# Looters of the Public Domain/Chapter 24

Chapter XXIV
THE entire idea of making a National Park out of the unprepossessing country surrounding Mt. Rainier, was clever in the extreme. It was the work of a master mind, because there was no more necessity for endowing this region with such exclusiveness than would exist in the contemplation to create National Parks out of every high mountain peak in the country. In short, Mt. Rainier owes its distinction in this respect to the fact that the Northern Pacific Railroad Company owns a lot of land in the neighborhood. Had the Jim Hill corporation possessed the odd-numbered sections adjacent to Mt. Shasta, in California, Mt. Hood, in Oregon, or Mt. Anything, in Anywhere, there is no question but what Congress would have wisely recognized the utmost importance of making National Parks out of them also. Hence, good fortune must have smiled upon Mt. Rainier with peculiar blessings when old Nature itself took a hand in the game ages before anything human was ever dreamed of, and reared the snow-capped summit of the mountain 'mid territory that millions of years later, perhaps, fell within the granted limits of the Northern Pacific.
In no essential particular, however, was the ingenuity of the plan to make Mt. Rainier a National Park more clearly defined than was contained in the cunning arrangement to permit the Northern Pacific to have the right of selection of unsurveyed lands of the United States in exchange for the worthless portions of its holdings in the entire Mt. Rainier Forest Reserve as well as the 5sational Park. This National Park idea was a subterfuge from the start to cloak the real intentions of the corporation, and was calculated to lull the public into the belief that Congress was moved by consideration of deep public interest when it enacted the measure that made the National Park possible.
So far as Mt. Rainier was concerned, the forest reserve laws protected it fully as much as it could possibly be under the laws governing National Parks, hence the scheme of creating a National Park was in reality a cloak for some hidden purpose. In order to indicate precisely what that purpose was, there is presented herewith the full text of the bill creating the National Park. There is nothing on the face of the measure to show that it had to do with anything except the proper pri)tection of natural wonders that could not be preserved in any other way. Other National Parks were in existence at the time, so what objections could there be to adding to the list? The wonders of Yellowstone are thus guarded; so are those of the Yosemite Valley, the Calaveras BigTrees, and other notable points of interest throughout the country, but then it must be considered that they are marvelous attractions, and besides were not included in any forest reserve at the time of being converted into National Parks. True, the Crater Lake National Park was cut out of the Cascade Forest Reserve, but there are no signs that anybody got the benefit of exclusive privileges by the operation. It is between the lines of the Act creating the Mt. Rainier National Park where its worst features exist—where the "nigger in the woodpile" may be observed in all his sable glory—and it is this phase of the situation that shall be analyzed in detail during the course of this article.
The original Pacific Forest Reserve was located where the Mt. Rainier National Park now is. It included an area about twice as large as the present park and was proclaimed by the President, February 20, 1893. By a second proclamation, February 22, 1897, this Pacific Forest Reserve and a large addition was proclaimed to be the Mt. Rainier Forest Reserve. By act of IVIarch 2, 1899, the Mt. Rainier National Park was created. The Mt. Rainier Forest Reserve was withdrawn from settlement ]'Iarch 1. 1898. Recent additions were made March 2, 1907. What was called the Mt. Rainier Forest Reserve is now known as the Rainier National Forest. The law establishing the latter reads as follows:
   Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that all those certain tracts, pieces, or parcels of land lying and being in the State of Washington, and within the boundaries particularly described as follows, to-wit: Beginning at a point three miles east of the northeast corner of township numbered seventeen north, of range six east of the Willamette meridian; thence south through the central parts of townships numbered seventeen, sixteen, and fifteen north, of range seven east of the Willamette meridian, eighteen miles, more or less, subject to the proper easterly or westerly offsets, to a point three miles east of the northeast corner of township numbered fourteen north, of range six east of the Willamette meridian; thence east on the township line between townships numbered fourteen and fifteen north, eighteen miles, more or less, to a point three miles west of the northeast corner of township fourteen north, of range ten east of the Willamette meridian; thence northerly subject to the proper easterly or westerly offsets, eighteen miles, more or less, to a point three miles west of the northeast corner of township numbered seventeen north, of range ten east of the Willamette meridian (but in locating said easterly boundary, wherever the summit of the Cascade Mountains is sharply and well defined, the said line shall follow the said summit, where the said summit line bears west of the easterly line as herein determined); thence westerly along the township line between said towii ships numbered seventeen and eighteen to the place of beginning, the same being a portion of the lands which were reserved from entry or settlement and set aside as a public reservation by proclamation of the President on the twentieth day of February, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and ninety-three, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and seventeenth, are hereby dedicated and set apart as a public park, to be known and designated as the Mount Rainier National Park, for the benefit and enjoyment of the people; and all persons who shall locate or settle upon or occupy the same, or any part thereof, except as hereafter provided, shall be considered trespassers and be removed therefrom.
