Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/250



clubs were as follows: the officers were usually a president, vice-president, a recorder of claims, seven judges or adjusters of the boundaries of claims, one of whom was an officer authorized to administer oaths, and two marshals. A record was kept of the acts of all meetings, descriptions of all claims, and all transfers of claims. It was the duty of the judges to decide all controversies relating to claims, settle all boundaries and make a return in writing of all acts and decisions. The marshals were required to serve all processes, enforce all decisions of the claim courts and call upon members of the club to aid in the enforcement of its laws and decisions. No person was permitted to take more than 480 acres of land, and he was required to make improvements on his claim within six months to the value of $50, and $50 worth of improvements each six months thereafter.

The decisions of this court were final, and as satisfactory as those made in modern times after expensive and tedious litigation carried through the various established courts of law. The expense of adjusting disputed claims was very small, as parties and their witnesses appeared before the courts without legal process; no lawyers were employed, sheriffs were dispensed with and justice has never since been so cheaply and equitably administered as in these early days under the claim laws. Disputes were few and easily adjusted and the decisions generally promptly acquiesced in.

Where claims had been staked out before government bounds were established, a record of such claims was kept in the various settlements. When the land sales were made, each settler was by common consent entitled to secure his claim without competition. Every bona fide settler was thus protected in his rights. Where claims did not correspond with the surveyed lines the adjustments were made by the claim committees or courts. A distinguished citizen who was one of the pioneers of that period said in later years: