114 FOREST COMMISSIONERS REPORT. 



The first island conveyed by Maine was September 6, 1824. 

 Until 1876 she disposed of but forty-one islands, and twenty- 

 nine of these were conveyed prior to 1830, mostly from among 

 those assigned to her by the Commissioners. An examination 

 of the reports of land agents prior to 1875 shows little or no 

 space devoted to the subject of islands in their reports on the 

 pubHc lands. This long period of comparative inactivity in the 

 disposition of islands while other lands were being rapidly dis- 

 posed of, is probably due to the fact that but little information 

 was to be had about those not included in the Massachusetts 

 surveys, most of which were early disposed of, no schedules 

 ever having been made by the Land Office of the others. 



Maine Determines to Dispose of All Her Islands. 



The year 1876 is an important one in the history of island 

 legislation, for in this year Maine started in earnest to get rid 

 of all her islands. 



This year was preceded by some activity on the part of the 

 Land Office to determine the State's interest in these islands, 

 and the Land Agent, Parker P. Burleigh, calls attention to 

 them in his report of 1875 as follows : 



"Among the very numerous islands in the ocean and bays 

 which skirt the shores of Maine, many are still the property 

 of the State, but exactly which is not known. No full schedules 

 have ever been made of them, though plans of them exist 

 among the documents donated by the State of Massachusetts. 

 During the past year progress has been made in ascertaining the 

 state of the title to these islands, but the difficulty of the task 

 and the very great number of them makes the work a slow one. 

 Frequent applications are made for the purchase of one or 

 another, but no sales have been ventured in the present state of 

 the records. The perfecting of these schedules with proper 

 entries of the character, position and other necessary' informa- 

 tion respecting the property, forms an important duty yet to be 

 performed." 



Following this report the Legislature in 1876 passed the fol- 

 lowing act : 



Chapter 79, of the Laws of 1876 — approved February 11, 

 1876: 



