Show RUSH BUSH V VALLEY reservation discussion in the U S house of 0 up m the billor the sale of prush jrush valley military reservation Ke may 23 1874 MR dir COBURN from the committee on military affairs a bill ff R no to provide for the sale of the rush valley military reservation in the territory of utah w which aich was read a first and second time the bill authorizes the secretary of war to relinquish and turn over to the department of the interior for restoration to the public domain the rush ralley balley military reserva tion tiola in utah territory the secretary SE ere cre tary of the interior is to cause the reservation to be surveyed and divided into lots of such form and such quantities of acres as shall be calculated as far as possible to promote the public interest inhere st by a suitable division of the water privileges le within the reservation lie he is to offer such lots jots severally at public sale to the lovest lowest J bidder not below the minimum price provided bylaw by law and any lots left unsold after atter such coffle offering in at public sale shall be held for disposal as other p public lands notice of such public sale is to bo be advertised for sixty six ty days in two newspapers one in the capital of the territory of utah and the other at a point nearest to the th place pla pia C of sale MB nir coburn I 1 ask that eliat the report be read the bill proposes a peculiar subdivision and the report will show the reason why that is recommended the report was read it states that it appears that the reservation is no longer lenger required for military purposes and nd has not been since early in 1869 when the secretary of war recommended that it be disposed lis ils posed of as public land this reservation is situated in townships 4 and 5 south of range 5 west of salt lake meridian meri merl and in the territory of utah these lands are some thirty five or forty miles southwest of salt lake city and in a region that is settled the lands are valuable on account of streams of water and rush lake which is central in the reservation the letter of general oj ord rd commander or of the department part ment of the platte dated december 20 1873 shows that several mills and other buildings have been erected on the reservation and that the water courses and lakes are of great value to smelters shelters sm elters and mill owners he says further that the great value of a portion of this reservation will induce if it has not already induced interested parties to try and secure a large share of it without having a just claim thereto and that on account of the scarcity of water in the vicinity and its necessity to mill owners the lands as far as practicable should be sold with a due reg regard ard to the interests of all concerned concern 0 and a nd only after careful surveys and divisors divi sons of the water privileges into luto small smail lots these suggestions seem to the committee reasonable and well calculated to protect the interests of the government and to secure fair dealing among settlers unless some provisions of law aro arm made to guard these interests serious consequences may follow af mr r DUNNELL I 1 do riot not see that the interests of the settlers are protected in this bill the report says that they should be protected but the bill provides no protection for them the same subject has been beeri before the committee on public lands if I 1 am not mistaken mr nir COBURN I 1 wish to say in answer to the gentleman from mini desota that these men if t there here are any of them there have bave encroached upon this military reservation and en 1 the object of the bill is odly opy ody to pro vide vid for such subdivision land that there can be no monopoly of this water power on eriv privileges ile lle t es there these men are not prevent prevented sd who may have gone in Inand and encroached upon the public lands they are not prevented from buying but it is expressly provided the lands shall be surveyed and subdivided with reference to these water privileges of course men who have gone there without authority of law can have the same privilege as other persons to purchase they certainly ought not to have any higher privileges because they have gone gotie there with full notice that they had no right to go upon these lands that it was the public domain mat that it wasa was a mill military tary reservation whatever they mako maho make by having settled there they mak mako o clear of the government vern ment there is no shadow of right on the part of these men and they cannot an not complain compla n of any of the provisions of this bill they are are aro allowed the same privileges privilege i as others mr nir DUNNELL I 1 wish to call the tile attention of the chairman of the committee on military affairs again to the letter of the secretary of war saying that the of these settlers should be protected I 1 hold in my hand the bill now before the committee on the public lands which reads as follows follow st that the secretary of warms war is hereby authorized to ti transfer to the custody and control of the secretary of the interior to be restored to the public lands the abandoned military reservation at rush bush lake in the territory of utah and the se secretary detary of the interior shall cause the same to be surveyed