   ​Sec. 2. That said public park shall be under the exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior, whose duty it shall be to make and publish, as soon as practicable, such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary or proper for the care and management of the same. Such regulations shall provide for the preservation from injury or spoilation of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders within said park, and their retention in their natural condition. The Secretary may, in his discretion, grant parcels of ground at such places in said park as shall require the erection of buildings for the accommodation of visitors; all of the proceeds of said leases, and all other revenues that may be derived from any source connected with said park, to be expended under his direction in the management of the same, and the construction of roads and bridle paths therein. And through the lands of the Pacific Forest Reserve adjoining said park rights of way are hereby granted, under such restrictions and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may establish, to any railway or tramway company or companies, through the lands of said Pacific Forest Reserve, and also into said park hereby created, for the purpose of building, constructing, and operating a railway, or tramway line or lines, through said lands, also into said park. He shall provide against the wanton destruction of the fish and game found within said park, and against their capture or destruction for the purposes of merchandise or profit. He shall also cause all persons trespassing upon the same after the passage of this Act to be removed therefrom, and generally shall be authorized to take all such measures ^ shall be necessary to fully carry out the objects and purposes of this Act.
   Sec. 3. That upon execution and filing with the Secretary of the Interior, by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, of proper deed releasing and conveying to the United States the lands in the reservation hereby created, also the lands in the Pacific Forest Reserve which have been heretofore granted by the United States to said company, whether surveyed or unsurveyed, and which lie opposite said company's constructed road, said company is hereby authorized to select an equal quantity of non-mineral public lands, so classified as non-mineral at the time of actual Government survey, which has been or shall be made, of the United States not reserved and to which no adverse right or claim shall have attached or have been initiated at the time of the making of such selection lying within any State into or through which the railroad of said Northern Pacific Railroad Company runs, to the extent of the lands so relinquished and released to the United States: Provided, That any settlers on lands in said National Park may relinquish their rights thereto and take other public lands in lieu thereof, to the same extent and under the same limitations and conditions as are provided by law for forest reserves and National Parks.
   Sec. 4. That upon the filing by the said railroad company at the local land office of the land district in which any tract of land selected and the payment of the fees prescribed by law in analogous cases, and the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, he shall cause to be executed, in due form of law, and deliver to said company, a patent of the United States conveying to it the lands so selected. In case the tract so selected shall at the time of selection be unsurveyed, the list filed by the company at the local land office shall describe such tract in such manner as to designate the same with a reasonable degree of certainty; and within the period of three months after the lands in eluding such tract shall have been surveyed and the plats thereof filed by said local land office, a new selection list shall be filed by said company, describing such tract according to such survey; and in case such tract, as originally selected and described in the list filed in the local land office, shall not precisely conform with the lines of the official survey, the said company shall be permitted to describe such tract anew, so as to secure such conformity.
   Sec. 5. That the mineral land laws of the United States are hereby extended to the lands lying within the said reserve and said park.
   Approved March 2, 1899.
not only endowed with exclusive privileges, but the scheme is executed in such an artistic manner as to convey the idea that a great public benefit has been accomplished; whereas, the whole thing is a low-down means of granting the Northern Pacific extraordinary powers in the selection of lands in lieu of its worthless holdings in the two reserves. The Act of June 4, 1897, did not give the railway corporation enough margin in this respect, so the National Park idea was played up for all it was worth.
   "In case the tract so selected shall, at the time of selection, be unsurveyed, the list filed by the company at the local land office shall describe such tract in such manner as to designate the same with a resonable degree of certainty; and within the period of three months after the lands including such tract shall have been surveyed and the plats thereof filed by said local land office, a new selection list shall be filed by said Company, describing such tract according to such survey; and in case such tract, as originally selected and described in the list filed in the local land oflace, shall not precisely conform with the lines of the official survey, the said Company shall be permitted to describe such tract anew, so as to secure such conformity."
In other words, it is not only given the perpetual right of doing something that none others are allowed to do—file on unsurveyed lands—but is further granted the privilege of cruising everything in the township, and then, if it finds that any mistake has been made in the matter of securing the cream of the timber, it is privileged to float its base around like a bogus Mexican grant and light upon anything in sight worth having! In fact, the whole bill, from beginning to end, is a mass of subterfuge, and to say that the Congressmen who voted for the measure did not know what they were doing or could not see any of its glaring features, is to write them down a lot of asses.
