Dane County, Wisconsin - Chapter 3: The Purchase of Land from the Government, 1905

Chapter 3: The Purchase of Land from the Government

The land laws under which the land of Dane county was purchased from the federal government were comparatively simple. The system of credit had worked itself out into such a nuisance that after 1820 cash payments were required. The clamor of the poorer class of purchasers had resulted in a series of reductions in the minimum number of acres sold in a unit lot, until congress, on April 5, 1832, passed an act requiring the public domain, still unsurveyed, to be divided into forties, and after that each forty was sold separately. This was just in time to insure the division of Dane county into these smaller lots, as the survey of southern Wisconsin was then in progress, this county being finished in 1834.^** There seems to be no particular order in the way land was put upon the market, except that it had to be surveyed. The land to be sold was "proclaimed" by the president not less than three months, or more than six months before coming into market, i. e., it was advertised in certain newspapers officially designated, and descriptions by number were given of each separate parcel oflFered. These proclamations were copied by western newspapers so that ample notice was given to all interested. It is worthy of note that in most cases the land ofiFered for sale was scattered promiscuously about, so that it was difficult to buy more than a quarter or half section in one block. It would appear that this was a precaution against purchase by speculators of large tracts in a body, purchase that would give them the power to control and retard actual settlement to a greater degree than where their holdings were more or less interspersed with actual home-seekers ; but there seems to be no available testimony on the subject At all events, the entry-book shows numbers of whole sections side by side sold to one man in 1836, while, in later instances, equally large purchases are distributed over perhaps a quarter of a town.

By act of congress June 23, 1834, that part of Wisconsin east and south of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers was divided into two land districts. The division line between them passed through what is now Dane county, that part west of the line between ranges eight and nine being in the Wisconsin land district, and the portion east in the Green Bay district The Green Bay district was cut in two by act of June 15, 1836, and the southern part was called the Milwaukee district. A few pieces of land in Dane county had been entered at Green Bay previously to this date, but with this exception the entries were made at Milwaukee and at Mineral Point.

The method of selling government land was the same as had been followed almost from the beginning of public land sales, although some very important modifications had been imposed by the buyers themselves. The land was offered at auction to the highest bidder, with the minimum price set at one dollar and a quarter.^* It rarely happened, however, that the bids were above thi;5 minimum no matter how desirable the land or how numerous and keen the bidders. The buyers soon came to see that such an auction was an example of one-sided competition for as soon as the dollar and a quarter bid was made, no matter how little they had in common beyond the desire to buy at the cheapest figure, they managed to cooperate with great success for securing this result. That these organizations were wholly voluntary no one pretends. Neither can it be supposed that all the bidders present subscribed to the requirements for membership in the organization, but circumstantial evidence is abundant to show that the speculator rarely "volunteered" to over-bid the humble settler who came with perhaps fifty dollars to pay for a forty, although it would appear that any bid above the minimum would secure him the land. The commissioner of the general land office at Washington in a circular letter dated April 11, 1836, complains that receipts from sales of public land had been cut down by some millions of dollars by these "unlawful organizations" of buyers who prevent many from bidding.^^ It is further stated in the president's annual message of 1837 by way of emphasis of the same point, that the sales during the period from 1820 to 1837 had not averaged more than six cents per acre above the minimum price. The president also advised that the squatters be given the preference in preemption privileges. This was really before a preemption act of general application existed, although something analogous to this right had been given some squatters on the Symnes tract in Ohio in 1801.

