Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/201

 RECOLLECTIONS OP AN OLD PIONEER. 191 Section 1. That the word "occupancy." in said act, shall I).- so construed as to require the claimant to either personally reside upon his claim himself, or to occupy the same by the personal residence of his tenant. See. '2. That any person shall he authorixed to take six hundred acres of his claim in the prairie, and forty acres in the timber, and such parts of his claim need not be adjoining to each other. Sec. :{. That when any two persons take up their claims jointly, not exceeding twelve hundred and eighty acres, they may hold the same jointly for the term of one year, by mak- ing the improvements required by said act upon any part of siiid claim, and may hold the same longer than one year if they make the said improvements within the year upon each six hundred and forty acres. The land law of 1844 dispensed with recording of claims, be- eaiise. under the then existing condition of the country, it was an onerous burden upon the new immigrant. The great body of the immigration arrived late in the fall, just as the rainy season set in; and to require each locater of a claim to travel from twenty to one hundred miles to the recorder's office, and return through an Oregon winter, was indeed a harsh condition. Under the land law of 1843, the old set- tler was allowed one year within which to record his claim, while the new settlers were only allowed 20 days. Besides, reerrdinir a claim without a proper survey was of very doubt- ful utility, as parties would be very apt to include within their lines more than six hundred and forty acres. By the land law of 1843, as will be seen, all persons, of every age, sex, or condition, could hold claims. If a man had several sons, he could hold one claim for himself and each of his sons, though under age; and, as each claimant had six months within which to make his improvements, and me year within which to become an occupant, from the date of the record, the act left open the door to speculation, and monopoly to a grievous extent. A man having a number of children could record one claim in the name of each child one month before the annual arrival of the new immigrants, and that record would hold the land for six months; thus