The Great West: A Vast Empire. A Comprehensive History of the Trans-Mississippi States and Territories ...

Front Cover
Excelsior Prt. Company, 1889 - 262 pages

From inside the book

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page xxvii - ... and the right of way for the construction of ditches and canals For the purposes herein specified is acknowledged and confirmed ; but whenever any person, in the construction of any ditch or canal, injures or damages the possession of any settler on the public domain, the party committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the party injured for such injury or damage.
Page xxvii - That whenever by priority of possession rights to the use of water for mining, agricultural, manufacturing, or other purposes have vested and accrued and the same are recognized and acknowledged by the local customs, laws, and the decisions of courts, the possessors and owners of such vested rights shall be maintained and protected in the same...
Page xvi - And all the lands which may hereafter be designated or selected by such United States surveys for sites for reservoirs, ditches, or c:inals for irrigation 'purposes and all the lands made susceptible of irrigation by such reservoirs, ditches, or canals, are from this time henceforth hereby reserved from sale as the property of the United States, and shall not be subject after the passage of this act to entry, settlement, or occupation until further provided by law...
Page xvi - And the Director of the Geological Survey, under the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior, shall make a report to Congress on the first Monday in December of each year, showing in detail how the said money has been expended, the amount used for actual survey and engineer work in the field in locating sites for reservoirs, and an itemized account of the expenditure under this appropriation.
Page xxvii - All patents granted, or pre-emptions or homesteads allowed, shall be subject to any vested and accrued water rights, or rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such water rights as may have been acquired under or recognized by the preceding section.
Page 25 - Iowa remained a Territory from 1838 to 1846, during which the office of Governor was held by Robert Lucas, John Chambers and James Clarke. STATE ORGANIZATION. By an act of the Territorial Legislature of Iowa, approved February 12, 1844, the question of the formation of a State Constitution and providing for the election of Delegates to a convention to be convened for that purpose was submitted to the people, to be voted upon at their township elections in April following. The vote was largely in...
Page 26 - At the next session, however, the effort was more successful, and on the 15th day of January, 1855, a bill re-locating the capital within two miles of the Raccoon Fork of the Des Moines, and for the appointment of Commissioners, was approved by Gov. Grimes. The site was selected in 1856, in accordance with the provisions of this act, the land being donated to the State by citizens and property-holders of Des Moines.
Page viii - Britain," to our mighty West, there to remain, for there is no further West ; beyond is the Orient. Like the star in the East which guided the three kings with their treasures westward until at length it stood still over the cradle of the young Christ, so the star of empire, rising in the East, has ever beckoned the wealth and power of the nations westward, until to-day it stands still over the cradle of the young empire of the West, to which the nations are bringing their offerings.
Page xv - For the purpose of investigating the extent to which the arid region of the United States can be redeemed by irrigation, and the segregation of the irrigable lands in such arid region, and for the selection of sites for reservoirs and other hydraulic works necessary for the storage and utilization of water for irrigation and the prevention of floods and overflows...
Page 23 - Territory," and in 1821 the State of Missouri was admitted, being a part of the former "Territory of Missouri." This left a vast domain still to the north, including the present States of Iowa and Minnesota, which was, in 1834, made a part of the " Territory of Michigan." In July, 1836, the territory embracing the present States of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin was detached from Michigan, and organized with a separate Territorial government under the name of

Bibliographic information