It would have been bad enough, under the most extenuating circumstances, for Congress to have confined the operations of the Act of March 2, 1899, to the Mt. Rainier National Park alone, as the Northern Pacific owned fully 100,000 acres within its confines, and the greedy corporation ought to have been satisfied with that amount of plunder; but that was not the point; the idea was to bring in all the lands owned by the company in the larger area contained in the Rainier Mountain Forest Reserve—aggregating about 1,000,000 acres — and this Congress has succeeded in doing with a vengeance, as may be seen by reference to the third section of the Act creating the Mt. Rainier National Park which provides that "also the lands in the Pacific (Rainier Mountain) Forest Reserve which have been heretofore granted by the United States to said Company, whether surveyed or unsurveyed," shall come under the operations of the law. Those voting for the bill may seek pardon for their offense upon the theory that the law gives actual settlers in the Park the same privileges as those enjoyed by the great railway company, but when it is considered that there never were any settlers in the region, and that, by reason of the rough character of the country, no self-respecting billy goat would even be tempted to try and exist there, the humor of the allusion to "actual settlers" may be fully appreciated. It was merely a sop to pull the wool over the eyes of those members of Congress who voted for the measure in the half-hearted belief that they were aiding a lot of poor homesteaders, when as a matter of fact, they were entirely unacquainted with conditions, and accepted that view of the situation as a drug to their consciences in having become accessory to a highway robbery.
The whole bill is a tissue of deceit from beginning to end, because it is paved with the same kind of good intentions that another place is supposed to be noted for. There is a whole lot of buncombe in it about "preservation from injury or spoliation of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders within said park, and their retention in their natural condition." Any ten-year-old child knows that the only "natural curiosity" or "wonders" in any way connected with the alleged "park" exists solely in the phraseology of the law that created it. Even with this tremendous pull in the weights the Northern Pacific was not satisfied, so what was its next course? Why, its henchmen in the halls of National legislation adopted a protective measure so as to clinch its bargain beyond any question of doubt, and here in the proceedings of the Fifty-Eighth Congress (see pages 4239, 4240 and 4241, Congressional Record, March 4, 1905), we find Congressman Lacey, of Iowa, calling for unanimous consent for the substitution of the statement for the conference report upon the repeal of the forest reserve lieu land Act of June 4, 1897, and its amendments of June 6, 1900, and March 3, 1901. There being no objection, the Clerk read the statement of the Committee instead of the full report, as follows:
   "The Senate amendment provides for the repeal of the Acts of June 4, 1897. June 6, 1900, and March 3, 1901, in so far as they provide for the relinquishment, selection and patenting of lands in lieu of tracts covered by an unperfected bona fide claim or patent within a forest reserve It also provides for the protection of all contracts heretofore entered into by the Secretary of the Interior on this subject. The amendment to the Senate amendment, insisted upon by the House conferees, protects selections heretofore made in lieu of lands already relinquished to the United States."
This statement was signed by Congressmen John F. Lacey of Iowa, F. W. Mondell of Wyoming, and John Lind of Minnesota, as managers on the part of the House.
Of course there was a long debate on the floor involving the repeal of the obnoxious "Scripper" Act of June 4, 1897. All the big corporations in the country could afford to kill the law. because it had outlived its usefulness, and the next move was to make a grandstand play before the country and pretend to bow to the people's will, and incidentally shut the stable door after the horse was gone. All these proceedings were part of the game to help along the good cause for the Northern Pacific. It was a lot of horseplay calculated to fool the people. By pretending virtuous indignation against the poor, old, wornout Scripper Act — which really never did possess any sincere friends—the schemers in Congress were enabled to throw a protecting arm around all the base belonging to the great railway corporation in the Mt. Rainier Forest Reserve, as well as the Mt. Rainier National Park, and practically give it a free license to do as it pleased with the public domain in those States penetrated by its lines. The Jim Hill road takes its different courses through the State of Washington like the uncertain wanderings of a tangled skein, and yet it has made selection of but 100,000 acres herein; it also traverses Idaho for a considerable distance, and here the records show that 120,000 acres have been selected for the benefit of the corporation; while in Oregon, its few miles of line in that State, extending from Kalama, on the Columbia river, to the City of Portland, gave them a franchise, under the clever wording of the Act quoted above, to select more than 320,000 acres of its best timber! Nor is this intended as any commentary upon the good taste of the Northern Pacific in preferring to make selections in Oregon to other States. It simply goes to show that it was worth while to build that much road in the State, even if it had to let it go to rot, for the divine privilege of acquiring such a vast amount of valuable property, because, had the Northern Pacific lines not penetrated Oregon to some extent, it could not have selected an acre of its magnificent forests in lieu of the worthless, burned-over and logged-oft' tracts in the Mt. Rainier Reserve and National Park. That is as plain as day, as a careful perusal of the Act will show.
