Land Office

In the United States, title to land derives from a variety of sources depending on the history of the area in which the land is located. In the so-called “public land states” (including Montana), almost all lands are owned either by the Federal Government or by persons deriving their land titles from the Government. (Excepted were those lands granted to individuals from foreign sovereignties prior to cessation of the area to the United States. These were handled as private land claims.) The basic operating unit that effected the transfer of title of a piece of the public domain to private ownership was the district land office. When from time to time it was decided to open to entry certain portions of the public domain, a land district was created, usually by an act of Congress, and all transactions connected with obtaining titles to land in that area had to be initiated and carried on though the district land office. Until the 1920's each land district ordinarily had two officials in charge, a Register and a Receiver, who jointly conducted the business of the office. The receiver was primarily responsible for the moneys taken in at the office; the register for the necessary record keeping. A person wishing to make an “entry” (i.e., to initiate proceedings that if successfully completed would result in the issuance to him of a patent to a tract of land) of any type went before the Register and indicated the tract of land to which he desired to obtain title together with the class of entry he desired to make. The entryman, the Register, and the Receiver then filled out and signed a series of documents. In the early period these ranged from the simple applications to purchase and receipts executed on the spot in connection with cash purchases. Later there was an elaborate series of applications, proofs, affidavits, public notices, and other types of documents executed over a period of years in later homestead and mineral entries. Persons making warrant or scrip entries were required to surrender the warrant or scrip they owned to the Register at the time of making entry. When all requirements of the laws and of the General Land Office had been fulfilled, all papers executed or filed with the Register in the process of such fulfillment (including duplicate record copies of receipts and other documents issued by the register and receiver to the entryman) were forwarded to the General Land Office in Washington. These papers were always accompanied by a document which took varying forms but is now usually called a “final certificate” (in the case of warrant and scrip entries it is called a “certificate of location”). This document was a formal certification made by the Register of the district land office to the Commissioner of the General Land Office that an entryman had fulfilled all legal requirements for obtaining a patent to a described piece of land, and that he was entitled to such patent. The papers were then examined in the General Land Office and, if all was found to be proper, a patent was prepared and sent, usually to the Register of the district office where the entry had been made, for delivery to the entryman. The General Land Office was often so far behind in its work that there was an interval of six months to three years between the receipt of the land-entry papers and the issuance of the patent. The first district land office was opened at Steubenville, Ohio, on July 2, 1800; the last new land office at Newcastle, Wyoming on March 1, 1920. In the interval, some 362 district land offices were opened. In 1890 there were 123 active offices, the peak number.

In the United States, title to land derives from a variety of sources depending on the history of the area in which the land is located. In the so-called “public land states” (including Montana), almost all lands are owned either by the Federal Government or by persons deriving their land titles from the Government. (Excepted were those lands granted to individuals from foreign sovereignties prior to cessation of the area to the United States. These were handled as private land claims.) The basic operating unit that effected the transfer of title of a piece of the public domain to private ownership was the district land office. When from time to time it was decided to open to entry certain portions of the public domain, a land district was created, usually by an act of Congress, and all transactions connected with obtaining titles to land in that area had to be initiated and carried on though the district land office. Until the 1920's each land district ordinarily had two officials in charge, a Register and a Receiver, who jointly conducted the business of the office. The receiver was primarily responsible for the moneys taken in at the office; the register for the necessary record keeping. A person wishing to make an “entry” (i.e., to initiate proceedings that if successfully completed would result in the issuance to him of a patent to a tract of land) of any type went before the Register and indicated the tract of land to which he desired to obtain title together with the class of entry he desired to make. The entryman, the Register, and the Receiver then filled out and signed a series of documents. In the early period these ranged from the simple applications to purchase and receipts executed on the spot in connection with cash purchases. Later there was an elaborate series of applications, proofs, affidavits, public notices, and other types of documents executed over a period of years in later homestead and mineral entries. Persons making warrant or scrip entries were required to surrender the warrant or scrip they owned to the Register at the time of making entry. When all requirements of the laws and of the General Land Office had been fulfilled, all papers executed or filed with the Register in the process of such fulfillment (including duplicate record copies of receipts and other documents issued by the register and receiver to the entryman) were forwarded to the General Land Office in Washington. These papers were always accompanied by a document which took varying forms but is now usually called a “final certificate” (in the case of warrant and scrip entries it is called a “certificate of location”). This document was a formal certification made by the Register of the district land office to the Commissioner of the General Land Office that an entryman had fulfilled all legal requirements for obtaining a patent to a described piece of land, and that he was entitled to such patent. The papers were then examined in the General Land Office and, if all was found to be proper, a patent was prepared and sent, usually to the Register of the district office where the entry had been made, for delivery to the entryman. The General Land Office was often so far behind in its work that there was an interval of six months to three years between the receipt of the land-entry papers and the issuance of the patent. The first district land office was opened at Steubenville, Ohio, on July 2, 1800; the last new land office at Newcastle, Wyoming on March 1, 1920. In the interval, some 362 district land offices were opened. In 1890 there were 123 active offices, the peak number.