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Imperial Valley Press. VOL. VIII. ACCEPTANCE OF RESURVEY OPENS VALLEY UNO TO ENTRY iPlats of Fourteen Townships Sent From Washington and the -Remainder Soon to Follow.— Formal Filing Set for Feb. 23 by Land Office,— Excess Strips Withheld from Entry Pending Legislation to Protect Bona Fide Occupants. . ■/:■ .is■- . In fulfillment of the promise of ad vancement of the work on the plats of- the Imperial Valley survey obtain ed by Senator Flint from the General Land Office, the plats of nine of the twenty resurveyed township's hatfe "been approved and sent to the Los . Angeles Land Office and will be filed .formally, In accordance with the land law, On February 23. , Five other .'plats have been accepted and are on the way' to Los Angeles, leaving six of the resurveyed townships under -consideration in the General Land Of fice. - The nine plats now in Los Angeles, to be filod February 23, comprise the seven townships surveyed under the Vickery contract and- two west of Brawley as follows: 13 south, 13 east; 13 south, 15 east; 13 south, 16 east, -and the east half of township 13 south, 12 east; townships, 14 south, 15 east; 14 south,. 16 east; 15 south, 15 east; 15 south, 16 east; 16 south, 16 -east, : all San Bernardino base and meridian. , Six of the townships are In District ..No. 5, one In No. 7, and two in "No. 8. ' Identification of the plats in Los An geles papers and "in the Imperial Standard vls confused and erroneous. ' The Times says: "According to a special dispatch from Washington, fourteen additional plats have been forwarded to the Sur veyor General of this State, and about twenty more townships are being sur veyed. - These probably will be sent ■ -on in small lots when approved." That is all mixed up. The dispatch ■ probably stated the facts that the re survey covers twenty townships and that fourteen plats In all have been forwarded, including the nine already : received at Los Angeles. -Mr . The Standard makes It appear that * the plats of the entire survey have . been received, giving the numbers as ' "13 to 16 south, 11 to 16 east; 17 south 15 to 16 east, all-inclusive." The law provides that notice of the filing of shall be given' through the press and by posting at least thlr- j ty days before the filing takes effect, and the officials at Los Angeles hare set the date at February 23 to give ample time for notification. On and .after that date, the Register and Re ceiver at Los Angeles will receive ap plications for entry in the townships . designated. Following is the official notice given by the Land Office. •United States Land Office, , los Angeles, Cal., Jan. 5, 1909. Notice is hereby given that Town ships 13 South, Range 13 East; 13 South, i 5 East; 13 South 16 East; and the East half of Township 13 South, 12 East; Townships 14 South 16 East; 14 ■.South, 16 East; 15 South, 15 East; 15 flouth, 16 East; 16 South. 16 East, all San Bernardino B and M have been re surveyed and that the plats of resur reys will be filed in the U. S. Land ■Office. Los Angeles, California, situate in Room 412, Chamber of Commerce Bldg., on. Tuesday, February 23, 1909; and that on and after said day the Register and Receiver of said office will be prepared to receive appiica- j tlons for, the 'entry of landa in said! townships, Bubject to the provisions of letter "A" of the Honorable Com missioner of the General Land Office, dated, May 27, 1908, given below:— General Land Office, Washington,. D. C. May 27, 1908. Register and Receiver, I .on Angeles, Cal. .' Sirs: • ". . . It b.-comea apparent that the re survey of the 'Imperial Valley town ships now nearlng completion will re ault in lottl*«: narrow atripa between ' 11: '/-•;• ■ .■."•■- : - ; \V"'' ■■'■ •■•■•'-•■ ■'■ • ... • • >%A Official Paper off Imperial County and City of El Centro. EL CENTRO, CALIFORNIA, BATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 1909. I . entered lands. Although these strips may have been claimed by entrymen ar parts of the regular subdivisions established by the erroneous and un authorized survey, they will be pub liclands of the United States subject to entry ■ as ' soon as the plats of the survey have been filed. ; These lands have doubtless, in many instances, been valuably improved and in some cases surveyed into town lots and sold by persons claiming them. as parts of entered legal subdivisions, and the persons now in possession have such equities, in the lands as calls for relief at the hands of the Government. These strips will, in all probability, be too narrow and too long to be inviting to bona fide home seekers, and , will more than like ly in some dases be appropriated by persons whose principal object would be to speculate by selling them to the persons now claiming them. There is no law under which the persons now claiming these strips, in connection with abutting lands, can be given a preferred right to acquire title, but congress will be asked to enact a law which will give them such a rigiit, and in aid of this pro posed law, and for the purpose of de feating speculative entries, the lands embraced In the strips referred to will be withdrawn from all forms of appropriation or entry until con gress has had an opportunity to grant the relief mentioned, and this with drawal will be made as soon as these i strips can be identified from the plats of the survey. You are directed to .bring this an nouncement directly to the attention of all persons who, to your knowledge, contemplate settlement upon any of the lands mentioned, and advise them that any right gained by such settle ment is likely to be defeated by such action as - congress may take in the premises. . Very respectfully, FRED DENNETT, ' Commissioner. Approved May 28, 1908. JAMES RUDOLPH GARFIELD, - Secretary. FRANK C. PRESCOTT, Register. O. R.