[or-roots] Swamp Act of 1850

[Robert Casebeer]

Leslie, I am sure that Binger Herrman, Oregon's representative to Congress
in the 1880s had something to do with this...and maybe the timber act. He is
a fascinating study in land distibution.  Bob
----- Original Message -----
From: "Leslie Chapman" <reedsportchapmans at verizon.net>
To: <or-roots at sosinet.sos.state.or.us>
Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 9:15 AM
Subject: [or-roots] Swamp Act of 1850


> Glad you brought that up Glen;
>
> I had never heard of it til the PLSO con this year at Vancouver, it came
up
> in one of our case studys of resurveying and how to allot property against
> previous surveys with errors in them.
>
> It seems this act was sort of a loophole for states to distribute land for
> $1 an acre on a 20 cents up front and the rest on time deal that had holes
> in it you could fly the moon through, it seems that all that was required
to
> designate "swamp" was the sworn testimony of a "local official" that the
> pertinent land flooded annually, I gather from the case laws and tenor of
> some of the stuff I see when I google that term that some of this sworn
> testimony must have been based on condensation of heavy dew, they talk
about
> large tracts of the Sierra Nevada mtns going under that act and desert
land
> and such.
>
> I couldn't find a clear definition of it, but the basis apparently was to
> get "useless" swamp land in private hands so it could be drained and
become
> "productive" which given the history of massive flood damage caused by
> draining this land in the last fifty years is in hind sight one of the
> stupidest government programs ever.
>
> Les C
>
> Subject: Re: [or-roots] Donation Land Claims-land patents
>
>
> Les
> Do not forget the Swamp Act was also in there also.
> Glen
>
> --
> Glen A. Jones
>
>
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