General Land Office, under date of May 12, 1906, addressed to Hon. Hilary A. Herbert as follows: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, D. C., May 12, 1906. SIR: In reply to your personal inquiry of this date I have to advise you that, as shown by the records of this office, lots 2 and 3, sec. 14, T. 3 N., R. 28 E., containing 204.73 acres, were located August 4, 1851, by David L. Yulee, by surveyor-general's certificate No. 2, in part satisfaction of the scrip issued under the provisions of the eleventh section of the act of May 26, 1824 (4 Stat. L., 52), in satisfaction of the Arredondo grant of 28,000 acres. Said location was patented September 5, 1853. The location and the patent issued thereon are intact upon the records of this Office, and the scrip surrendered in payment for the land is on file with the entry papers. At date of location said land was in the St. Augustine district, Florida. Very respectfully, Hon. HILARY A. HERBERT, J. H. FIMPLE, Assistant Commissioner. 1419 G Street Northwest, Washington, D. C. An examination of one of the maps submitted and a careful reading of the case of The Florida Town Improvement Company v. Bigalsky, as decided by the supreme court of Florida, has, however, suggested to us that possibly there may be adverse claimants to some of the lands embraced in lots Nos. 1 and 2, and we have therefore concluded that the Senate bill should be amended so as to conform more completely to the recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior who says, in his letter of February 28, 1906: I would suggest that the bill should merely relinquish the title of the United States to such lands to the extent of whatever title it had in the same at the date of the patent to Yulee and of its approval of the swamp-land selection to the State. This would be sufficient to quiet the title of the holders of such parts of said lots as may have derived their title under the patent to Yulee or the deed of the State made under the approval of the Government of the swamp-land selection. The second amendment is suggested to define with definiteness the block of the old town of Fernandina, known as the "Plaza,” which is excepted from this relinquishment. The fourth amendment is deemed necessary to conform to the intentions of the War Department, as a condition upon which it consents to give up its reservation over these two lots, that provision shall be made for the permanent maintenance of this road, without expense to the United States. The town of Fernandina may well be considered as a permanency, and a duty imposed upon the town would be legally cast upon the town and its successor, whether the sucessor shall in the future be called town or city. This is a bill to quit and relinquish title to occupants who with their predecessors have been in possession of certain lands for over sixty years, claiming title under the United States. The bill as it passed the Senate was prepared in the General Land Office, and approved by the Secretary of the Interior. As some of the lands are covered by a United States military reservation, it was recommended by the Commissioner of the General Land Office that the bill as prepared there should be referred to the War Department. This reference was made, and from that Department the bill was returned with the statement that there was no objection to the passage of the bill. The amount of land covered by the bill is all together 267 acres, some of which, probably less than half, is in the Fort Clinch Reservation. Deducting this leaves in that reservation 652.94 acres, which in the opinion of the War Department is "sufficient for the purposes of the defensive works which will be required at that point. All of these lands are now, and have been for many years, in the possession of settlers and other bona fide holders, who bought and paid for them in good faith, and they all lie within lots No. 1 and No. 2, fractional surveys, in and near the town of Fernandina, Fla. Lot No. 1 was selected on the 4th day of August, 1851, as swamp land, under the act of Congress of September 23, 1850, which ceded to the State of Florida all lands therein which were "swamp and overflowed," and shortly thereafter the State of Florida sold and conveyed this land to persons from whom the present claimants derive their titles. On the same day (August 4, 1851) David L. Yulee entered at the Florida land office lot No. 2, and on the 5th day of September, 1853, a patent was issued to said Yulee for said land. Yulee, for valuable considerations, conveyed to the persons from whom the present claimants derive their titles. Yulee's entry and patent for lot No. 2 and the selection by the State of Florida of lot No. 1 remained unquestioned until nearly six years afterwards, when, on April 27, 1857, the General Land Office canceled Yulee's patent for lot No. 2 and about the same time set aside the selection by the State of Florida of lot No. 1. This action was taken, as the honorable Secretary of the Interior says in his letter of February 25, 1906, embraced in the Senate report, on the ground that the entry and selection had been allowed "because of a misunderstanding of the Land Department" as to whether or not these lands were then embraced in the United States military reservation. Since that time, as appears from the letter from the War Department, a large portion of the 267 acres embraced in lots 1 and 2 was relinquished to the Interior Department by General Orders, No. 21, Headquarters of the Army, Adjutant-General's Office, April 3, 1897. The War Department now, as appears by the letter of the Chief of Engineers transmitted, with his approval, by the Secretary of War, sees no objection to the relinquishment by the Government of the remaining portion of these lands. It should also be stated that, as appears by the report of the Interior Department in lot No 2, referred to above, there are 38 lots that were granted by the Kingdom of Spain, severally, to persons named in said report whose grants were all confirmed at different times by a commission established under the acts of 1827, 1828, and 1830. The titles of all these persons, which the Commissioner of the General Land Office reports were thus confirmed, are complete, but the Commissioner says that "while patents appear to have been issued for other Florida confirmed grants, we have been unable to find that any patents have been issued