Then comes the question: How could the Northern Pacific make forest reserve selection of lands in any of these States—and particularly unsurveyed lands—when the Act of June 4, 1897, was supposed to be repealed? That is where the fine Italian hand of the Northern Pacific comes in—because Congress, in its passage of the measure repealing the Act of June 4, 1897 (no doubt, inadvertently!) very kindly clothed the Jim Hill corporation with an exclusive right when it provided "for the protection of all contracts heretofore entered into by the Secretary of the Interior on this subject." Which means, that the Northern Pacific, having already filed with the Secretary of the Interior proper deeds "releasing and conveying to the United States the lands in the reservation hereby created, also the lands of the Pacific (Rainier Mountain) Forest Reserve which have been heretofore granted by the United States to said company, whether surveyed or unsurveyed," was entitled to select "an equal quantity of non-mineral public lands, so classified as non-mineral at the time of actual Government survey, which has been or shall be made, of the United States not reserved and to which no adverse right or claim shall have attached or have been initiated at the time of the making of such selection lying within any State into or through which the railroad of said Northern Pacific Railroad Company runs, to the extent of the lands so relinquished and released to the United States."
This clause in the Act of March 2, 1899, has been construed by the Interior Department as a contract between the Secretary of the Interior and the railway corporation. If it had been a lawful contract from the start, there would never have been any occasion for laying particular emphasis upon it, as a constitutional provision prohibits Congress from passing any act that will impair the obligations of a contract where the Government is a party; so it would seem that there was some doubt upon the subject, even in the controlling minds of the great railroad corporation, and as the Secretary of the Interior is vested with arbitrary power in the interpretation of these fine points, the next move on the programme was in the direction of making sure that there would be no question concerning the confirmation of selections under the act itself.
This was the situation when James Rudolph Garfield assumed the duties of Secretary on March 4, 1907. Up to that time comparatively few of the Northern Pacific selections had been patented, and those already approved by the Interior Department were based upon the recommendation of chiefs of divisions. In this respect the conclusions of the Commissioner of the General Land Office had a certain amount of influence, and whenever any difference of opinion arose upon the subject, the matter would be brought to the attention of the Secretary, who usually referred it to his legal advisers. During the last days of the Hitchcock administration, there was considerable friction between the Interior Department and the General Land Office, for obvious reasons, and, in consequence, the opinions of Commissioners Hermann and Richards carried little weight. Practically everything was left to the discretion of those close to the Secretary, and where there were no serious objections to a list selecting public lands, it was generally approved without much ceremony.
​The situation in regard to sonic of the rulings of the Interior Department during Secretary Hitchcock's administration may be parenthetically explained by the statement that it was utterly impossible for one man to keep in constant touch with the multitudinous duties of the Deparment. Mr. Hitchcock was obliged to repose a certain amount of confidence in those around him. He was forced from necessity to rely upon the good judgment and integrity of his advisers, and in this he was often deceived. One of those most trusted in this respect was Willis Vandevanter, now a Federal judge in Colorado, but for a long time head of the legal staff of the Interior Department, and the Secretary left much of that branch of duty to his consideration. He prepared most of the important decisions of the Department affecting momentous questions, so that the duties of the Secretary in this connection were merely perfunctory. There is no doubt that had Secretary Hitchcock been in a position to analyze carefully every question coming before him, some of the decisions emanating from the Department during his term would never have been rendered, as no one has ever questioned his honesty of purpose, and his whole official career indicates that he is a man of irreproachable character.
As to Mr. Vandevanter, his connection with the Interior Department is best told in an Associated Press dispatch from Salt Lake, dated December 27, 1906. detailing the proceedings of the Interstate Commerce Commission in its investigation of the methods of acquiring coal lands by the Rio Grande Railroad and its allied companies, the Utah Fuel Co.. and the Pleasant Valley Coal Co.
"During the hearing here today, a glimpse of the real power behind the throne was given, when it was stated by Government Land Agents that they had been compelled to see Senator Francis E. Warren, of Wyoming, regarding official business of the Land Department. Senator Warren is charged with having ruled the General Land Office for a number of years. It was his influence and that of Senator C. D. Clarke, of Wyoming, which secured the appointment, during President McKinley's administration, of Willis Vandevanter to be Assistant Attorney-General for the Interior Department. Vandevanter was the legal conscience of the Land Department, and had been attorney for the companies charged with stealing the land."
Coincident with the beginning of the Garfield administration arose a demand from somewhere that a Western man should fill the position of Commissioner of the General Land Office. This office has been a hotbed of intrigue for almost a generation, and it is sad to relate that some of the greatest scandals have affected Western Commissioners, so just why there should have been any extraordinary call for a Westerner under the circumstances surpassess comprehension, unless the explantion is found in subsequent events.
For some reason or other, the sentiment in favor of a Western representative in the General Land Office seemed to center around R. A. Ballinger, the former mayor of Seattle, Wash., a city where the Northern Pacific and other Hill lines controls about everything worth having in a political sense. It has been asserted, in fact, that the law firm of which Mr. Ballinger is a member, has occasionally represented the Hill lines in local litigation, and as Mr. Ballinger himself was "an old college chum" of Secretary Garfield at Harvard, it was but natural that he should be favorably considered. Of course, at first it required a great amount of coaxing to get him to accept the position. He had a worthy precedent in this respect, because it is a matter of record that Caesar thrice refused the crown of Rome, if Shakespeare is of value as a historian, and it is believed that Mr. Ballinger was equally modest—but he got there, just the same.