and offered for legal subdivisions at per acre aero provided that the improvements owned by individuals on the lands hereby restored before the passage of this thi tiet shall be the sole soled property of such individuals who shall have priority of right to purchase not exceeding three handled and twenty aeres fteres of land in adjacent quarter sec sections eions containing and adjoining said improvements prove ments and all ail allot of said lands lambs shall be sold and disposed or of for cash only and within the land office having jurisdiction 1 etien of the lands hereby re restored nored I 1 now mr speaker I 1 offer t thi s abill ill lil as a substitute for the bill ie reported orte from the committee on military affairs the SP SPEAKER earen eaker does the genth gentleman from indiana yield for that purpose mr COBURN I 1 decline to yield mr dunnells DU I 1 wish to say fk a word it is in the history of many of the these se military reservations that settlers have been invited upon them by the military commanders mr nir COBURN Is that part of the history of this military reservation MR mn DUNNELL I 1 do not say MY i it isk is true in regard to this reservation 1 MR nip COBURN I 1 say it is not MR DUNNELL I 1 lubow knois it to bi ber true in regard to many military re reservations ions lons that honest men whom my friend from indiana denominated squatters have gone on these military reservations in good faith falth have made farms and large ampro improvements and of all i these bills reported from froin the committee on military affairs today to day in not a single one of them is there thure any provision for the protection of these settlers 1 the gentleman says they are squatters he says they have no po rights I 1 say they have rights in in many instances there are improvements prove ments on many of these reservations which are very large and valuable in all other instances we see seek k to allow for these improvements I 1 MR nir ALBRIGHT how did they tiley acquire their rights upon these military reservations MR rhu dussell DUNNEM I 1 have said nir already r that in many instances individual settlers were not only allowed to go upon these military reservations but were invited there as butlers or mechanics MR mn ALBRIGHT AX BRIGHT whatever rights they tiley have acquired are merely the rights of tenants MR hill dussell DUNNELL our alegn legislation atlon heretofore has had for its object to protect protect the settler no matter how fie ito he got on the public lands to pro teet him as far as possible in his improvements I 1 say my it is humane and wise legislation mr nir ravi rasi LAVi lence tENCE I 1 will ask the gentleman from minnesota whether these settlers have not made improvements which constitute a large largo part of the value of land mr bussell busnell bus bUX dussell DUNNELL sell NELL that is tr true ue I 1 wish to call attention to the fact that there have been today to day more bills than I 1 have ever seen any other time timo during this session reported for tho the sale of these military reservations that is about a nil nii I 1 the committee on military affairs lias ilas reported bills for tho the sale of these military reservations to my mind this demand for the sale of these military reservations is exceedingly significant mr ALBRIGHT Alinn GliT the demand cones coes from the settlers themselves themselves mr these men who ask for this expect congress will protect them thein and not abandon them to tho the merc mere mercy y of speculators in the publio public lands mr DONNAN domsa T squatters upon the public alic lands have no equitable rights mr nor has there been any more fruitful source of corruption than in the public sale of the military reservations these sales are got up and are engineered and manipulated in advance and the sale itself is a mere farce when some of these sales ales are to be made some obscure newspaper perhaps a thousand miles off on will announce them while the parties in the immediate vicinity will know nothing about it I 1 protest against this wholesale mode of selling the military reservations of the country mr ncr coburn the gentleman from wisconsin makes the most roost remarkable argument on this point conceivable he objects in the interest of the growth of the country to the sale of military reservations why sir the true policy of the country is to sell military reservations ions and to let iet settlers sett jema iema come in upon them who that is in favor of the settlement of the western country can object to the disposal of military reservation reservations 04 that is the last position which a man ought to assume upon this floor in regard to this matter W sir itis it is to into the treasury ceasur I 1 a and not as the gentleman would provide lovide to keep money mosey out of it his is emm efm mort lort is to give this land to these men for noth nothing ing or to give it to these men at the very most at per acre while we provide that it shall be sold at public auction and bring a higher price if there be any question of money in this matter it is in favor of these bills that the military committee have reported today to day we are constantly providing that these lands instead of being taken for bothi nothing ag by squatters or at per acre shall be put up at fair bidding after public