of habitation and cultivation. He and Judge Peck made much of the fact that strict orders concerning the granting process had been issued to Spanish officers in Missouri and that they, in effect, suppressed and 49 For a petition protesting confirmation of the de Villemont claim see American State Papers, Public Lands, VIII, 544. 50 American State Papers, Public Lands, VI, 703-901; VII, 773-907; and VIII, 20-243. made grants without regard to such restrictions. Neither Missourians nor land claimants in Louisiana and Florida were ready to accept Call's interpretation, nor, in fact, were the courts.31 Congress quite generally approved the confirmations made by the Boards of Land Commissioners, except where it had authorized appeals to the Supreme Court. In an Act of July 4, 1836, it confirmed all the titles approved by the board but added an interesting provision, that "nothing in this act shall apply to ..." and then it listed the owners of 29 claims with the number of arpents to which the act did not apply. At least three of these claims were later to be accepted by the Supreme Court and scrip was issued to the owners, since the land had long since been sold.52 In their final report of December 10, 1835, the Board of Land Commissioners spurned the imputation of fraud cast upon the Spanish and French claims on September 8, 1806, by Albert Gallatin; it declared that his views were founded upon imperfect knowledge of the customs and regulations of the Spanish provinces.53 Meantime, the Supreme Court was finally prepared to act on Spanish claims. Between 1830 and 1834 it rendered 14 decisions confirming Florida claims-including the Ar-redondo claim of 289,645 arpents, the Levi claim of 65,000 arpents, and the Fleming and Hernandez claims each of 20,000 arpents- thereby abandoning the more rigid scrutiny of the laws and grants previously applied by the boards and judges. In 1835 it decided two Chouteau cases and a DeLassus case, one each 51 American State Papers, Public Lands, VIII, 789-871. 52 5 Stat. 126. Israel Dodge, Walter Fenwick, and Mackey Wherry were later to get scrip for their 7,050-arpent, 10,000-arpent, and 1,600-arpent claims. The floating claim of Louis Lorimier for 30,000 arpents was confirmed by the Land Commissioners but whether this was the same claim which the Act of 1836 excluded is not clear. 53 American State Papers, Public Lands, VIII, 21. |