Mr. Donaldson in "The Public Domain" defines preemption^* as a "preference right" and states that, "The essential conditions of a preemption are actual entry upon, residence in a dwelling, and improvement and cultivation of a tract of land ;" again it is "a premium in favor of, and condition for making permanent settlement and a home." It would require many pages to give the separate acts under which the land of this county was preempted, but it seems sufficient to state that the more important were those of June 22, 1838; June i, 1840; and September 4, 1841. The many changes made in those various acts were designed to fit varying needs, but any one of them covered substantially the conditions existing in Dane county. The importance of this legislation is well shown by Mr. Donaldson: "The preemption system arose from the necessity of settlers, and through a series of more than fifty-seven years of experience in attempts to sell or otherwise dispose of the public lands. [He has reference ta a time later than the one we are considering.] The early idea of sales for revenue was abandoned and a plan of disposition for homes was substituted. The preemption system was the result of law, experience; executive orders, departmental rulings, and judicial construction ... it has always contained, and to this day contains, the germ of actual settlement under which thousands of homes have been made and land made productive. . The necessity of protecting actual settlers on the public domain and giving a preference right to those actually desiring to make

The act of September 4, 1841, was the most complete and specific of those that applied to Dane county. It provided that on any land already surveyed those who had, subsequently to June i, 1840, settled, or who should in the future settle and improve a claim not exceeding one hundred sixty acres, could secure the claim by making an affidavit to the register of deeds, setting forth the time and nature of the settlement and improvements, and the intention to purchase the same within twelve months, at the regular minimum government price. Thirty days was allowed a settler in which to appear at the land office and file his preemption papers. A fee of fifty cents was required for the filing of these claims.

Wisconsin was never noted for lawlessness, and the outlaw type was not in the majority, at least not after the real settlement began. This was principally owing to the steady, earnest character of the people who had come from civilization and had brought it along with them. To a less degree the policy of the government in providing a judicial system fairly well organized, even before there was a demand for it from the settlers themselves, was, no doubt, a wise one for fostering good behavior.*® But although the frontiersmen were by no means strangers to courts, and were peaceably inclined, it must not be supposed that they were so effeminately law-abiding as to stand by and let their interests suffer at the hands of land grabbers, or to await the sluggish stages of legal process to overtake and punish the offender. The one great instance in which the law was made and enforced, independently of judge or code, was in the protection of the squatter against the claim jumper.^^ Under the system then in use it was utterly im-

»The term "claim jumper" in Wisconsin does not mean a man who take* possession of a claim by using a gun, but a man who buys land upon which an actual settler has made his home.

possible to offer the land for sale just as it was wanted, and no one who has any insight into frontier conditions can blame the frontiersman for taking possession of the land best suited to his purpose of making a home. After once settling down, building a house, clearing off the timber, or turning the sod, it is entirely contrary to the laws of humanity to allow the homestead to be usurped by some greedy interloper, whether or not the law is technically on his side. It is true the preemption act was supposed to give the squatter all needed advantage, but it is just as true that money was likely to be as scarce and as hard to get hold of at the end of the first year as at the beginning. The officers of the law and those who had charge of selling the land had no authority to show further favors to the man in possession, though in most cases they seemed disposed to do so.

It was at this juncture, when no help was to be had from others, that the Dane county pioneers showed themselves to be typical pioneers - thoroughly able to help themselves. The squatters were often sneered at and called out-casts by congressmen and others who had interests at stake.^^

Agreements were made among the squatters, in fact among the great majority of the buyers on the occasion of public land sales, that no one should bid against another.^* Speculators often had agents on the ground to snap up bargains for them, agents who were more or less discreet and did not endanger their pergonal welfare by any over-zealous efforts to buy land upon which the agents of the squatters advised them not to bid. An exact record of the conversations of these two sets of agents on some occasions would, no doubt, be a delicious morsel of history, but none can be found.

"'*The rights of the settlers upon public lands are uniyersally respected. . . . It Is chiefly by the labors of the settlers that the lands of the nonresident acquire value. . . . The character of these settlers Is often very mnch misunderstood and often much misrepresented In many parts of the nnlon. In Wisconsin they will compare with any of the farmers of the eastern statei. Indeed, as a body they are men of whom any state might be proud. . . - Among them are those who hold seats in the legislature - ^those who haye been reared In the colleges of the Bast - those who have been accustomed to all the elegances of society." - Wis. Enquirers Mar. 16, 1889.

