INTRODUCTORY. 



ALBANY, N. Y., December 31, 1909. 



This publication is a schedule of purchases of lands in the forest preserve 

 counties. It shows the date of each purchase, the names of the vendors, 

 the land acquired, the amount paid, and the number of the certificate of 

 purchase in connection with the acquisitions since the creation of the 

 Forest Preserve Board in 1897. 



This information is compiled for reference in land purchase work and 

 use in the legal and general administrative work of the department. 



Title to land for the Forest Preserve is acquired by purchase direct from 

 the owners, by sales for unpaid taxes, by foreclosure of mortgages to 

 secure loans from the United States deposit fund, the resale of lands 

 bonded as security for payment of money due the State and by condem- 

 nation proceedings. The State has some land, the title to which is 

 " original," that is the State has owned the land from its organization as a 

 State. 



The first lands purchased were in 1866, in Clinton county, for State 

 prison purposes. This was nineteen years prior to the creation of the 

 Forest Preserve and such of those lands as are in the towns of Altona and 

 Dannemora do not belong to the Forest Preserve. It is doubtful whether 

 some of the -lands in adjoining towns belong to the preserve, as in 1894 a 

 law was enacted which provided that all uncultivated State land within ten 

 miles of the Clinton prison should be retained for the use of the prison. 

 Prior to 1885 about 800,000 acres had been acquired by tax sale, but it was 

 the policy of the State to dispose of the land when possible, as a tax sale 

 is solely for the purpose of obtaining funds for State government pur- 

 poses. The Board of Land Commissioners therefore made sales when- 

 ever a reasonable price was offered. 



In 1883 a la w was enacted which prohibited the sale of any State land 

 in the counties of Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, 

 Lewis, Saratoga, St. Lawrence and Warren. By subsequent acts the coun- 

 ties of Oneida, Washington, Delaware, Greene, Sullivan and Ulster were 

 added to the list. 



The Forest Preserve was created by the Legislature of 1885 (chap. 

 283), and included all the State lands in the counties named above ex- 

 cepting Delaware and Washington. These two counties have since been 

 added, making sixteen in all. 



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