The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-05-26
srrrLEas GER ruxrR LAND.


Cumm1W3eoeP 9seD ASIDE . Spocaal
Agcntss Too Jealous work
Some thirty settlers IN township Ma q
ncrsh. rAnEe . west. On the Humptulips
river. some miles north cf Gfay's barber.
have had the.- honesteAd and pre-enp-
tsoa Assngs held up for carcellatson for
eons months p2st. owirg to report n ade
e tbs eommisssoaer b. Special Agent
Freeman A decision q the commissioners
made Nay lG sxss. revokes thu acton az
the department IN holding the entries for
cancellation ard directs the acceptance q
fnAl proef In cases where Il has been ten
dsred
This actfon Of the eomnnssssoner marks
the end OF an Assault upon the rights az
these settlers. which has caused them
mSch trouble Ard expense In defending
their homes, and for . time threatened
them With the loss Of claims on which
they bad expended years Of ton. and in
ma1y cases M the money they had
The facts In the case are sunstant,nIIv
Is Follows: survey OF the township n
question vas ordered n -. and . con-
tract let for the work to . man named
Ward On the strength Of the proposed
survey. . large number Of settlers siocked
INTO the new township and took up claims.
Iney outif trails into the tcwrship. estAb-
tshed homes and initiated settlement
Win the view Of acquiring title. They
even raised . purse Of s. 80 and naid the
money to Ward 10 expedite tbs survey.
Through incompetence. negligence or
some other reason. Ward was nearly q
year ana half In completing the survey
and then the work VAs 20 poorly done
that IL was rejected.
Reeurveys vere ordered. but DELAYED.
and Il was not until March Il. lss6, that .
satisfactory survey was had and the
township open to entry. The thirty set
tiers in question thereupon made due en-
Try OF their respective claims e. the land
once at Olympia.
While they had. In fact, been occupying
the land for years. for various reasons
their improvements were not extensive In
character. With the imperfect surveys
tnere Vas an uncertainty - to the exact
location OF lines: the township was re-
mote from towns and isolated, the set
tiers were ~ . rule poor, and the pre-
v4shn@ hard times rendered Il dialcult
Tor them to get means 70 make substan-
tai improvements
Tied the Gray's hArbcr country and some
parties interested IN defeating the claims
OF those settlers to their lands. got his
ear and persuaded him that the entries
were not made In good faith. but that al
OF the entrymen were working in the In
terests Of an alleged syndicate who were
trying to "gobbie up valuable tracts OF
land On this advice. the special agent
notified the department and orders were
issued in October and November, 1885, sus-
pending twenty-five entries holding them
Tor cancellation, and ordering hearings
upon Agent Freeman's report.
Tho settlers retained Jehn W. Corson,
OF the law arm Of Corson q Mckay, Of
this city. to defend their cases. Hearings
were had in eight Of the cases. and II was
shown conciusiveiy that the statements
made to the special agent were false and
malicious; that his informants were not
men OF standing and veracity, and that
tho entries were made IN good faith.
On the showing made In the cases heard
the commissioner has ordered that not
only should his action In holding those
particular entries for cancellation be re-
voked. but that the same action should
be taken In the seventeen other cases In
which no hearings have as yet been had.
thus saving those settlers from the ex-
pense OF hearings to prove their good
faith and the validity of their claims. Five
other claims are under contest by private
individuals, on substantially the same
state Of facts. 80 that the action OF the
commissioner Affects favorahly the claims
OF thirty settlerA