Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, October 28, 1997

Early settlers could plant trees and claim lands

by Jim Bradshaw

According to an 1873 explanation of the timber act:

"To promote the growth of timber on treeless prairies of the west, Congress further enacted a law, by which any person entitled to make a pre-emption of homestead entry might secure 160 acres of public land by planting, protecting and keeping in a healthy growing condition thereon, for eight years, ten acres of timber. Lands subject to entry under this act must be composed exclusively of prairie lands, or other lands devoid of timber. At the expiration of eight years final proof is made and patent issued as in other cases. Residence or actual settlement is not necessary, nor will an entry of this character preclude a simultaneous homestead or preemption entry, hence "tree claims" have been made on a large portion of the western lands and will form the initial stage of title of much valuable property.

"If the owner of a timber claim dies before he has complied with all the conditions necessary to obtain a patent, his heirs may complete the remaining conditions, and upon obtaining a patent they take equal shares as direct grantees of the government and not by inheritance. But, like the pre-emption laws, it was found that the timber-culture laws were subjected to much abuse and that many fraudulent entries were made and ... all valid rights, however, acquired thereunder were not affected by repeal and all claims initiated before the repeal of the act might be perfected under the old law."

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