for above confirmed lot grants.' It would appear from the proceedings of the Florida courts (Florida Town Improvement Co. v. Bigalsky, supreme court of Florida, division B, Dec. 22, 1902, Southern Reporter 33, p. 450) that the legal title for portions of these two lots, Nos. 1 and 2, is still in the United States, but the equities of the claimants are undoubted and are recognized by the Interior Department, and the War Department states that it has no use for these lands as a military reservation; that it has without them all the land it needs for military purposes at that point, comprising 652.94 acres-over a mile square. The Senate report is attached hereto as a part of this report. HR-59-1-Vol 3- -9 Senate Report No. 1792, Fifty-ninth Congress, First Session. Mr. LODGE, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 1697.] The Committee on Military Affairs, having had under consideration Senate bill 1697 report it back to the Senate favorably with an amendment in the nature of a substitute and recommend its passage. The Senate document (172) last year and the letters from the War and Interior Departments which follow explain the purposes and nature of the bill: [Senate Document No. 172, Fifty-eighth Congress, second session.] 1. Prior to the ceding of Florida to the United States by Spain the town of Fernandina, now known as Old Fernandina, was located on a portion of what is now known as Fort Clinch Reservation, and on lot 2 in section 14, township 3 north, range 28 east, according to public surveys, in Nassau County, State of Florida. Several lots in this town on these lands were owned in fee by private individuals, by grants direct from Spain made prior to the cession of Florida. The titles to these lots were afterwards confirmed by the United States to these original grantees and their heirs and assigns. The records of these titles, and the acts of Congress referring thereto, may be found in the act of May 8, 1822 (3 Stat. L., 707), and act of May 26, 1824 (4 Stat. L., 47), and subsequent acts of 1827, 1828, and 1830, following the treaty with Spain ceding Florida, which is dated February 22, 1819. 2. Subsequently, after Florida was ceded by Spain to the United States, the public surveys were extended over this land on which the old town of Fernandina was situated, and, ignoring the existence of the town, the same was designated on the public surveys as lot 2 in section 14, township 3 north, range 28 east. 3. On February 2, 1842, said lot 1, section 14, and lot 2, section 14, were attempted to be reserved by order of the President as a military reservation, and on the 8th of September, 1848, a board was appointed to investigate this and other reservations, with a view to reducing same, and made its report on March 12, 1849, recommending certain reductions. The Secretary of War, on March 23, 1849, communicated with the Land Department, inclosing copy of the report, and requested “that so much of the several tracts designated in the report as is public lands may be reserved from sale," and stating further that "this reservation will supersede that heretofore made of the islands of the Florida coast, and so much of the reservation, first. as is not included in any of the tracts enumerated in the inclosed report is relinquished by this Department." Thereupon, May 2, 1850, instructions were issued by the Land Department including in this reservation, "all public land on the north end of Amelia Island." Other lands lay "on the north end of Amelia Island." These lands were not "on the north end of Amelia Island." August 4, 1851, Hon D. L. Yulee located said lot 2 with Arredona scrip, and on September 5, 1853, a patent to this lot was issued to him by the United States. (See Miscellaneous Records of Patents, vol. 3, p. 99, G. L. O.) On September 23, 1850, by act of Congress, certain lands in Florida were granted to the State of Florida as swamp and overflowed. Said lot 1 was selected by the State of Florida as swamp and overflowed on December 17, 1851, and the approval thereof to the State was made by the Secretary of the Interior on January 25, 1853. Through a chain of conveyances the title of David L. Yulee, under said patent, in said lot 2 was vested in the Florida Town Improvement Company, and it conveyed most of same to the Fernandina Development Company, who conveyed the lots on the water front to the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad Company, the present claimant of the same. Said lot 1, in section 14, was conveyed by the State of Florida to E. N. Dickerson, and through a chain of conveyances from him to the Fernandina Development Company. The United States never asserted any claim of title under the reservation until about 1886, when parties claiming under the Fernandina Development Company, including the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad Company, were excluded from possession. The military reservation was subordinate to the Spanish titles above mentioned. If the effect of the order of 1849 was to release these lots from the military reservation the Yulee patent and the title of the State of Florida under the swamp and overflowed acts above mentioned are superior to the military reservation. In 1897 the Secre ary of War made an order reducing this military reservation on these lots 1 and 2 to a portion of the water front of lot 2. Even this portion of water lot 2 is not needed for military purposes. The Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad Company has a just right to the water front under the patent to Yulee and portions of the lots under the Spanish titles. Any claim of the United States thereto under its military reservation, or of the Interior Department since the military reservation was reduced, in 1897, should be procured by the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad Company to protect its title under the patent from the United States to Yulee and under its Spanish title. WAR DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, SIR: I have the honor to return herewith a draft of a bill proposed to be introduced as a substitute for S. 1697 of the present session of Congress, being "A bill confirming to certain claimants thereto portions of lands known as Fort Clinch Reservation, in the State of Florida," which said draft was referred by the Senate Committee on Military Affairs to the Secretary of War with request to be informed