Speech #500032171

The Union Pacific Railway Company was on this land. and in the progress of time and by reason of the settlement of the country it became desirable to have some facilities for the transaction of business there. and people went in and squatted on the land adjacent to the depot and have adapted themselves to regular formation of streets and avenues.with a town on the reservation. although having no title. This bill authorizes the entry of about 200 acres for town purposes under the general townsite act. for the benefit of the occupants only. It authorizes the city of Wallace to take for cemetery purposes 40 acres now used for a cemetery. and in which some soldiers and many immigrants and others are buried. and it authorizes the remainder of the tract to be entered under the general land laws of the United States. giving to the Secretary of the Interior the right to restrict the amount which any one may acquire to 40 acres within a certain distance from the townsite. The Senator from Massachusetts asks me if the Secretary of the Interior has not done anything with the land since it has been turned over to him. and I say he has not. There is no desire to use it for any purpose.