When the settlement of the lands returned by the resurvey of 1872 was commenced a land office was established at Linkville in the fall of 1873, and some fourteen or fifteen settlers were located under the preemption and home- stead laws. Judson Small and George Conn, were appointed as register and receiver of the Linkville Land Office, but Mr. Small soon resigned, as office work was too confining for him ; and through the efforts of Senators John H. Mitchell. Samuel B. Cranston, a brother-in-law of Quiney A. Brooks, and him- self a large filer on swamp land under the Brooks application, was put in as register.
To further insure the defeat of the settlers, the state board appointed Q. A. Brooks as attorney to conduct the prosecutions instigated against every set- tler upon the resurveyed lands. As a result, all contests with settlers on land claimed as swamp were prosecuted before an interested register who ruled out all evidence favorable to settlers, and delayed and postponed trials to annoy tlicm during the season of haying or semi-annual rodeo. The settlers joined forces in the employment of B. Z. Dowell of Jacksonville to take their cases to a final settlement ; but such a policy of delay and postponement was followed that it was evident that the policy of the State was not to secure an early set- tlement of the questions at issue, as it was to wear out the settlers by pro- tracted litigation.
When the laud office was moved to Lakeview, soon after that place became the county seat, the register was removed for cause, and the newly appointed reg- ister was of a different character and not an interested party.; yet the long distance (120 miles) that contestants were obliged to go to attend land con- tests was one of the causes that contributed to the discouragement of the set- tlers, most of whom either sold out their claims for a small pittance, or aban- doned them entirely. During these land troubles, which lasted over ten j-ears. several different agents of the government and state came out to investigate and report as to the actual conditions and character of the land in controversy, etc., but in nearly every instance these men were taken in charge by the land speculators before their investigation commenced or soon after, and the reports they made were so evidently colored by the prosecution, and so one-sided that they were of no value in the real determination of facts.
In 1880. when the state elections were approaching, the deposed register, formerly a rabid Republican, renounced his allegiance to the Republican party, iind made a canvass of the county to secure support for the Democratic nomi- nation for representative for the County of Lake, which was then Democratic by 140 majority. The Republican County Convention which followed that of the Democrats in Lakeview, nominated the writer as their candidate for the Legislature to oppose Mr. Cranston for the reason that he had been active in the fight to secure the land for settlers, and in the hope that he might, if elected, get some remedial legislation for the home seekers, and cause a suspension of the state's policy of fighting the settlers on its frontiers.
No notice reached the writer of any intent to place him in nomination. ni)r did he learn that he was on the ticket for near a week after his opponent had taken up an active campaign, so that in response to a challenge to joint debate he only had sufficient notice to meet him at two points as he was closing his canvass, namely Bonanza and Linkville.