whether it will be in every way satisfactory to the War Department. Under date of April 23, 1904, in reporting on a bill (S. 4641, 58th Cong., 2d sess.) identical with S. 1697, for which this substitute is proposed, the Chief of Engineers submitted a statement regarding the reservation, with his views and recommendations as to the legislation proposed in said bill, as follows: "(2) The reservation in question is situated on the northern end of Amelia Island, Florida. It formerly consisted of the following tracts: "Fractional section 8, township 3 north, range 29 east, fractional section 11 and lots Nos. 1 and 2 of fractional section 14, township 3 north, range 28 east, reserved by the President's order of February 9, 1842. "A tract of 100 acres, comprising section 12, township 3 north, range 28 east, and section 7, township 3 north, range 29 east, purchased by the United States October 20, 1849. "A tract of 400 acres, comprising section 10, township 3 north, range 28 east, purchased by the United States July 9, 1850. "(3) On March 23, 1849, the Secretary of War, in a communication to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, requested the retention of the reservation, among various tracts previously reserved at other points, of 'all the public land on the north end of Amelia Island.' This included all the land on Amelia Island described above as having been reserved by the President on February 9, 1842, and was not intended to in any way modify the reservation so made by the President. May 2, 1850, the Commissioner of the General Land Office informed the Secretary of War that the necessary instructions had that day been sent to the land officers in Florida, with reference to the lands selected by the Board of Engineers, on the Florida coast, for the purpose of public defenses, as designated in the Secretary's communication of March 23, 1849. "(4) Subsequently, viz, on the 4th of August, 1851, the local land officers in Florida erroneously permitted Hon. D. L. Yulee to locate lot 2, for which patent was issued, and the State of Florida to select lot 1 as 'swamp lands' for which no patent was issued. The patent to Mr. Yulee for lot 2 was subsequently recalled by letter addressed to him by the Commissioner of the General Land Office under date of April 27, 1857. Copies of letters from the Commissioner of the General Land Office on the subject dated, respectively, July 25 and November 15, 1856, and April 27, 1857; of one from the Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of War dated November 18, 1856, and of one from the Secretary of War to the Secretary of the Interior dated December 17, 1856, are inclosed. "(5) The validity of these reservations was sustained by the General Land Office and, as hereinafter stated, by the courts of the State of Florida, and any conveyances by Mr. Yulee and the State of Florida to lots 2 and 1, respectively, or any portions thereof, were consequently of no effect, it is believed. "(6) In the fall of 1894 two actions in ejectment were brought against the ordnance-sergeant in local charge at Fort Clinch, in the fourth judicial circuit court of Florida, one by the Fernandina Development Company and the other by the Florida Town Improvement Company, to recover lots 1 and 2 of section 14, township 3 north, range 28 east. Upon the request of the Department of Justice certified copies of the papers bearing upon the matter were obtained from the Department of the Interior and, together with such as were found on file in the War Department, were furnished to the United States attorney having charge of the cases. On October 14, 1903, the local engineer officer reported that these suits were finally decided in 1902 by the supreme court of the State of Florida, which held that the order regarding the military reservation took precedence over the patent to Mr. Yulee. The validity of these claims adverse to the title of the United States has never been admitted by the War Department. "(7) On March 23, 1897, the Secretary of War, in pursuance of authority of the President dated March 3, 1897, transferred and turned over to the Department of the Interior for disposition as provided by law that portion of the Fort Clinch Reservation lying south and east of the following-described lines, the same being deemed no longer required for military purposes, viz: Beginning at a point on the boundary of the reservation where the southern boundary of lands conveyed to the United States by George R. Fairbanks, commissioner (appointed in condemnation proceedings) for the purpose, by deed dated July 9, 1850, meets the boundary of said lot 1, which point is 1,518 feet south 85° west from the southwest corner of lands conveyed to the United States by George R. Fairbanks and wife by deed dated October 20, 1849; thence south 85° west 2,070 feet, more or less, to the line of the west side of Estrada street of the town of Old Fernandina, Fla., produced; thence in a southerly direction along the last-mentioned line and along the west side of said Estrada street 1,650 feet, more or less, to the north side of Someruelos street; thence in a westerly direction along the line of the north side of said Someruelos street and along this last-mentioned line produced to the Amelia River.' "This relinquishment is published in General Orders, No. 21, Headquarters of the Ariny, Adjutant-General's Office, April 3, 1897. The lands so relinquished and the reservation as thereby reduced are shown on the inclosed blueprint entitled 'Map of U. S. Military Reservation, Fort Clinch, Fla.' "(8) The portion of the reservation so transferred and turned over to the Department of the Interior includes all of lot 1 except a small triangular piece at its northwest corner (which was retained for the sake of preserving a straight course for the southern boundary of the reservation) and nearly all of that portion of lot 2 which is subdivided into town blocks and lots, as shown on the blueprint mentioned in preceding paragraph. It is not known at this office what disposition, if any, has been made by the Department of the Interior of the portions of lots 1 and 2 so relinquished and turned over to it. "(9) According to surveys of the General Land Office, the entire reservation, including lots 1 and 2, contained an area of 919.94 acres, of which 267 acres were embraced within said lots 1 and 2. Excluding lots 1 and 2, the reservation would |