notice and sold to the highest bidder the gentleman talks about jobs being set up the way sir sin to set up a job is to follow his adai advice ce what job can there be in advertising land to be sold at public sale to the highest bidder after long notice what man with any honest instincts would dare to make an insinuation of that kind against the committee why sir everything that has been done in relation to these reservations by the committee on military affairs afa irs has been ten thousand lagg jagt leagues e 1 in n advance of anything that h has 8 b been en coneby done by the committee on the public lands in relation to saving money to the treasury and protecting the interests of the government and in relation to fair dealing as to the sale of these lands I 1 malte malee no insinuations against the gent lemans committee or any other but I 1 do say the way to gettie most money is to have a public sale after a fair notice so that every one can come to it who will and now let me say bay just one word as to the settlements on these lands how cau a man get a legal settlement on a military reservation more than on an ordinary tract of land which is not declared and defined by the powers of the government to be a reservation the setting off of a reservation is a notice to all the world and a notice to squatters that they must not nott encroach upon I 1 it t and that thab if they go upon it they do so with a full notice and fair understanding that they have no shadow of right there mr DUNNELL I 1 desire to say just one word in reply to the gentleman from indiana aly objection to this mode of returning these reservations 3 is that these lands lauds are practically taken away from the men who wish to get them for farms I 1 say that when a milita y reservation ceases to be of value to th the 0 government as such it should be returned to the control of the interior De department t to be opened to sei clement under tinder the preemption pre emption and homestead laws as though that land had neverseen never been thusie thus reserved it ou ought 0 lit to be opened and riot dot made a m matter atter of speculation on the part of the government ora or a source of revenue those land should be opened and put into the hands handa of those who desire them for agricultural purposes and for actual settlement I 1 say that those men who are on the frontier and are seeking homes are not in condition to compete with the rings lings that may be got up to buy off these lands and the ettler hettler fc who desires to farm should have lavo lave it atone at one dollar and cents per acre though men stood ready to pay the government ten dollars per acre we lia ila havo have ve adopted the homestead principle and the preemption pre emption principle and because a piece of land was once a military reservation the government ought not to take that land hand and speculate with it but should leb let it be subject to the same laws as all the other agricultural lands of the country are subject to I 1 wish to say only this that when it is proposed to sell out our military reservations to such speculators and not let those lands go back to preemption and settlement I 1 must protest against it when the settlers stand ready to buy and want them at one dollar and twenty five cents perR per pera acre cre mr nir conurs COBURN I 1 yield to my colleague on the committee the gentleman from iowa mr donnan Don nan nau mr donns I 1 wish to call the attention of thel the louse house to the fact that the gentleman from minnesota nir mr dunnell does not in rby iby judgment submit the question to the house as he should do A proposition like that submitted by him which enables the public reservations of the country to be sold at a dollar and a quarter all an acre would be absolutely putting those thole reservations reservation sr and most valuable ones it may be bey into the hands of land speculators where the united states have held of a er until the country all around aro it is settled and until the land has become valuable as for instance in a case in regard to which I 1 hold a bill in my hand which I 1 shall report the land being worth probably fifty dollars an acre today ay in such a case does the gentleman from minnesota propose to argue to this house that it is the duty of Gion congress gress to provide that the land shall be sold at a doll dollar arand and a quarter an acre or that men who may have squatted upon the reservation when its boundaries were definitely settled by the government and they had no legal rights 7 in it whatever does lie he main maln maintain tain that therefore they r should be protected or if I 1 may use the expression should have the inside track and that as settlers ou on the public domain or as homesteaders they should get possession of land worth from fifty to one hundred dollars an acre and yet yeat if that should not be done in this case it is not true in any case it Is ig only a question of degree J I 1 r say that the committee on military affairs have presented this question to the house in in proper form that is that the public property of the country when sold should bo be sold for what it is worth so that the govern government men t may realia realize 0 its full value mr colbur COBURN I 1 now call the previous question mr LAWRENCE I 1 desire to |