The morning times., 1897-02-11
A LAND OFFICE SENSATION
Timber Appraisers Charged With
Making Bad Estimates.
THE INDIANS PAY THE BILL
Discrepancies Discovered in the
Appra. .senent of the Timber on
the Red Lake Reservation Which
May Amount to Hundreds of
Thousands of Dollars.

There is report in the possession OF
the Secretary of the Interior Department
which would make very instructive and
interesting reading. The author of the
report is an Indian inspector named Wright.
and it relates to tie Red Lake Indian
reservation, in northern Minnesota If
MIR. Wright is correct the Ipdiuns have
been robbed OF thousands Of dollars through
Tie Ineffcency OF timber appraisers, VINO
were paid ST. day for doing tie work
they have done SO poorly. Tie report is
private one made for tie information
OF the Secretary, and therefore cannot be
obtained for publication.
Under an act of Congress passed in
1889 the Chippewa Indians relinquisfled
their claim 10 portions OF the Red Lake
reservation. To protect tie Interests Of
tie Indians the act provided that the TIM
Der on tbc reservation should be appraised
and sold to tie highest bidder at a cost.
OF not less than $3 per thousand feet.
1 lis rendered it necessary that a corIrs
OF estimators should be placed in the field,
and about thirty men were set at work.
at a total cost of $3.50 a Gay. extending
over period Of many months The
corps was in charge OF Mr.. Otis Staples
1t surveyed 3,346 forty-acre tracts and
reported the amount Of timber as 80, ,Uoo,-
0u0 feet
After the report was rendered cries Of
colIusion nd fraud were raised, and
Secretary OF tie Interior Smith decided
10 re-appratsc the timber. and another
corps OF estlmatoTJ Under tie supervi sion
OF ndrew Douglas was put into the
field. Al TIE work done by the Staples
estImators was done over again, together
with some additional work. The difference
between tie two corps on the tracts sur
veycd 10y both was 100000 feet, the
Douglas corps estimating 90 eco, coo feet,
against 1870, ,1un, 900 of tie Staples curDs
II would seem as if this ought to have
been sufficient but it was not. It's how
ever, not probable that anything further
would have been done had it not been for
Inspector Wright. Ii is stated thatEe over
heard a conversation between a lGinfer-
man and a friend, in which the former said
the timber on the Red Lake reservation
WIS costing him between 90 and = ; cents
per thousand As this was less than one
fourth the amount he should pa ; under
the requirements OF the law, Mr. Wright
started to investigate and what he learned
was Of such nature that he secured per-
mission 10 take out two expert appraisers
and see what he could find.
Mr.. Wrights experts estimated eighty
five forty-aCre tracts and On them there
was total discrepancy with the previous
estimates of over 0O0. 900 feet If this
average were kept up on the total number
of tracts the estimates made by the two
corps are in the neighburhood of ESQ UCo,-
600 feet short Of the actual amount of tim
Der on the tracts. AT the price fixed by
Congress this timber would represent a
loss to the Indians of SS40.00o on ac-
count ufthe under estimates, ifMr Wri"ht's
men are correct.
II is fair 10 say that the principal dis
Crcplncies were discovered on ten out
of the eighty-five tracts and. therefore,
the difference might not be SO great on a
remeaSUrc-ncnt of all the tracts. II is
impossible 70 give the exact cost of the
two appraiSements which have been made.
but il does not fan far short OF 81 90 600,
or nearly I per cent Of the entire reported
value of the timber.