''"At a public meeting resolutions were adopted for the purpose of securing to actual settlers the possession of the lands squatted upon either before or after the goyernment survey" - notice the last clavse.- Milwaukee Advertisw, March 18, 1837.

There was no claim association in Dane county comparable to the "Johnson County Claim Association,"** of Iowa, but there were local associations - Squatters' Protective Societies - which, though lacking the elaborate machinery, were equally efficient in their workings and even more drastic in their measures. Nearly every town had its own loose organization and in practice these organizations cooperated without regard to town lines. The resolutions by which these bodies were governed were all about alike, probably copied in most instances one from another. The Sun Prairie draft is given as a sample :

"At a large and respectable meeting of the inhabitants of Sun Prairie, convened at the house of A. W. Dickenson, March 5, 1845, for the purpose of deliberating upon and making arrangements with regard to their situation as squatters :

'Resolved, That in case any person or persons shall purchase land in this vicinity at the time occupied by claimants ; that they shall be disregarded as neighbors, and that no dealings of any kind be had with them. That we will neither lend to them, nor visit them, nor act with them in any capacity whatsoever, nor upon any occasion.

'Resolved, That we will protect each other in the claim of a quarter section, admitting it should embrace no more than forty acres of grove timber.

'Resolved, That in case any person or persons should violate the sense of this meeting and deprive claimants of their just expectations, that we will not fail to rebuke his conduct with such severity as has been common in the settlement of this western country.

'Resolved, That opportunity be given to persons who have entered claims to settle with the claimants, previous to the institution of any other measures.

'Resolved, That we pledge ourselves to be in readiness at the call of each other for the purpose of carrying the above resolution into full effect.

'Resolved, That two registers be appointed to keep a record of all lands claimed in the vicinity, who shall receive twelve and a half cents for every record made. Whereupon, Volney Moore and Russel T. Bentley were appointed registers.

'Resolved, That it be incumbent on every claimant, to enter I^is claim with one of the above registers, and that all such persons be recognized as members of this association.

Something of the spirit in which these protective associations were made and supported is shown in the case of Mrs. Eben Peck, who was one of the first women to settle in Madison. It was in such instances as this, that is where the buyer made his purchase and at once left the vicinity that he had some chance to "win out," though he must make speedy transactions if he hoped to sell to an "innocent purchaser" since the news of such enterprises travelled rapidly and few actual settlers cared to face the injured squatter and his neighbors.*'

The usual mode of procedure in case a claim was bought by a "land pirate" was to visit the purchaser in case he were not too far distant, taking along a justice of the peace armed with a "warranty" deed ready for the offender's signature, which would constitute his conveyance of the land in question to the aggrieved squatter; the justice would then acknowledge the instrument. It was not unusual for the members of this com-

**"Mrs. B. Peck, now resialng at Baraboo, Sauk county, made a claim upon an eighty acre tract, by breaking up some forty acres and making other ImproyementB and was laying up the money as fast as she possibly could for entering it, when she found her anticipations blasted by learning that a fiend In human shape, by the name of Chancy Brown, had entered the tract knowing full well at the time that he was robbing a poor widow woman and her children of their just right. We would caution all persons about purchasing the B % of SE % 86, 12, 6, as the citizens of that violnity will never suffer any person to take and keep possession of said tract of land to the injury of Mrs. Peck. We understand that Mr. Brown resides at Whitewater, Walworth county, Wisconsin." - Madison Eatress, July 29, 1847.

mittee to carry guns and ropes and to indulge in remarks calculated to stimulate the claim-jumper in his tendency toward a speedy and amicable settlement. Very rarely did he resist rigorously, but once in a while it required heroic measures to overbalance his greed. The story is told of one "jumper" who resisted, and addressed the committee in irreverent terms, daring them to do him physical injury and threatening to bring the strong arm of the law down violently upon their heads. The committee exhausted their verbal arguments in vain, then putting a rope around the waist of the culprit, led him to a pond, cut a hole in the ice, and immersed him. He was soon drawn out, but being still in a combative and profane frame of mind, was treated to another ducking and on his second coming out was unable to continue his side of the debate, so the negative was declared closed, and after returning to the house the dripping defender of that side set his signature to the papers and v^rith uplifted right hand swore that it was his "voluntary act and deed."^^ The squatter usually agreed to refund the money advanced by the "jumper," but custom allowed him to take his time to it and no interest was paid.**

