The Corvallis times. (Corvallis, Or.) 1888-1909, 1902-10-29
TIMBERLESS TIMBER LANDS
What Frank Se1tes Says About The
Portlanders Location.

H0fGianQerS Location.
The late effort of SO Port1anders
to secure timber claims in this
section of country, and their FL
ings on timber lands that are well
nigh barren of commercial timber,
continue to be the subject of much
comment in Corvallis and Benton
county. But few developments
have appeared in the case since
Saturdays issue of the TIMES, but
all these have served to show how
1amentab1e was the failure of the
timber hunters in their errand.
Frank Sets, who lives within
half mile of some of the lands
filed on, and who has been overev-
cry foot ofa11 of the country contigu-
OTIS, returned yesterday from Port
wherehe has been servingon the I'm
tied States petit jury. He says there
are not fifty old growth fir trees in
the sections filed on, and there is
not million feet of commercial
timber in the region claimed. He
says that what the Port1anders got
for all their pains and cash, is ha-
eel brush, elder bushes, salaf and
"a magnificent crop of fern hay"
In some places, he says, there is
second growth fir timber ranging
from six inches to twenty inches in
diameter, but of commercial timber
there is practically none. Where
ever there are old growth trees
they are tunted and 1imby, so that
they are Of little value for CONNER
cia1 uses, Of the second growth,
there is an occasional tree two feet
in diameter, but it will be many a
long year before any of it is fit for
numbering purposes. Mr. Sets says
that Monday four members of the
party, in his presence, got rid of
their claims by letting others have
them,
It has been definitely ascertained
that the party never got within
twenty miles or more by wagon
road of the lands on which they
filed. Their nearest point was in
A1sea Valley, when they took the
south road that leads eastward to
Monroe and Dusty instead of going
westward over Digger mountain
and into the Five Rivers country
The timber that they looked at, and
on which they supposed they were
filing lies in township II ranges
six and seven. That on which
they actually filed is in the same
township, but in ranges nine and
ten. AS every range extends six
miles. the actual distance between
where they thought they were
getting timber and where they
really got it is from II to IS miles.
AS the victims explain it, the
timber they looked at is on the east
slope of a big mountain. The tim
Der locator led the way and the 36
men and women in the party fol-
lowed, on foot. As they passed
along the trail the locator saw sur
veyors marks on the side of a tree.
Here's our timber" he shouted,
and the process of selecting then
began. While he travelled through
the woods with some of the victims
the others finished climbing the
mountain to get view of the coun-
try. 1t was from the top of this
peak that DR. Gillespie, whose
statement appeared in Saturdays
TIMES, saw Alsea store to the west
ward, and somewhat norther1y. !,
As a matter of fact, standing on
he lands onwhich the party actually
ocated, they could have not seen
A1sea store without looking east
ward, and then only by boring a
lole through Digger mountain, or
ome of its neighbors.
Some people believe that it was
Prairie mountain, on the slopes of
which the members of the party
Examined timber. This is the be-
lef of Frank Sets. From the top
# it, they declared they could see
he ocean. If as some suspect, it was
'rairie mountain that they climbed
heir supposed 8 locations would
ave been in township IS, range
bout seven, and the air line dis
ance Fl ON their actual location not
ess and probably greater than if
4 township IA.
Even if there were timber on the f
ands On which the party actually i