The Forgotten Fort Lands of Puget Sound

Washington City, March 10.—[Special.]—Before the passage of Representative McRae's bill to provide for the opening of all abandoned military reservations where the area exceeds 5,000 acres, John L. Wilson made a determined though unsuccessful effort to have the bill made to apply to all abandoned reservations, irrespective of area, which would then throw open to public settlement quite a number of such so-called military reserves in his state. Mr. Wilson said:

"I am in sympathy with the object of this bill, but the application of it to 5,000 acres does an injustice to my state. We have several abandoned military reservations that are less than 5,000 acres upon which there are quite a number of settlers. These men desire to obtain titles to these lands through the homestead provisions, in amounts of forty, thirty and ten acres. The lands are valuable for cultivation. They are not used by the government for fortification purposes and have been abandoned, and it seems to me that if it is good policy to make application of this bill to 5,000 acres of land it is good policy to make application of it to less than 5,000, or to any abandoned military reservation."

"What abandoned military reservations are there in your state?" asked Mr. McRae.

"Point Roberts and Gig Harbor particularly," replied Mr. Wilson. "All along Puget Sound the secretary of war in 1860 withdrew lands from settlement and reserved them for purposes of fortification. The government has never used these lands for any purpose whatever, and gradually settlers have gone upon them. Of course they had no right to go there, but they did go there and there they are."

"What is the size of those reservations?" again queried Mr. McRae.

"Seven hundred acres or less."

"You can see," said Mr. McRae, "that small reservations of that kind are usually close to towns and often very valuable. The department is willing to say that these small reservations ought to be given out in plats of 160 acres."

"We do not ask that," replied Mr. Wilson. "We only ask that they be sold in plats of ten acres and not to exceed forty acres. The chairman of the committee on public lands is mistaken. These reservations are not close to towns. Gig Harbor is across Puget Sound and Point Roberts is on Georgia bay."

Representative Outhwaite here interposed: "Does the gentleman from Washington say that these lands were originally reserved for fortification purposes?"

"They were originally reserved for fortification purposes," answered Mr. Wilson, "but they have been abandoned, without ever having been used, and they are put up and being appraised, to be sold to the highest bidder."

"Is it not likely," pursued Mr. Outhwaite, "that after a while the government will be buying these lands back again and paying for them at $10,000 an acre?"

"These lands," retorted Mr. Wilson, "have been withdrawn from settlement for the past forty years for fortification purposes; but you never spent a dollar for fortifications on them; yet we are within the sound of the morning and evening guns of Great Britain. And the gentleman right before me [Mr. Livingston, of Georgia] brings in a bill that appropriates thousands of dollars for purchasing land on the east coast, while your objective, your strategic point, the point which is absolutely necessary to have fortified, is without any fortification at all. Now, the point which we urge is that the homesteader be allowed to go on these lands and make title to ten and not to exceed forty acres. The government has abandoned them. They are appraising them and why not give the settler who is there his home?"

"As I understand," here interposed Mr. Breckinridge, Madeline Pollard's lover, "there are military reservations on Puget Sound which have not been abandoned in a formal, technical way, but only in the sense that no fortifications have been erected upon them."

"Some of the lands reserved for fortification purposes on Puget Sound," explained Mr. Wilson, "have been abandoned and some have not. The secretary of war has notified the secretary of the interior of those which are no longer required for military purposes, and it is in relation to these formally abandoned reservations only that the desired legislation is asked."

Mr. Lacey, of Iowa, a member of the public land committee, explained that the bill had not been made broad enough to cover the smaller reservations, because the circumstances as to the smaller ones were so various, and in some instances so peculiar, that the committee had decided it would be better to leave each one to stand upon its own merits, to be dealt with by such bills as might from time to time be deemed proper and be approved by the land office.

Before the passage of the bill Mr. Wilson again obtained recognition from the chair and made still another effort for the desired change in the bill. Near Puget Sound, he said, "we have thirty or forty of these small reservations, which have never been used for any public purpose and which are occupied by settlers. Some of these reservations have been abandoned by the war department and thrown open, and the secretary of the interior has been so notified. Now it happens that if these lands are in bodies of less size than those provided for in this bill, these are fertile and valuable lands and the settlers now resident upon them would be very glad to take them up in smaller bodies than 5,000 acres. I would be very glad if by some measure of legislation my constituents have interests of that character might have such relief as is given by this bill to the people of other states. In my view, whatever legislation may be enacted by Congress on this subject ought to be general in its application. If a measure of this character be enacted for the benefit of Montana, or Arizona, or Idaho, or any of the larger states, it ought to be available as well to my own state, and settlers, whether they wish to take up forty acres or ten acres, ought to be treated on fair terms and with equal justice. I have noted the chairman of the committee on public lands would be willing to leave us some consideration in this matter. The people have been like Mahomet's coffin for many years. They can not acquire title from the government; they can not maintain their just rights. They just want their homes, and some measure of this kind is their only method of relief. That is the reason I have brought up this question now."

After some further discussion Mr. McRae moved the previous question, shutting off amendments and further debate, and the bill was passed without affording any relief to the settlers on military reservations on Puget Sound.