Thus in true western style the Wisconsin farmers enforced their own laws and fought their own battles. The justice who presided at their trials and rendered their decisions may have been lacking in knowledge of law, but he understood the men and the times which he represented. He tried to do the right as he saw it; he lived up to all the light he had, and having satisfied his contemporaries, history can not call him to account for his methods or convict him for results obtained.

It can readily be seen from the foregoing that the amount of land sold and the amount actually settled during a given period bear no definite relation one to the other, even when the amount bought by speculators is known and considered.** However, it is of some consequence to note the sales before and after the crash of 1837. The following table is for the state of Wisconsin as it appears in the records of the land office :*^

^TbiB to partly told in tbe HiBtory of Dane Oouniif, but I learned it from an old lady who lived near the scene, and was acquainted with the ciceometaneea.

Hibbabd History Of Agbicux-Ture In Dane County

It IS seen from this record of sales that the amount of land purchased in 1839 was practically the same as in 1836, but a comparison of the population of the state at these dates gives some idea of the character of the sales. The business failures of 1837 evidently did not result in an immediate exodus to the West as the year 1838 shows but little more than an eighth of the land sales of 1836. By 1839 ^^^ sales had passed all former records. This is only reasonable as it takes time to overcome the reluctance to move, to adjust old accounts, or even to. make arrangements for leaving them unadjusted. A reporter in speaking of the stir of home seekers in mid-winter 1839 says, "The public sales commenced in this town on Monday last, and during the week have averaged from twenty to thirty thousand dollars per day. There has been no competition in the purchase, the settlers adjusting their disputes by arbitration, the capitalists finding it more to their interest to lend money than to bid for the lands. We believe no lands have yet been bought upon speculation, and that consequently, a great portion of the best lands in the district will still be open for the emigrant the present summer."*^ We have, then, a statement of an economic cause for the partial cessation of land speculation in the fabulous rate of interest reached during this early period.*^ s* Speculation had, bowever, been a serious question: "The extent to which speculators have taken up the new lands in the western county is almost beyond belief . . . speculators haye visited every part of the country where lands were in the market . . and taken up vacant lands wherever they

*mie drcQlar of the secretary of the treasury requiringi the pvblic lands to be paid for In specie has had some eflTect in checking the movements of the speculators, many of whom have found it a serious impediment to their views, and are consequently unmeasured in their expressions of Indignation . . - the emigration to this country would have been greater than even it Is now tad it not been for the speculators, who take up all the good lands as early

That land speculation had a bad effect on agriculture needs very little proof, as the holding of raw land in large quantities may be said to be per $e a drag on enterprise. Perhaps it is not a monopoly, as Mr. Lapham calls it,'* but nevertheless, it has many of the attendant evils of a monopoly. Greedy as were the statesmen and other wealthy men who invested their money in western land during the palmy days of 1836, the very fact that they were unable to form anything approaching a monopoly in land rendered them almost as helpless as their unfortunate friends whose capital went down in mercantile disasters of the older states. As noted elsewhere, it is impossible to tell from the records much about the sums realized by these large holders when they finally parted with their land. The greater share of it was held by firms of several members and the number of quit-claim deeds with "consideration one dollar" fill many pages of the register's books. Nor is this all the difficulty: the most of these firms owned land in different counties and even different states, and very frequently transfers were made of one-fourth, or one-tenth, or even one-nineteenth of these widely scattered acres, and exchanges of various kinds of property for land again complicate matters hopelessly. Occasionally where the sale was made directly to a bona fide purchaser previously to about 1850, the price was little more than the original figure - one and a quarter dollars."

as they come into the maricet, and hold them at a higher price than the emigrant is willing to pay. In consequence of this, numbers of the new settlers pass beyond the iboundary of lands in ithe market and become squatters." - Belmont Gaeette, Nov. 2. 1836.

