as the Neutral Ground. The exchange of the two tracts was to take place on or before June 1, 1833. The United States also stipulated to make payment to the Winnebagoes, beginning in September, 1873, and to continue for twenty-seven successive years, $10,000 annually in specie, and also to establish a school among them, with a farm and garden. There were also other agreements on the part of the government.

7. Treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, Sept. 21, 1832.-This was the treaty known as the "Black Hawk Purchase," which opened the first lands in Iowa for settlement by the whites. In negotiating this treaty Gen. Winfield Scott and Gov. John Reynolds represented the United States. By it the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States a tract of land on the eastern border of Iowa fifty miles wide, and extending from the northern boundary of Missouri to the mouth of the Upper Iowa river, containing about six millions of acres. The United States stipulated to pay annually to the Sacs and Foxes $20,000 in specie, and to pay certain indebtedness of the Indians, amounting to about $50,000, due chiefly to Davenport & Farnham, Indian traders, at Rock Island. By the terms of the treaty four hundred square miles on Iowa river, including Keokuk's village, were reserved, for the use and occupancy of the Indians. This treaty was made on the ground where the city of Davenport is now located. The government conveyed in fee simple out of this purchase one section of land opposite Rock Island to Antoine LeClaire, the interpreter, and another at the head of the first rapid above Rock Island, being the first title to land in Iowa granted by the United States to an individual.

8. Treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, 1836.-This treaty was also made on the banks of the Mississippi, near where the city of Davenport now stands. Gen. Henry Dodge, Governor of Wisconsin Territory, represented the United States. By it the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States "Keokuk's Reserve," as it was called, for which the government stipulated to pay $30,000, and an annuity of $10,000 for ten successive years, together with certain indebtedness of the Indians.

9. Treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, Oct. 21, 1837.-This treaty was made at Washington; Carey A. Harris, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, representing the United States. By this treaty the Sacs and Foxes relinquished their title to an additional tract in Iowa, described as follows: "A tract of country containing 1,250,000 acres, lying west and adjoining the tract conveved by them to the United States in the treaty of September 21, 1832. It is understood that the points of termination for the present cession shall be the northern and southern points of said tract as fixed by the survey made under the authority of the United States, and that a line shall be drawn between them so as to intersect a line extended westwardly from the angle of said tract nearly opposite to Rock Island, as laid down in the above survey, so far as may be necessary to include the number of acres hereby ceded, which last mentioned line, it is estimated, will be about twenty-five miles." The tract ceded by this treaty lay directly west of the "Black Hawk Purchase."

10. Treaty with Sacs and Foxes, same date.—At the same date the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States all their right and interest in the country south of the boundary line between the Sacs and Foxes and the Sioux, as described in the treaty of August 19, 1825, and between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, the United States paying for the same $160,000.

The Sacs and Foxes by this treaty also relinquished all claims and interest under the treaties previously made with them.

11. Treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, Oct. 11, 1842.-This treaty was made at the Sac and Fox Agency, by John Chambers, as Commissioner, on behalf of the United States. By it the Sacs and Foxes relinquished to the United States all their lands west of the Mississippi to which they had any claim or title, and agreed to a removal from the country, at the expiration of three years. In accordance with this treaty, a part of them were removed to Kansas in the fall of 1845, and the remainder in the spring of 1846.

The treaty of 1803 with France, and these several treaties with the Indian tribes, vested in the United States, the title to all the lands in the State of Iowa-subject, however, to claims set up under certain Spanish grants, and also, the claim to the "Half-Breed Tract," in Lee county, which claims were afterward adjudicated in the courts or otherwise adjusted. The following is a brief explanation of the nature of these claims:

The Dubuque Claim.-Lead had been discovered at the site of the present city of Dubuque as early as 1780, and in 1788 Julien Dubuque, then residing at Prairie du Chien, obtained permission from the Fox tribe of Indians to engage in mining lead, on the west side of the Mississippi. Dubuque, with a number of other persons, was engaged in mining, and claimed a large tract, embracing as he supposed all the lead bearing region in that vicinity. At that time, it will be remembered, the country was under Spanish jurisdiction, and embraced in the "Province of Louisiana." In 1796 Dubuque petitioned the Spanish Governor of Louisiana, Carondelet, for a grant of the lands embracing the lead mines, describing in his petition a tract containing over twenty thousand acres. The Spanish governor granted the petition, and the grant was confirmed by the Board of Land Commissioners of Louisiana. Dubuque, in 1804, transferred the larger part of his claim to Auguste Choteau, of St. Louis. On the 17th of May, 1805, Dubuque and Choteau filed their joint claims with the Board of Land Commissioners, and the claim was decided by them to be a clear and regular Spanish grant, having been made and completed prior to October 1st, 1800, and while it was yet Spanish territory. Dubuque died March 24, 1810. After the death of Dubuque the Indians resumed occupancy of the mines and engaged themselves in mining to some extent, holding that Dubuque's claim was only a permit during his lifetime, and in this they were sustained by the military authority of the United States, notwithstanding the decision of the Land Commissioners. In the treaty afterward between the United States and the Sacs and Foxes, the Indians made no reservation of this claim, and it was therefore included as a part of the lands ceded by them to the United States. In the meantime Auguste Choteau also died, and his heirs began to look after their interests. They authorized their agent to lease the privilege of working the mines, and under this authority miners commenced operations, but the military authorities compelled them to abandon the work. But little further was done in the matter until after the town of Dubuque was laid out, and lots had been sold and were occupied by purchasers, when Henry Choteau brought an action of ejectment against Patrick Malony, who held land under a patent from the United States, for the recovery of seven undivided eighths of the Dubuque claim, as purchased by Auguste Choteau in 1804. The case was decided in the United States District Court adversely to the plaintiff. It was carried to the Supreme Court of the United States on a writ of error, where the decision of the lower court was affirmed. The

