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Show PRIVATE LAND CLAIMS 89 Regions Involved Where were these millions of acres of private land claims? They were located in 19 of the public land states (exclusive of Alaska). In eight additional states some questionable claims were presented for confirmation. Their range extended from Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa, through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, to Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, and from Arizona, New Mexico, and California northward to Colorado, Utah, Washington, and Oregon. Most characteristic were the 1 to 5 arpent (63/4 yards) grants fronting on the Detroit and the St. Clair Rivers in Michigan; at Vincennes, Indiana, on the Wabash River; and on both sides of the Mississippi from Natchez to below New Orleans and on other bayous in Louisiana; they extended back from the rivers 40 arpents.4 Some of the Louisiana claims included two depths of 40 arpents each and one extraordinary grant claiming 96 arpents on the Mississippi extended back to Lake Maurepas enabling its owner to claim over 200,000 acres. It was these rich delta or alluvial lands along the Mississippi where cotton and sugar plantations were established in the late 18th and early 19th centuries that made Natchez and New Orleans centers of great wealth and culture. In Alabama there were many claims situated on the Mobile River and its tributaries, the Tombigbee, and the Alabama. Among these was the inflated and fraudulent Hevin-Toulmin claim of 300,000 to 400,000 acres. In Florida there was the huge claim of John Forbes and Company, successor to the fur trading firm of Panton, Leslie and Company. It consisted of 1 million acres west of the Appalachicola River, and a second and larger claim of 1,427,289 acres east of the same river. In north central Florida, midway between the two coasts, there was the Arredondo grant of 289,645 acres which, with other claims 4 A square arpent was .85 of an acre. brought the family's total to 712,000 acres. The Pedro Miranda claim on Tampa Bay amounted to 368,640 acres. The total claims of these families exceeded 3,200,000 acres. Twenty-seven additional Florida claims amounted to 607,000 acres. In Missouri and Arkansas there were also huge claims, largest of which was the Clamorgan claim for 536,000 arpents in Missouri. In Iowa the Dubuque claim of 165,000 arpents was the most extensive. In New Mexico and California the Spanish and Mexican Governments had been particularly lavish in granting lands away for cattle ranges in tracts measured by leagues of 4,426 acres. Averaging 17,760 acres each, 813 claims containing some 14 million acres in all, were recorded in California. Nowhere except in New Mexico and perhaps Texas- which never became part of the public domain and therefore never subject to Federal laws respecting claims under predecessor governments-were grants made so lavishly. Adjudication-a Difficult Task In adjudicating these numerous land claims whose documents, where available, were in French and Spanish as well as in English, the United States undertook a huge task. In no instance were the archives of antecedent governments as complete and as accurate as the basic land records of the United States. Many documents were missing, some of the originals having been lost, misplaced, or burned and parole testimony had to be used in support of legitimate claims. Appointments in the Treasury Department and in the General Land Office, including registers and receivers, surveyors general, commissioners to investigate land claims, clerks in the Washington office, the Commissioner of the Land Office himself, as well as the Attorneys General and their subordinates who were responsible for the defense of the government rights in the land were, after 1828 if not before, all patronage appointments. The result was that, not uncommonly, men unfamiliar with the |