**The rage for speculation in wild lands is a great impediment to agriculture. Men come to this country to make money by speculating, not by pursuing a course of tilling the fertile soil, of which they become the temporary proprietors, and which soon passes into the hands of others who are disposed to sell out at an advance. Hence the low state of the agricultural art everjrwhere to be seen in this state [Michigan] and until all the public lands are sold we despair of seeing] even a beginning to "a regular system of cultivation.*' - Dubuque Visitor, Nov. 9, 1836.

** "Lands have been entered in this country at one dollar and twenty-five centa per acre, and after paying taxes on them for years their owners have sold them for one dollar per acre to .avoid further taxation. Show us a non-resident who has made much money speculating In western land, and we will show yon a rare bird, more rare by far than a successful gold hunter. . . . Large investments in land always defeat their own object. . . . We need no national reform to punish speculators. . . . The only way in which anything can be made by buying western lands is, to locate in small tracts remote from each

Hibbabd Histoey Of Agricui.Ture In Dane County

Whether the allegation that the settlers imposed undue taxes on the non-resident landowner is true or false, it is clear that they had no legal right to do so ; yet it may well have happened that unimproved land was listed by assessors as high as improved land, and the non-resident in that case would pay a rate somewhat above the average.

The assessors and members of the boards of equalization were themselves residents, and it is safe to infer that they taxed the non-resident, while the latter was viewed as a speculator, as much as the law and public sentiment would allow.**^

The only possible means by which a speculator could dispose of any quantity of his land until about 1850, when desirable government land began to be scarce, was to offer some inducement to the purchaser better than a cash sale at a dollar and a quarter, and this was attempted in many ways other than actually cutting the price. The most usual inducement was an offer to sell on time which to the numberless home seekers without means was a strong point, but not a conclusive one while the opportunity to "squat" on vacant land remained. Another expedient of the poor speculator was to make some sort of improvement to tempt the prospective purchaser; a house of some sort was put up, or a few acres of breaking was done. The latter improvement was of particular consequence to those arriving in the spring with barely time for planting com and potatoes, or sowing a little buckwheat. But breaking new land was a big bill of expense at best and a man with his money invested in unsalable land could hardly affort to put much more into improvements.** Sometimes the large land-holder resorted to the auction as a means of making sales. In 1839 one Nicholas *^^ of Baltimore advertised many hundred acres to be sold in this manner at Madison on June 4, 1840, but there seems to be no record that other so as not to interfere in the general settlement, and even then the settlers skin the speculator out of his profits by taxation.*' - Madison Argut, October 22, 18G0.

»These Inferences are drawn from actual facts which the writer has known personally in O'Brien county, Iowa, where unimproyed land was listed at the same rate as the rest, and no attention paid to complaints.

**This scattering testimony is from conversations with old settlers, and although it is not as specific as one could wish, the fact that speculators in the days of Wisconsin suffered more from their cupidity than they caused others to suffer seems fairly well established.

the sale took place, and this in itself is evidence that such spcculation at that time was not an enviable business, for there was no chance that the land could be sold for anything above cost before the date set for the sale.

Congress was not quite oblivious to the evils of land speculation and on January 8, 1841, a bill was introduced in the senate to limit the sales to 320 acres at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, the purchaser at the time to be worth not exceeding one thousand dollars." It probably was not intended that this bill should get very far. The limitation as to size of purchase was reasonable enough, but it is hard to see how the second stipulation could be enforced. Again in 1848 the senate made a like feint at limitation of the size of purchases, one hundred sixty acres being the proposed maximum. Whether these measures were in jest or in earnest, there was no limit set until the question had ceased to be a vital one in southern Wisconsin.

