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Show 410 HISTORY OF PUBLIC LAND LAW DEVELOPMENT Between 1863 and 1869, 1,728 homesteads were entered and some 200 preemptions were filed. Included in the 1,728 tracts were 289,123 acres. The Census of 1870 shows 1,720 farms containing 279,771 acres. The correlation is fairly close, suggesting that in this beginning period the land was being acquired by homesteaders and preemptors for farms. The fact that the average size of farms was only 3 acres over a quarter-section may well be taken as indicating that larger homestead units were not essential in the belt of 20- to 25-inch rainfall. By 1880, 29r704 original homestead entries for 4,547,859 acres had been made in Dakota; 5,465 homesteads for 796,447 acres had gone to final entry. But if we allow for the 5-year lag between original and final entries we find 15,593 of the 29,704 entries had been patented by 1885. Since homestead land became taxable when the final entry had been made, and such land was almost the only source of taxes, as the railroads were extremely slow in taking title and rendering their lands taxable, there was reason for the settlers to delay as long as possible in filing their final entries. John Ise-whose delightful recollections of pioneering in Osborne County, Kansas, are one of the most useful sources for historians of homesteading- in telling about his father proving up on his claim in 1879, says: "He might have done this two or three years earlier, but delayed as long as he could, because when he got his title he had to begin paying taxes on his land."45 In addition to the 29,704 original homesteads, an acreage equal to 2,645 quarter-section preemptions had been purchased, bringing the two types of entries to 32,349. Not to be disregarded were the 17,617 entries of timber culture claims. The annual reports of the Northern Pacific Railroad, whose land grant across 45 John Ise, Sod and Stubble: The Story of a Kansas Homestead (New York, 1936), p. 81. what is now North Dakota amounted to over 9 million acres, offer little information as to sales before 1880, though we do know that considerable quantities of land were taken in the Red River Valley in exchange for goods and were being developed as bonanza farms.46 Despite all the homestead and preemption entries and the uncertain number of farms created on land acquired from the railroad, the Census of 1880 shows only 17,435 farms containing an average of 223 acres each. The reasons for this disparity seem to be: (1) some original homestead entries were relinquished (sold to others) or abandoned and entered again; (2) some homesteaders acquired a preemption either before or after they filed for a homestead; (3) some homesteaders had made such slight improvements as to be passed over by the census taker or were absent when he made his visit; (4) some homesteaders may have bought adjacent land of the railroad. The bonanza farms with their huge acreages-one farm alone contained 38,000 acres-account for the high average size of Dakota farms at this early period. By 1878 an increasing number of homesteaders were commuting their entries at the end of 6 months from the original entry, paying $1.25 an acre and gaining title. Also a growing number were relinquishing their claims for a payment that might aid them in getting started agairr elsewhere and permit them to carry their entries to title. As early as 1871 the traffic in relinquish-ments and the sale of claims had become so common as to attract the attention of William H. H. Beadle, surveyor general, located at Yankton, Dakota Territory. Beadle reported that men with some means coming into the territory found it easy to pick up relinquishments or patent titles which they were holding unused for the 46 Harold E. Briggs, Frontiers of the Northwest. A History of the Upper Mississippi Valley (New York, 1940), pp. 509 ff. |