Skirting the Land Offices

Federal land office finally opened under the Pre-Exemption Act of September 1841. Under these federal laws a man had to have a house on the land at least 12 feet square.  The house had to have a glass window.  Settlers, however, played games with these federal laws, so to speak by claiming they had a 12x14 house which in reality was actually a 12x14" house or hanging a window sash on the inside of the house to look like a window when there was none.  

Sometimes the same cabin was moved from claim to claim to satisfy the requirements.  In Nebraska there was said to be a house on wheels, drawn by oxen, for that very purpose.  At the cost of $5 a day a settler could hire out the house, thereby swearing that he had a residence of the land he was claiming.  It worked for many a "residence" in the community.

Women were not allowed to claim land unless they were widows who could claim "head of family."  Not to be outdone by the men, women came up with a plan to borrow a family.  A baby or child was hired out to serve as the movable house did.  The women would sign the adoption papers, swear to be head of the family and claim her land.  Afterwards, she would annul the adoption papers, and return the child to the rightful parents.  

From the early days of Western settlement age up until at least the Civil War, "association" (or club) law ruled the West.  It mean proper, quick judgment and procedures.  The do-it-yourself kind of law that for most practical purposes served to settle the West.

Next time...Not Always So Democratic

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Today in Pioneer History:  "On June 29, 1613, London's original Globe Theater was destroyed by fire.  The fire was started by a cannon shot that went off during the performance of Henry VIII.  The Globe was the theater where many of Shakespeare's play were performed.  

Taking the Law into Their Own Hands

The early farmer settlers organized to protect their lands.  There were no courts of law - only "associations" or "unions" which sprang up virtual everywhere settlers formed communities.  For example, in Elkhorn Creek, Wisconsin, 40 families settled in a grove before the land was actually for sale by the Federal government.  A Methodist circuit rider passing through in 1835, noted in his journal, "They had, in the absence of all other law, met and made a law for themselves...appointed commissioners to take care of the land, preserve the timber so as to make it valuable...when it was settled by township law."

These families in Elkhorn Creek had allowed each family 40 acres of woodland  and as much grassland and each one needed.  No man was allowed to monopolize the timber, but that they should sustain each other against any new settler coming in.  At no time should any settler bid on another man's land.  Such a man would be "knocked down and drug out of the land office", tried in court and fined.  No spectator bid on a settler's land and no settler bid on his neighbor's land.  That was "the law."

These associations or unions guaranteed that a settler's land, even if not surveyed yet, remained his land, any improvements made, his profit and any crops grown, his crops.  These groups grew up quickly in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa - wherever settlers "broke the sod."  They began with a mass meeting of all settlers, forming a committee to draft by-laws and elect official leaders.  Each association had a procedure for choosing juries to settle disputes, a president and a marshal.

Each association also handled the land title records, in many ways acting as the Federal government would act.  These unions became the whole government, punishing crimes against person or property.  You could say they were technically "outside the law" but it was through such organizations that law and order was brought to the West.

Next time...Association Membership

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Today in Pioneer History: "On June 22, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the G.I. Bill designed to compensate members of the armed forces for their efforts in World War II allowing my father and many of yours to go to college.  The bill was actually called the Servicemen's Readjustment Act and it was hoped to avoid the 20,000 unemployed veterans and their families who protested in Washington in 1932 from happening again.

California Rancher?

1848 was a busy years in California.  The Treaty of Guadalupe giving the territory of California to the United States along with gold being discovered at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento were both major magnets attracting people to the Pacific Ocean.

By the end of 1849 over 100,000 settlers had found their way to California.  Joel Walker (Captain Joe's older brother) worked as a freight hauler, delivering beef, kidney and draft animals to the gold miners.   Captain Walker himself purchased a ranch to use as a holding place for horses and cattle he was buying and selling.

The Walkers actually did better in the gold rush than most miners.  By their findings, they built the first hotel in Sacramento - the Mo House, a canvas and plank place that they sold in the summer of 1849.

Captain Joe Walker, who was seldom near the mines, was quite a prosperous rancher.  Trailing herds seemed to have been only part of what interested him, but he was rarely at the ranch either, hardly long enough to be involved in routine feeding, branding or round ups.  He used the business as a way of funding his adventures in the wilderness - now in his 50s, he wasn't down yet!  Ranching was sort of Captain Joe's IRA for retirement...he'll be back,  but meantime...

Next Time...2 Routes, 2 Ways

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Today in History:  On December 7, 1802 having spied the Pacific Ocean for the first time a few weeks earlier, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark cross to the south shore of the Columbia River (near modern-day Portland) and begin building the small fort, Fort Clatsop, that would be their winter home.