-W. ROBINSON, Receiver. Some newspapers in Los Angeles have published wild statements of the effect of this action, announcing that "2JZ0.000 acres of land are thrown op en to entry" and that a rush of land seekers to Imperial Valley is immi nent' That is all wrong. There Is little if any vacant land subject to en try under the desert land law, the re survey covering land already entered, settled and reclaimed or in process of reclamation. The. act of July 1, 1902, providing for the resurvey, specifically declared that nothing therein would be "so construed as to impair the present bona fide claim of any actual occupant of any of said lands to the lands so occupied." j The act of March 28, 1908, treated i the land being resurveyed as unaur veyed land, but provided that "any individual Qualified to make entry of desert lands who has, prior to survey, 'taken possession of a tract of unsur veyed desert land not exceeding In area 320 acres in compact form, and has reclaimed or has in good faith commenced the work of reclaiming the same, thall have the preference of right to make entiy of such tract under said acta, la conformity wit), the public lands survey, within ninety days after the 'filing of the approved plat of Burvey in the district land of fice." The act also extended for a period not exceeding three years the time *- for making proof to entry men who should be prevented by delay in construction of irrigating works Irom conlpletlng reclamation of land . Squatters and homesteaders who have actually begun reclamation and cultivation of land in the resurveyed townships have ninety. days from Feb, 23 in which to make application for entry under the desert land act The bona fide occupant of land in an "ex cess strip" it appears from the Com missioner's letter, cannot make entry until such lands shall be reopened. All he can do is "sit tight" and hold down his claim. «t ./ CAPITAL COMES TO VALLEY Lombard Company- Prepared to Lend • Money on Farm Property. Following the good news of the ac ceptance of surveys and the prospect of the immediate issuance of titles to Imperial Valley farmers comes the announcement that the Lombard In vestment Company has opened loan offices in every town in the valley. The company offers to loan money at a reasonable rate of interest on all patented farms and on all farms on which final receipts have been issued. There is practically no limit to the amount of money available to the set tlers through this source, as the ' Lo mbard luvestment Co. is allied with one or more of the big life Insurance com panies of the East! The attention of the company was first called to the opportunity presented in the Valley for legitimate investment by the ar ticle on surveys and titles in the Im perial Valley Press of December 19, and upon further explanation by J. F. Jena of El Centro and W. E. Mor ton of the People's Abstract and Title Co. they decided to begin operations at once. The El Centro representa tive of the company is J. F. Jenal in the office of Johnson, Dunian and Co. and he Is prepared to do business at once. ANOTHER BRICK BLOCK Two Story Structure With Arcade Ov ■ er Sidewalk, Constructed of Clinker Brick, to Adorn Main Street. El Centre's building operations con tinue to show healthy growth and the indications are that the next few months will transform the appear ance of Main street by the addition of several substantial buildings. Good progress is being made on the excavation and foundations for the Bill-Miller block, directly west of the Hotel El Centro, on the north side of Main street, between Fifth and Sixth streets. Now comes the news that within a short time H. H. Peterson' will begin he construction of a two-sory brick building directly west of the Bill-Mil ler block. Peterson's building will have "a forty-foot frontage on Main street, and an arcade extending over the full sidewalk width. This ar cade is to be of clinker brick, on lines similar to one erected the past season on the Zimmer block at Im perial. The finishing touches were given to the first floor of the. new Blackin ton building this week and it Is now occupied by the Delta Implement Company. The Thomas Beach building at the northwest corner of Sixth and Main streets, has its first story walls al most completed and makes a fine showing. The body is In cream col ored terra cotta, and the trimming Is of pink blocks of the same material. The. heavy pillars for the arcade, which is to extend over the side walk on both the Main and Sixth street sides, have been begun. The building will be one of the most im posing in the Imperial Valley, D« la line—Subscribe for The 'Press VALLEY TEAMS ARE CLOSELY BUNCHED Calexico Still Leads, But El Centro Has Now Forged Ahead-Two Victories The race for the Desert League pennant was made more exciting the past week because of two victories for El Centro, two defeats for Imper ial and one defeat for Calexico, the league leaders. Tne feature of the week was the improvement In the El Centro team, which In Its two games demonstrated that it is as. fast if not faster than any other team in the val ley. At Calexico on New Year's day El Centro won by a score of five to two. Jones, who was in the box for the home team, was hit freely at all times, while Trippet was effective in every inning. El Centro had the hardest kind of luck in the early part of the game. A mishandled ball in right field gave Calexico its only two runs and for five innings El Centro was unable to score. In the eighth with ,thre men on bases McClellan came to bat with two men out. He hit a grounder so hard that it couldn't even be handled by the outfield. The bases