He finally consented to accept the place upon condition that as soon as he had succeeded in getting the American government—including the General Land Office—in smooth running order, he should be permitted to retire to Seattle—presumably upon his laurels. In the meantime, what has happened? Only this, that during Ballinger's short term of office the Northern Pacific lieu selections have been patented by the wholesale.
​Soon after entering upon his duties, it was shouted in clarion notes by various Washington correspondents, that the new Commissioner was the Moses that was going to lead the poor homesteader out of the slough of despond. With little regard to the law or the significance of prevailing conditions, it was asserted quite freely that the poor, honest settler was going to get his patent without delay, so that he could sell his land and be enabled to live in luxury the rest of his life on the proceeds. It was never brought out in the course of any of these sudden manifestations of assumed virtuous concern, that if a homesteader has faithfully complied with the land laws, and has proven up on his claim and secured his final certificate, that this evidence of title is just as good as a patent for all practical purposes, and that no human power on earth can ever deprive him of his rights.
That wasn't the idea. I have before me the Portland Morning Oregonian of September 3, 1907, wherein is printed more than a column tirade from the pen of Harry Brown, its Washington correspondent, reflecting severely upon Ex-Secretary Hitchcock for his plain duty in suspending a lot of bogus Oregon homestead entries, and proclaiming that it would be Commissioner Ballinger's policy to patent everything where there was no protest. In a little three line sentence at the bottom of this article, Brown made allusion to the fact that all lieu selections would also be approved, and I was forced to conclude that his 1.200word preamble about the benefits that were going to be derived by the poor, honest settler, was merely the cloak to the real intentions of Commissioner Ballinger. It was simply his artistic way of breaking the news gently to the public, little realizing that the American people have heard that sort of buncombe with such religious frequency, that it has ceased to excite comment.
In accordance with the Commissioner's determination, as outlined by press-agent process, Ballinger instructed the Chiefs of Field Divisions in Oregon, California and Washington—and, I presume, elsewhere—to make field investigation of the different homestead, timber and desert land claims within their jurisdictions, and in cases where there was no evidence of fraud, or where no protest had been filed within two years, that the entries should be passed to patent. When this sweeping order was issued, Horace Stevens was officiating as assistant to Special Inspector Thomas B. Neuhausen, who was then Acting Chief of Field Division No. 1, comprising the State of Oregon. In that capacity, all the notices of intention to make final proof on homestead, timber and desert land entries at the various United States Land Offices of Oregon came under his personal observation. Pursuant to instructions from headquarters, these notices of final proof were sent direct to Acting Chief Neuhausen by the Registers and Receivers of the Portland, Roseburg, Lakeview, Burns, La Grande and The Dalles Land Districts. Fully 4,000 of these final proof notices were thus received within a very short time, and as only a limited period was allowed in which to make field investigations, it can be readily surmised how much progress was made in this direction, especially when it is considered that Acting Chief Neuhausen had but seven Special Agents available for that service.
Under cover of the humane spirit displayed by Commissioner Ballinger, in seeking to have the poor, honest homesteader get his patent in a hurry, there was a grand rush from all parts of the State to get aboard before the Government pulled in its gangplank. Instances were numerous where claims were steeped in fraud, and how many escaped detection may perhaps never be known, but a large percentage of those investigated by the Special Agents was found to be bogus, and they only represented a small proportion of the whole, as it was utterly impossible for such a small force as Neuhausen had at his command to consider properly so many claims, situated as they were in remote districts of the State.
Mt. Rainier National Park. The Congressional enactment had been so cleverly prepared in the start, and later fortified by Congressional proceedings of a similar character, that the great railway company was granted autocratic power in the selection of tracts in lieu of those surrendered, and clothed with an authority in this respect that was denied individuals or competitors of any kind. In round numbers, the Northern Pacific was privileged to select 1,000,000 acres of Government lands by this process, giving in exchange whatever "culled" or worthless tracts it possessed in the two reservations, and retaining any portions therein that were valuable for their timber.
Of the 1,000,000 acres of base in this condition, about 540,000 acres have been used by the Company in making its own selections; approximately 200,000 acres sold to speculators for selection purposes—for which the Company derived $8 an acre—and 260,000 acres of its lands in the reserves were transferred to the Weyerhaeuser Syndicate at $6 per acre. The latter embraces lands that were considered too valuable to trade to the Government even as exchange for other desirable tracts, being the cream of the forest that was set aside when the Rainier Mountain Forest Reserve was established.
