History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

LAND TITLES AND NATIONAL AID. 485
Another cause of complaint with the Mormons was
the impossibility of acquiring a secure title to land.
In December 1853 the president of the United States
had recommended in his message that the land system
be extended over Utah, 11 with such modifications as the
peculiarities of that territory might require. About
a year later, an act was passed authorizing the appointment
of a surveyor-general for Utah, 12 and soon
afterward large tracts were surveyed. But the Indian
title had not yet been extinguished; the sections
were not open to preemption, and the saints therefore
found themselves merely in the condition of squatters
in their land of Zion. They were ready to purchase,
but the organic act forbade the primary disposal of
the soil, and, as it seems, the government, knowing
their ability and their eagerness to purchase, still hesitated
to make them its permanent owners. Nevertheless,
a few years before, this portion of the public
domain had virtually been ceded to them as worth-
less.
Still another reason for dissatisfaction was the failure
of congress to make such appropriations as were
granted for other territories. With the exception of
about $96,000 granted, it will be remembered, as part
compensation for an expense of $300,000 in quelling
Indian outbreaks, $20,000 for a state-house, and $5,000
for a library, no money was voted specially for the
benefit of Utah between 1850 and 1857; for the sums
expended on the survey and construction of roads
connecting that territory with other parts of the
Union cannot, of course, be so regarded. In 1855 the
Deseret News, Apr. 2, May 21, 1856; Putnam's Mag., v. 225-36; 8. F. Bulletin,
Aug. 23, 1856.
11 And also over New Mexico. House Ex. Doc, 33d Cong. 1st Sesa., i. pt
1, p. 12.
12 U. S. Public Laws, 33d Cong. 2d Sess., 611; House Ex. Doc, 46th Cong.
3d Sess., xxvi. p. 971. The appointment was given to David H. Burr, who,
according to a writer in the Internal. Rev., Feb. 1882, p. 192, met with such
opposition that he was compelled to flee for his life. I find no confirmation
of this statement, nor does Mr Burr mention any disagreement with the Mormon
authorities in his report, in House Ex. Doc, 34th Cong. 3d Sess., i. pt L
pp. 542-9.