Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-04-18
BARCLAY HENLEY.
AN OPPONENT OF ALL N0SGp0LIES
HE DOES NOT OWN.
Did He Jump T,xents-Eight Thou
sand Acres OF Indian Lands,
and Keep Them2
IS. 7. Alta, April 10th !


WASHINGTON, April 7, 1885. = Barclay
| Henley, member Of Congress from the First
! District Of California, has posed before inc
| people as a champion anti-monopolist.
He wishes to be considered as the chief
defender of the Stockton Convention, and
the principal assailant and defamer of
Justice Field. In the document filed with
the President and npers Of the CabineL
representing the claims of the radicals of
California for monopoly Of the Federal
patronage of that State-which document
he personally presented, Endorsed and ex
| plained-he is represented as having been
reelected to Congress because of his IN
| qualified Endorsement of the Stockton
Convention platform, with all its enorml-
| ties and absurditics. Just at the close OF
| the recent session of Congress he managed
TO secure the floor, and INDUCED in violent
TRADE against Senator Stanford who was
| denounced by him rs an unConscionable
! land-grabber and mQnopOlist He,made it
his principal business, during his first
| Congressional term, to secure the repeal of
the land grant to the California & Oregon
completion Of that road was delayed, to the
great injury OF the northern portion of the
| State, and the best interests of California
| generally. He desired the forfeiture of
| that grant On the ground that the company
| had not completed the road within the
| time specified in the Act making the grant.
although at the time he was pressing the
| forfeiture the company was straining every
nerve to build the road and develop the
| inaccessible regions of that State. He
DENOUNCED THE COMPANY IS LAHD-GRAB-
BEERS
| For desiring a reasonable extension Of time,
| and claiming that the lands might still be
| theirs upon completion OF the great work.
| That company WAS earning the lands.
! They were investing good money III a
| doubtful enterprise III consideration for
| these lands They were opening up a great
! highway, whereby land communication
with Oregon was to be Established, the
| trade of our State greatly benefited and
exteded, and some of our largest counties
| rendered accessible and desirable for agri-
cultural, numbering and mining purposes.
! They were giving Il full and adequate con-
| sideration for every acre of land that might
| be conveyed TO them from the public do
/ main. Indeed, Tor every acre so granted to
| them they were making every remaining
acre of double value TO the Government;
so that, III fact, the Government was not
| the loser 10 the extent of penny by It's
| gratuity TO them. Nevertheless. Mr. Bar
| clay Henley desiring to be considered as a
&c piss ultra anti-Inonop0list-d 10
ingratiate himself into the favor of the
unthinking masses Of the sand lot-clan-
ored loudly for the repeal Of the land grant
And as consequence the construction of
the railroad was stopped. its completion
Indefinitely postponed, and most severe
blow was struck at the prosperity oF north
EN- California.
RAD srECIMEN or HIS KIND.
And all this WIS done because Mr.. Hon
ley, 10 subserye his own political ambition,
desired TO appear 10 the people of the State
in the light of a sincere and honest defender
Of the peoples interests lie wanted to Gre
ate the impression that with his knowledge
and consent no portion of the public do
main should be alienated without q suit
able equivalent Most of all, no corporation
should be permitted to acquire any Of tins
domain, even though they did render q val
liable equivalent Sooner, in his estima
ton, let the State remain a wilderness, and
public lands terrG .tLc01aita, than that any
railroad corporation should possess itself Of
an acre of the waste domain which awaited
the arrival of the Immigrant, and the open
ing Of communication to cause 1t to blossom
as the rose.
y GRaBBEE or dRABBERs.
But all the while what was Barclay Hen
ley, the solicitous guardian of the public's
interest in these wild lands2 ! have before
me document just issued from the Gov
ernment Printing Office, being a report of
the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs |
submitted last February which contains |
some interesting disclosures concerning the |
land Of the Round Valley Indian Reserya- |
ton in MendOcino county, California, from |
which il appears that this same Barclay |
Henley, in company with his brothers, |
have seized and still hold, without shadow |
of right or title, and without any promise
or intention Of rendering any equivalent |
whatever therefor not less than e, 900 acres
of these lands. This land, moreover, which |
they have thus stolen from the Indians be- |
longing to that reservation, is used by them
for purposes of stock raising, the stock so
raised by them being in turn sold to the |
indian Agent at good round price, and
paid for by the Government, with which to
feed these very Indians. More than this,
il appears from this report that the
HENLEY BROTHERS AND OTHER UNLAWFUL
Squatters upon these lands are not only
thus grazing stock on lands which in no
sense belongs to them, and selling the pro-
duct to the rightfUl owners Of the soil, but
they pay no taxes on the lands they have
thus usurped, and are thus enabled to |
drive an altogether unequal competition |
with the honest landowners and stock
ralsers Of that region.
Now, let US TO the record. On July 4 |
1884, the Senate Committee on Indian
Affairs was instructed to inquire into the
condition of the Indians upon the several
reservations III California, and that the
said inquiry be directed particularly to the
Round Valley Indian Reservation in said
State and that full investigation be made
into the present and past management of
said reservation, and of all abuses of the
rights and interests of the Indians thereon"
A subcommittee, consisting of the Chair
man, Senator Dawes. of Massachusetts.
Senator Cameron, of Wisconsin, and Sena-
tor Morgan, of Alabama, was appointed to
make the investigation, and that committee
proceeded 10 California and took testimony :
at San Francisco Ukiah, Eden Valley.
Covelo and at the Round Valley Agency,
thus affording all Interested an opportu-
nifty to be heard. Mr.. Barclay Henley ap- {
peaGed before them and made an elaborate !
in defense Of
his TITLE TO MS GoBBLED LANDS.
His brother also appeared and was heard I
as fully as he desired. Other squatters |
were also heard, as were the Indians con- 6
cerned, the officers and servants of the
a gency, and neighboring landowners. The
testimony adduced at this patient hearing
ills nearly 200 pages Of closely printed 9
document matter. l have now, after this
orief statement of the circumstances, mere
yroom TO append portion of the report !
If the committee, reserving any comments
or another communication.
The committee says The committee
ound the Indians confined in the use of
heir reservation to very narrow limits
bout 5000 acres of valley land, and about
900 or 2,000 acres of the upland, together q
With such use of the upland occupied by the
h. |