The lands selected by the Northern Pacific in Oregon are today worth $100 an acre, or $32,000,000 altogether; those taken in Washington are equally as valuable, so far as they go, and at $100 an acre are worth $10,000,000; while ​the 120,000 acres selected by the corporation in Idaho aggregate a total of $7,200,000, based upon a conservative market valuation of $60 per acre. This makes a total of $49,200,000 for its selected lands alone, without counting the $1,600,00 the Northern Pacific received from outsiders for lieu, or the $1,560,000 it got from the Weyerhaeuser Syndicate. It all foots up $52,360,000 that was given the Hill corporation through the kindness of Congress—a sort of present from the people of the United States, as it were—and is a sermon in itself as to the measures liable to be employed by the company to remove all obstacles in the way of getting the selections through the Land Department in Washington, D. C.
Appended herewith is a list of selections made in the Oregon City (now Portland) and Roseburg Land Districts by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. They aggregate 197,447.33 acres, and constitute the bulk of these selections in Oregon. The balance, necessary to make up the total of 320,000 acres selected by the railway corporation in Oregon, is divided among the four other Land Districts, those in the two named being the most important .
Surveyed lands selected by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, in the Roseburg, Oregon, Land District:
   ———————— 18,000.00 acres
Surveyed lands selected by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, in the Oregon City Land District, Oregon:
   ———————— 57,322.19 acres
Unsurveyed lands selected by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, in the Oregon City, Oregon, Land District:
   ———————— 27,680.00 acres
Approximately 1,000,000 acres were in the Rainier Mountain Forest Reserve belonging to the Northern Pacific. One-half of this was covered with a heavy growth of timber, which the company sold several years ago to the Weyerhaeuser Syndicate, before their value was realized, and the balance was used as scrip. Of the above quantity, about 100,000 acres were situated within the limits of the Alt. Rainier National Park, and were absolutely worthless for any purpose whatever, except as basis for the selection of other lands. The Company selected in the State of Washington practically 100,000 acres of yellow fir timber, worth at this time at least $100 an acre, and in the State of Idaho probably 120,000 acres more of white and yellow pine timber valued at from $50 to $100 per acre, while in Oregon 320,000 acres of the finest yellow fir timber in the State was selected, having a market value of at least $100 an acre, 50,000 acres being unsurveyed and considered the cream of the selections. The remainder of their scrip, with the exception of a few thousand acres, the Company sold to speculators throughout the country at a price ranging from $5 to $15 an acre.
While individuals are not permitted to make selections under the dead "scripper" law of June 4, 1897, the favored Northern Pacific is allowed to do so, and can take its pick from the cream of all townships, surveyed or unsurveyed, in any State penetrated by its lines. During the period the Act in question was in effect, whenever an individual presented a selection under its provisions, he was required to do so simultaneously with his transfer of the base to the Government. Not so with the Northern Pacific, however. Under the broad and sweeping regulations of the Act of March 2, 1899, arranged especially for the benefit of the corporation, it was kindly granted the privilege of conveying to the Government all portions in the two reserves that it did not want, or had no use for, and then leisurely awaiting developments until it saw something that appealed to its desires! This was not the worst feature of the situation, either; whenever the great railway corporation once feasted its eyes upon a township rich in timber resources, like a hungry pack of wolves inspired by the taste of blood, it would brook no obstacle in the way of acquiring a foothold, and in furtherance of this grasping idea, has been known to harass settlers in every illegitimate manner possible. By bulldozing tactics, no less than fifteen families were frightened out of a surveyed township in Clark County, Washington, upon one occasion, notwithstanding they had made, substantial improvements upon their claims, were acting in good faith, and had presented their homestead filings at the local Land Office when the official survey was approved. The Northern Pacific had made selection of the various tracts in accordance with the rights conferred by Congress under the Act of March 2, 1899, and had instituted contests against the settlers, who gave up their possessions rather than take chances against such odds, knowing that they had no show in either the Courts or the Land Department, where it was realized the Northern Pacific had full sway.
In some sections of Oregon, cruisers and guards warn intending settlers away from unsurveyed townships that have been covered by Northern Pacific selections, and around the various United States Land Offices of the different districts in that State, are stationed agents of the corporation who discourage settlers from attempting to find homes within the confines of any region wanted by this grasping octopus.
The fact that the company has adopted such stringent measures discloses in itself that a question exists concerning the validity of titles acquired to such tracts. I am unaware that the issue has ever been determined by any competent legal tribunal, but if the Northern Pacific was really satisfied in its own mind that the Act of March 2, 1899, granting them such exclusive privileges was not special legislation of a dangerous type, and liable to be upset by process of Court proceedings, it is hardly likely that such brutal tactics would be resorted to.