were cleared and McClellan was able to make third base in spite of a crippled ankle. Harkins followed with another smashing drive, scoring Mc- Clellan. In the ninth two more good clean hits by McClellan and I Jarkins brought. in another run, the final score being five to two in*?avor of El Cen tro. El Centra's entire team played with snap and clearly outclassed Cal exico. McClellan's work on third was of the big league class. Two of his stops followed by accurate and fast throws were remarkably good. Took Brawley in Too. The local team kept up its good work Sunday by defeating Brawley five to four. Griffin was in the box for Brawley and pitched a good game. His support was not first class how ever, and the El Centro hitters landed on him at critical times. Trippet went in the box for El Centro but was Jilt freely In the first three in 3 nings, Brawley getting four runs. This was because of a' sore arm, and. the plucky little pitcher retired to right field, Terry going to_ second and Harkins into the pitcher's box. Trip pet was very much in evidence in the game later, catching two different flies and shutting off runs. One of the flies was far out toward the fence. A runner on second went to third on the play but was almost out on a magnificent throw on a line to Mc- Clellan on third base. It was one of the best outfield throws seen here this season. <■ Harkins went in to win the game in he fourth and made good. Not a score was made off him for the seven Innings he pitched, athough he was against" the heaviest hitting team in the valley. It was a fine exhibition and deserved the victory which came in the ninth Inning. It devolved on Stanley and Trippet to put the fin ishing touch on the game. Trippet opened up with a clean two base hit to left field and went to third on, a put out. Goldwaite tried hard to bring him In but was put out at first. Stan ley hit the first ball pitched for a smashing drive between third and short, one of the cleanest hits of the game, and Trippet came home with the winning run. Imperial Loses Two. Nagle and Scott had a splendid pitcher's battle at Imperial Saturday. No run was made until the last half of the ninth when Berry. made a clean hit and went to second on a sacrifice. The next Calexico batter hit a hot grounder which the Imperial short stop failed to handle and . Calexico At Holtvllle Sunday Browning had No. 40. the Imperial batters at his mercy and Hoitvllle won easily by a score of 4 to 0. Club. played Won Tied Pet Calexico 13 7 1 583 Holtvllle 12 : 6 1 546 Imperial 14 8 1 461 El Centro 14 5 3 455 Brawley 12 4 2 400 EL CENTRO'S PUBLIC LIBRARY City Trustees Take Steps to Estab lish Institution and Make Pro vision for Next Year's Maintainance. The City Trustees at their meeting on Tuesday night took the preliminary steps towards the establishment of a Public Library for El Centro; to be supported by a library tax. At this meeting a resolution waa presented from the Ten Thousand Club, asking that a special election be called to vote upon the question of making a tax levy for library support Phil D. Swing, as a committee of one from the Ten Thousand Club on li brary matters, spoke of the need of official recognition of the public li brary in order 1 to secure the desired donation from Andrew Carnegie of funds for a library building, and gave a report of the correspondence with Mr. Carnegie on this matter. He also urged the necessity of the appoint innt of a Library Commissioner by the City Trustees. ' ■ '? It was ascertained that the calling of a special election is not necessary for the establishment of oao Public Library, and the Trustees adopted the following resolution:"* v " "*•"'"" "Resolved, that at the next tax levy for the city of El Centro there shall be included a levy of two mills on the for the establishment of a public Library, and that the City Attorney be instructed to prepare an ordinance establishing a Public Library in Gl Centro." • < This resolution was unanimously adopted. President H. B. Pearson was appointed Library Commissioner. At this meeting all members of the board were present with the exception of J. Stanley Brown, who was in Los Angeles, . i Ordinance No. 29 was amended so as to make the width of side-walks On Fifth street, from Broadway to State street, nine and a half feet in sead of eleven and a half feet and the ordinance thus amended was adopted. \ A similar amendment was made In Ordinance No. 33, providing for ce ment walks on Sixth street, from Broadwawy to State street, and this was then adopted. Ordinances Nos. 29, 30, and 32 were given their final reading and adopted. They provided for side walks as designated in The Press of last week, covering the central part of this city. ■ The City Clerk was authorized to advertise for bids for the construction of the El Centro sewer system, the bids to be opened on February 9. It was decided that the contractor is to.be given three months time from the time of signing the contract for the completion of the work. The printing of 200 copies of the speci fications for this work was authorized. The Street Commisisoner was au thorized to employ men and teams to clean up Main street. The time for opening bids for the construction of a fire house was ad vanced to January 12. The following resolution was offered by Trustees Pellet and seconded by Trustee Ham ilton, and adopted. "Resolved, That it is the sense of the Board of Trustees that the City Marshal be more diligent In his duties give more of his personal time to the same, and be mom careful in appoint ing deputies, submitting the names of such deputies to the Board for ap proval before appointing them." Ordinance No. 35 waa introduced, read and laid over till the next meet ing, February 12.