[Untitled]
To the Diplomatic and Consular Officers of the United States:
Your attention is directed to the provisions of an act of Congress approved May 20, 1862, of which a copy is herewith enclosed, entitled “An act to secure homesteads to actual settlers on the public domain.” “The privileges of this law,” as you will perceive, “are extended to every person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or has declared his intention of becoming such, and who has done no disloyal act, direct or indirect.
“An exception, however, to the foregoing requirement as to age, is made in the sixth section of the act in favor of any person who has served not less than fourteen days in the army or navy of the United States, either regular or volunteer, during actual war, domestic or foreign. Any person coming within the foregoing requirements, from and after January 1, 1863, has the right to enter one quarter section, or a less quantity, of unappropriated public land, upon which said person may have filed a pre-emption claim, or which at the time of application is subject to pre-emption, at $1 25 per acre, or eighty acres, or less, of such unappropriated lands, at $2 50 per acre.”
The department has been assured by the Secretary of the Interior that the necessary steps have been taken to carry into effect the beneficent provisions of this act, by which “homesteads are secured to actual settlers on the public domain,” and every facility contemplated by law is now afforded to those who may desire to avail themselves of its provisions. The Secretary of the Interior further states, that on the 30th of September, 1861, there were surveyed and ready for sale 134,218,330 acres; from that date until September 30, 1862, there have been surveyed 3,135,067 acres; making an aggregate of 137,353,397 acres now surveyed and ready for sale or occupation by settlers under the provisions of law.
It is stated by the Commissioner of the Land Office that, notwithstanding the political difficulties of the country, growing out of the hostile attitude assumed towards the general government by certain States in revolt against the federal authority, and the necessary withdrawal for military service of a large number of our citizens from agricultural employment, there were added to the wealth of the republic during the year ending September 30, 1861, by public sales of fresh lands, forty thousand new farms of eighty acres each.
Although the homestead law only went into operation on the 1st of January, 1863, information from reliable sources has reached the department that numerous [Page 1389] applications have already been made at the United States district land offices to secure farms under that enactment, indicating the setting in of a full tide of immigration over the fertile plains stretching from the Mississippi towards the Pacific ocean.
The homestead law, and the accompanying official instructions, show the facility with which settlers under it can, on easy terms, perfect their titles, even before the expiration of the period fixed by the statute for continuous residence.
Under the pre-emption laws of the United States strong inducements are likewise held out to settlers, not only upon lands surveyed, but unsurveyed, west of the Mississippi; and where settlements are made upon unsurveyed territory, the security for ultimate title, after the land shall have been surveyed, is complete under the law. Many interesting details, in connexion with the United States land system, are exhibited in the annual reports for 1860, 1861, and 1862, of the Commissioner of the Land Office, to whom you are referred for more full information upon the subject.
It is stated, also, by the Secretary of the Interior, that “the great auriferous region of the United States, on the western portion of the continent, extends from 31 degrees 30 minutes north latitude to the 49th degree, and from 100 degrees of longitude to the Pacific ocean, embracing portions of Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, and Washington, and covering an area of more than a million square miles.
“This vast region is traversed by extensive ranges of mountains, which are literally stocked with minerals, gold and silver being interspersed in profusion, and daily brought to light by new discoveries. The precious metals are found imbedded in mountains and in rich washings, marking the pathways of rivers and floods. The silver mines of Nevada and New Mexico promise a production greater than that of any other portion of the world. The discoveries of gold in the Colorado or southern portion of California, and in the region stretching thence up to and north of the Salmon river, in the Territory of Washington, are stimulating the mining enterprise of that region beyond all former precedent.
“Before the discovery of the gold of California, the annual production of gold in all parts of the world did not exceed an average of eighteen millions. The present annual production in California is estimated to average seventy millions. The Commissioner of the General Land Office, after extensive inquiry from all available sources of information, estimates the production of gold the present year, from the whole region of country before described, at one hundred millions.”
It is believed that in no country in the civilized world are such opportunities afforded as in the United States, to active, industrious, and intelligent men, for the acquisition of abundant means of support, and comfortable homesteads for themselves and their families.
These facts you are instructed to make known, in such manner as may be considered most expedient and proper, within the district of your residence.