Supreme Court held that Dubuque asked, and the Governor of Louisiana granted, nothing more than peaceable possession of certain lands obtained from the Indians, and that Carondelet had no legal authority to make such. a grant as claimed.

The Giard Claim.-The Lieutenant Governor of Upper Louisiana, in 1795, granted to one Basil Giard 5,760 acres in what is now Clayton county. Giard took possession and occupied the land until after the territory passed into the possession of the United States, after which the government of the United States granted a patent to Giard, for the land which has since been known as the "Giard Tract.” His heirs subsequently sold the whole tract for $300.

The Honori Claim.-On the 30th day of March, 1799, Zenon Trudeau, Acting Lieutenant Governor of Upper Louisiana, granted to Louis Honori a tract of land on the site of the present town of Montrose, as follows: "It is permitted to Mr. Louis (Fresson) Henori, or Louis Honori Fesson, to establish himself at the head of the rapids of the River Des Moines, and his establishment once formed, notice of it shall be given to the Governor General, in order to obtain for him a commission of a space sufficient to give value to such establishment, and at the same time to render it useful to the commerce of the peltries of this country, to watch the Indians and keep them in the fidelity which they owe to His Majesty." Honori retained possession until 1805, but in 1803 it was sold under an execution obtained by one Joseph Robedoux, who became the purchaser. The tract is described as being "about six leagues above the Des Moines." Auguste Choteau, the executor of Robedoux, in April, 1805, sold the Honori tract to Thomas F. Reddeck. In the grant from the Spanish government it was described as being one league square, but the government of the United States confirmed only one mile square. Attempts were subsequently made to invalidate the title of the Reddeck heirs, but it was finally confirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States, in 1839.

The Half-Breed Tract.-By a treaty made with the Indians, Angust 4, 1824, the United States acquired possession of a large tract of land in the northern portion of Missouri. In this same treaty 119,000 acres were reserved for the use of the half-breeds of the Sac and Fox nation. This reservation occupied the strip between the Mississippi and Des Moines rivers, and south of a line drawn from a point on the Des Moines river, about one mile below the present town of Farmington, in Van Buren county, east to the Mississippi river at the lower end of Fort Madison, including all the land between the two rivers south of this line. By the terms of the treaty the United States had a reversionary interest in this land, which deprived the Indians of the power to sell. But, in 1835, Congress relinquished to the half-breeds this reversionary interest, vesting in them a fee simple title, and the right to sell and convey. In this law, however, the right to sell was not given to individuals by name, but to the half-breeds as a class, and in this the subsequent litigation in regard to the "Half-Breed Tract" originated. A door was open for innumerable frauds. The result was that speculators rushed in and began to buy the claims of the half-breeds, and, in many instances, a gun, a blanket, a pony or a few quarts of whisky was sufficient for the purchase of large estates. There was a deal of sharp practice on both sides; Indians would often claim ownership of land by virtue of being half-breeds, and had no difficulty in proving their mixed blood by the Indians, and they would then cheat the speculators by selling land to