Another means of getting hold of land was the military land warrant, and many such warrants were used. They began to appear in great numbers about the year 1848, that is, at the close of the Mexican war. From that time till the land was all taken this scrip played a large role in acquiring patents. The men fortunate enough to hold the warrants were at a decided advantage over the average buyer. They were good for eighty acres, but until 185 1, were not transferable. Here was a serious proposition, and owing to pressure from the holders of warrants who were not desirous of taking the land for themselves, and much importunity on the part of anxious buyers, congress on December 11, 1851, voted that warrants should thereafter be assignable. Much complaint was manifested in the West over this action, as it was believed to be a move toward speculation instead of away from it, such as congress had at times pretended to favor.** Soon after this act, land warrants for eighty-acre entries in Wisconsin were quoted in New York along with stocks and bonds, and as land was at this time beginning to rise perceptibly in value, the warrants often sold for two hundred, or two hundred fifty dollars* section sixteen of every township was school land.** Wisconsin received the half-million-acre grant of land given to new states for internal improvement by act of congress, September 4, 1841, some of which was located in Dane county. The act was modified May 29, 1848, and such land as remained unsold in this tract was ^added to the school land; there was also some land within the county belonging to the state university and a considerable amount of swamp land which was given to the state in 1851." Under this grant, the object of which was to forward the drainage of swamps, the building of levees, roads through swamps, and the like, the state of Wisconsin claimed over four million acres and actually received more than three-fourths of that amount. The Swamp Act provided for an indemnity grant in case the swamps had been sold as arable land before the transfer was made to the state. The surveyors had listed each separate forty as arable or swamp, and it was on this basis that Wisconsin made her claim. As a matter of fact, much of the land listed as swamp was desirable, even more so than the average, and many pieces were taken by the earliest settlers.*^ Thus under the indemnity proviso the state claimed a much larger amount of land than the swamp remaining unsold. It was several years before the legislature undertook the necessary work of locating these scattered fragments and as a result there is a very great deal of land on the list of "State Swamp Lands'* which is among the driest of the state.** Provision was made for cash indemnity in case lands were not available and this has led to long and tedious bickerings which are not entirely settled yet. Altogether the state owned 30,800 acres of land in Dane county, 16480 acres of which was nominally swamp, the balance being school and university land.

The swamp land was sold at a dollar and a quarter per acre, some of it not being taken until 1896. The school land was appraised in 1850 at prices varying from ten cents to ten dollars

«Thls Is partly explained by the fear of the early settlers that water could not be had on the upland, but the surveyors were evidently careless In their classification.

per acre and was at once put upon the market.** The money received for this land was to constitute a permanent fund, hence it was even more desirable to leave it in the form of good security than to have it paid in cash. This being the case, the sales were made on remarkably easy terms, one-tenth down and the balance on thirty years' time at seven per cent, interest. By this means many a poor man was enabled to get a firm grip on a farm, and in not a few instances these lands are still in the hands of the original purchasers. The other state land was sold on twenty years' time at ten per cent, interest, and even this was a desirable bargain owing to the low price per acre.

With the above facts before us it is easy to comprehend the force of the remarks already made as to the difficulty in making a fortune in holding land for a rise ; there were too many alternatives open to the buyer, and with all his hardships he was seldom at the mercy of the land shark until after the last of the desirable public land had become private property. It was during the early '50's that the greater part of the state land was sold and it was also at this time that the first considerable rise in the price of land occurred. Had the state during its early history adopted the policy of selling land for what it would bring, there would be a diflFerent story to tell in the matter of state finance, but they followed persistently the first determination to oflFer land at as low a price as possible and in this way encourage immigration, blindly trusting to the generosity of the tax payers to provide all necessary funds for future needs. This as a policy is as unfair as it is inexpedient. It is unfair because only a limited number of settlers can profit by the low prices; it is inexpedient because, as seen in the sequel, the men who get land for a tenth of its real value are not willing to give as freely as they have received when contributions are asked for public expenditures.