There was one notable instance where the Northern Pacific got badly left in its efforts to grab a whole township of unsurveyed land. This was in connection with Township 15 South, Range 3 East, situated in Lane County, Oregon. Although the entire township had been settled by squatters prior to survey, with a view of filing homestead claims thereon as soon as the survey was approved, the Northern Pacific made forest reserve lieu selection of every acre in the township shortly before it came into market, and sent its agents around to notify the squatters to vacate their claims, threatening that unless they did so the railroad ​company would contest each entry on the ground that it was more valuable for its timber than for agricultural purposes. Rather than run any risk of a lawsuit with the gigantic corporation, the settlers, who were all poor persons, gave up their claims. As the Act of March 2, 1899, required the company to file a new list to lands that had been selected prior to survey, within 90 days after the survey of the township had been approved, Frederick A. Kribs became aware of this fact, and his stand-in with the Register and Receiver of the Roseburg Land Office enabled him to work a clever scheme on the Northern Pacific and beat the corporation out of more than 20,000 acres of fine timber land.
Kribs knew that as soon as the survey of the township was approved the Northern Pacific would be obliged to file an amended selection, under the term of the Act of March 2, 1899, heretofore quoted. He therefore placed in the hands of Register J. T. Bridges and Receiver J. H. Booth a selection list in his own name, covering the entire township, with instructions for those officers to file the same as soon as the Northern Pacific withdrew its base for the purpose of amendment, in order to conform with the strict lines of the new survey. By keeping in close touch with the survey before the official plat was filed in the Land Office, Kribs had been enabled to secure an accurate description of the lands he wanted, so that when the Northern Pacific withdrew its selection for the purpose of amendment, the officers of the Roseburg Land Office permitted Kribs's selection to have the right of way, and the bold operator thus became the owner of more than 23,000 acres of choice yellow fir timber land, easily worth $50 an acre, at a cost of $6 an acre—the price of the scrip. It is believed that the Northern Pacific now has in view another base project, almost equally as brazen as its successful effort in connection with the Mt. Rainier National Park scheme. This contemplates the conversion of Mt. St. Helens into a National Park, and the consequent creation of more lieu for the railway corporation. This high peak was originally outside the limits of the Rainier Mountain Forest Reserve, but has since been included therein, and it begins to look as if it were omitted intentionally at first for some ulterior purpose of the character indicated. The fact is, the Northern Pacific finds itself running short of lieu, and something like this has to be done in order to relieve the congestion. Besides, what is the use of keeping a lot of hired men around without any visible means of support?
No plausible reason exists why Mt. St. Helens should not have been included in the Rainier Mountain Forest Reserve in the first place. It was only separated from the southwestern boundary of the old limits by a single township, as the map shows, and as the company owns the odd-numbered sections surrounding it for many miles, and as there are all kinds of golden opportunities to get in on the ground floor with a lot of jokers of the kind that are very much in evidence in the Act of March 2, 1899, the country can expect something in the shape of a duplicate of the Mt. Rainier National Park scheme sooner or later.
It is claimed that all these high peaks in the Northwestern country were active volcanoes during prehistoric days, and if indications count for anything, they are still gifted with eruptive tendencies in the way of belching forth enormous benefits for great and greedy corporations.
At the time I was taken to Washington as a witness for the Government in the case against Binger Hermann, an episode occurred that bears out the ideas I have undertaken to convey herein. On December 27, 1906, I published a statement in the Portland Morning Oregonian, foreshadowing an attack in my forthcoming book upon the methods pursued by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company regarding the Rainier Mountain Forest Reserve steal. That was sufficient notice to put the "faithful" on guard, so that when I reached the National capital in March, 1907, my coming had been anticipated in that respect. Upon arrival there I gave out an interview in the local press, to the effect that it was my intention to take advantage of the situation and gather material for the book, and this was the signal for all hands to be on the alert.
About two weeks alter my arrival, accompanied by Deputy United States Marshal J. F. Kerrigan, who had escorted me across the continent, 1 went to the General Land Office, equipped with an order from United States Attorney D. W. Baker, of the District of Columbia, for certain data to be used at the Hermann trial. This included the status of the six fraudulent homestead claims in Tp. 24 S., R. 1 E., together with information pertaining to the seven bogus entries in 11-7, acquired by McKinley and Montague. A clerk in Division "P" of the Land Office was sent with us for the purpose of enabling me to secure the data required, and after having obtained this information, I next made inquiry pertaining to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company's lieu selections in Oregon. This was like a thunderbolt from a clear sky to the clerk, and notwithstanding that United States Attorney Baker's order called for this information, objection was raised to showing the Northern Pacific lien selection records to me that day. upon the plea that the clerk was too busy to do so. and for me to call again. At the time we entered the room where the lien selections were kept, a person ​was present whom the clerk declared in our presence was an attorney for the Northern Pacific, and he seemed to manifest considerable interest when the subject of the corporation's selections came up.