which they had no rightful title. On the other hand, speculators often claimed land in which they had no ownership. It was diamond cut diamond, until at last things became badly mixed. There were no authorized surveys, and no boundary lines to claims, and, as a natural result, numerous conflicts and quarrels ensued. To settle these difficulties, to decide the validity of claims or sell them for the benefit of the real owners, by act of the Legislature of Wisconsin Territory, approved January 16, 1838, Edward Johnstone, Thomas S. Wilson and David Brigham were appointed commissioners, and clothed with power to effect these objects. The act provided that these commissioners should be paid six dollars a day each. The commission entered upon its duties and continued until the next session of the Legislature, when the act creating it was repealed, invalidating all that had been done and depriving the commissioners of their pay. The repealing act, however, authorized the commissioners to commence action against the owners of the Half-Breed Tract, to receive their pay for their services, in the District Court of Lee county. Two judgments were obtained, and on execution the whole of the tract was sold to Hugh T. Reid, the sheriff executing the deed. Mr. Reid sold portions of it to various parties, but his own title was questioned and he became involved in litigation. Decisions in favor of Reid and those holding under him were made by both District and Supreme Courts, but in December, 1850, these decisions were finally reversed by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Joseph Webster, plaintiff in error, vs. Hugh T. Reid, and the judgment titles failed. About nine years before the "judgment titles" were finally abrogated, as above, another class of titles was brought into competition with them, and in the conflict between the two, the final decision was obtained. These were the titles based on the "decree of partition" issued by the United States District Court for the Territory of Iowa, on the 8th of May, 1841, and certified to by the clerk on the 2d day of June of that year. Edward Johnstone and Hugh T. Reid, then law partners at Fort Madison, filed the petition for the decree in behalf of the St. Louis claimants of half-breed lands. Francis S. Key, author of the "Star Spangled Banner," who was then attorney for the New York Land Company, which held heavy interests in these lands, took a leading part in the measure, and drew up the document in which it was presented to the court. Judge Charles Mason, of Burlington, presided. The plan of partition divided the tract into 101 shares, each claimant to draw his proportion by lot,and to abide the result. The plan was agreed to and the lots drawn. The plat of the same was filed for record, October 6th, 1841. The title under this decree of partition, however, was not altogether satisfactory. It was finally settled by a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, in January, 1855.

SYSTEM OF PUBLIC LAND SURVEYS.

In connection with the subject of land titles, an explanation of the method of public surveys will prove interesting to all land owners. These explanations apply, not only to Iowa, but to the Western States generally, and to nearly all lands the title to which is derived from the Government.

Soon after the organization of our government, Virginia and other States, ceded to the United States extensive tracts of wild land, which, together with other lands subsequently acquired by purchase and treaty, constituted what is called the public lands, or public domain. Up to the year 1802, these lands were sold without reference to any general or uniform

plan. Each person who desired to purchase any portion of the public domain, selected a tract in such shape as suited his fancy, designating his boundaries by prominent objects, such as trees, rocks, streams, the banks of rivers and creeks, cliffs, ravines, etc. But, owing to the frequent indefiniteness of description, titles often conflicted with each other, and in many cases several grants covered the same premises.

To obviate these difficulties, in 1802, Col. Jared Mansfield, then surveyorgeneral of the Northwestern Territory, devised and adopted the present mode of surveying the public lands. This system was established by law, and is uniform in its application to all the public lands belonging to the United States.

By this method, all the lines are run by the cardinal points of the compass; the north and south lines coinciding with the true meridian, and the east and west lines intersecting them at right angles, giving to the tracts thus surveyed the rectangular form.

In the first place, certain lines are established running east and west, called Base Lines. Then, from noted points, such as the mouths of principal rivers, lines are run due north and south, which are called Principal Meridians. The Base Lines and Principal Meridians together, are called Standard Lines, as they form the basis of all the surveys made therein.

In order to distinguish from each other the system or series of surveys thus formed, the several Principal Meridians are designated by progressive numbers. The Meridian running north from the mouth of the Great Miami river, is called the First Principal Meridian; that running north through the State of Indiana, the Second Principal Meridian; that running north from the mouth of the Ohio river through the State of Illinois, the Third Principal Meridian; that running north from the mouth of the Illinois river, through the States of Illinois and Wisconsin, the Fourth Principal Meridian; and that running north from the mouth of the Arkansas river, through the States of Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin, the Fifth Principal Meridian.

Having established the Standard Lines as above described, the country was then divided into equal squares as nearly as practicable, by a system of parallel meridians six miles distant from each other, crossed or intersected by lines east and west, also six miles from each other. Thus the country was divided into squares, the sides of which are six miles, and each square containing 36 square miles. These squares are called Townships. The lines of the townships running north and south are called Range Lines; and the rows or tiers of townships running north and south are called Ranges; tiers of townships east and west are called Townships; and the lines dividing these tiers are called Township Lines. Townships are numbered from the Base Line and the Principal Meridians. Thus the township in which Sioux City, Iowa, is located, is described as township No. 89 north, in range No. 47 west of the Fifth Principal Meridian. The situation of this township is, therefore, 528 miles (making no allowance for fractional townships) north of the Base Line, as there are 88 townships intervening between it and the Base Line; and being in range No. 47, it is 276 miles west of the Fifth Principal Meridian, as there are 46 ranges of townships intervening between it and the said Principal Meridian. The township adjoining on the north of 89 in range 47, is 90 in range 47; but the township adjoining on the west of 89 in range 47, is numbered 89 of range 48, and the one north of 89 of range 48, is 90 of range 48, and so on.