(Sec. 11.)
Now, was it ever imagined that such claimant must personally inhabit
every quarter quarter-section of his claim? That he must have under
cultivation every quarter quarter-section? That he must erect a
dwelling on every quarter quarter-section? And that, if he failed to
do this, any such quarter of his quarter-section might be preempted by
a later occupant?
There is no pretension that such is the condition of the ordinary
preemptor, and that he is thus held to inhabit, to cultivate, to dwell
on, every quarter quarter-section, under penalty of having it seized
by another preemptor, or entered in course by any public or private
purchaser. He is to provide, according to the regulations of the Land
Office or otherwise, indicia, by which the limits of his claim shall
be known,-- he must perform acts of possession or intended ownership
on the land, as notice to others; and that suffices to secure his
rights under the statute. It is not necessary for him to cultivate
every separate quarter of his quarter-section; it is not necessary for
him even to enclose each; it only needs that in good faith he take
possession, with intention of occupation and settlement, and proceed
in good faith to occupy and settle, in such time and in such manner,
as belong to the nature of agricultural occupation and settlement.
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