On the day following my visit to the General Land Office, I was called as a witness in the Hermann case, and was on the stand at intervals for three days. About three or four days after my first visit, I returned to the General Land Office, still accompanied by Kerrigan, and was asked by Assistant Commissioner Dennett what was wanted this time.
"I desire to finish up the work for which I was given an order several days ago," was my response.
After questioning me very closely concerning the nature of the business, Dennett went into Commissioner Ballinger's private office, and upon emerging therefrom, after quite a long conference with his chief, told me that having testified already in the Hermann case, I would have to get a new order from Baker.
I thereupon returned to the latter's office, and at 11 o'clock the next morning came back to the General Land Office with a new order from the United States Attorney, requesting him very plainly to give me what information was required relative to the Northern Pacific lieu selections, adding that it might be necessary for use in the Hermann trial. The order was delivered to a clerk, who took it in to Dennett.
Dennett came out and questioned me about it, asking me what I wanted the information for. I replied that I was a witness in the Hermann case, and might need the information sought to strengthen my testimony. Dennett then said that he would have to see the Commissioner about it, so taking the order, he went into Mr. Ballinger's office, and upon his return, informed me that the matter would have to be taken up with the Secretary of the Interior, and for me to come back at 2 o'clock that afternoon.
About half an hour later I met the clerk in the hallway of the Court house where the Hermann case was in progress. He held in his hand the same envelope I had given him from Baker. Deputy Marshal Kerrigan, who had formerly been a member of the Portland detective force, called my attention to this fact, and will corroborate me upon the point. The clerk went into Baker's office, and we heard them wrangling over the matter for several minutes, with the result that Baker told the clerk in unmistakable language that the Commissioner would have to let me have what I wanted.
HISTORY OF THE PICTURE THAT ELECTED HERMANN TO CONGRESS.
One of the most brazen efforts to gain cheap notoriety ever recorded is portrayed in the illustration, revealing President Roosevelt in the act of delivering- a rear-platform speech, with Binger Hermann, the disgraced former Land Commissioner, standing complacently by his side, as if ordained to assist in courting the plaudits of the multitude.
Those unfamiliar with the relations existing between the two at the time would very naturally assume that the Ex-Commmissioner of the General Land Office was the favored companion of the President upon this auspicious occasion, and that the Chief Executive found an affinity-like pleasure in his presence. As a matter of fact, he was simply a skeleton at the feast, and had appeared unbidden upon the scene at a moment when the photographer for a local newspaper was about to snap his camera.
During President Roosevelt's tour of the West in the Spring of 1903, his itinerary included a visit to Portland, Oregon, and by some unexplained hocus-pocus, Hermann, who resides at Roseburg, in the southern part of the State, and was a candidate upon the Republican ticket for representative from the First Congressional District of Oregon, had smuggled himself on board the Presidential train, and with an exhibition of that rare quality of pure and unadulterated audacity that has invariably been the Ex-Land Commissioner's principal stock in trade, had ensconsed himself in the private car of Mr. Roosevelt, who, but a short time previously, had unceremoniously ousted Hermann from office on account of his crooked transactions.
As the train moved into the depot at Portland, a vast concourse of citizens had assembled to pay its respects to the distinguished visitor, and, in response to the popular demand, the President appeared upon the rear platform and proceeded to deliver one of his characteristic addresses. At this juncture, H. M. Smith, a member of the art department of the Evening Telegram, set his camera in position, with a view of taking an interesting scene. The arrangements of the photographer were not lost to the eagle eyes of Mr. Hermann, who discerned in the situation a golden opportunity for retrieving his rapidly fading political fortunes.
With an acumen worthy of a better cause, Hermann timed his arrival coincident with the photographer's operations, and the two men are shown as if on terms of the utmost intimacy.
Not content with the veneering of fame thus obtained, Hermann had enlarged copies of the picture circulated broadcast throughout his Congressional District, with the result that he was triumphantly elected, as President Roosevelt has always been such a popular idol in the Oregon country that Hermann's constituents were under the impression they were doing the Chief Executive a personal favor by sending the deposed Land Commissioner to a seat in the legislative halls of the nation; general publicity to the reasons for his removal from office not having been given at this time.
Hermann's connection with the incident mentioned, is on a par with his conduct at the time he first appeared before the Federal Grand Jury of Oregon that returned indictments against him afterward. He had been called to give testimony in his own behalf in one of the several cases under consideration against himself, and as Hermann entered the Grand Jury room, he threw his right arm familiarly over the shoulders of Special Assistant Heney, who preceded him, as if the latter were his bosom companion, and in this manner stalked majestically into the presence of the inquisitorial body, much to Heney's unconcealed disgust. In fact, the most plausible explanation as to why the Ex-Land Commissioner refrained from maintaining a continuous loving embrace of the Government prosecutor throughout the entire proceedings exists in the belief that the rear portion of Heney's neck was becoming too warm for further comfort.