The Lamar register., 1903-08-19
Land Fraud chsrser Denied.

In regard 20 the charges made that
tie Colorzdo Fgel AID Iron Company
e inyolysd II the coal land frauds.
says the Denver SeyE. Judge D c.
Bezmzn. attorney for the Colorado
Fus. and lToa Comp Dzny. has made the
foIlOring statement:
Yea. ! have read the nerspzper re
ports about land frauds In Routt couu-
~.
~One Of the most important Is the
statement that so,ae government ON
cizl has Esid that +, would cost the
Colorado Fuel and Iron Company 81,
800 .O1J 10 square its accounts with the
land office for the difference between
the amount paid for It's lands entered
under the timber and stone at and
that which should have been paid II
entered as coal lands.
The reporter and the headI!ner OF
the paper then note that a general eIo-
dug Of officials. clerks, etc, has Or iE
about TO take place In consequence.
II do not suppose that any govern
ment omclsi made any such state
ment.
The fact IL that the Colorado Fuel
and Iron Company does not now own
or claim TO own, nor did II ever own,
a single acre of land that was taken
up under the timber and stone act.
Some Of our lsndE-a very small
smount-were entered as homesteads
and pre-emptions twenty years or
more ago, when there was little doing
in or known about coal lands Some
Of these have coal in and some not,
being mostly along the outcrop and
were purchased by US of the people
who owned them. and are used mostly
for coke ovens and other frontage pur-
toseE- All our coal land. as well az
all our iron lands. were lawfully ac-
quired, and We do not fear inyestiga-
ton
"Az in many other cases meddlers
have protested. and some OF our pur-
chases have been Investigated, hut In
every case they have been found reg
ular and lawful. the complaints un-
founded, and the entries approved by
the secretary Of the interior.
There VIII be a lot Of newspaper
men leave Colorado before anybody
leaves on account Of IN ~ful acquiEI-
tion Of land for US.
In Routt county. where we have
been charged with connIying with Mr..
Monat and others In procuring thou
sands Of acres OF coal lands by forH-
ing names of women and girls. this
company owns but go acres, part of
It bought by us in 1889 and part in
1887. of the men who had entered 1t
some years before. II Ia on the s,ake
river. and Mr.. Monat's road will not
go within thirty miles of II. Aside
from this half section. the Colorado
Fuel and Iron Company has no lands
In Routt county. nor is It Interested
in any way In coal CT other filings in
that county.
In fact, the company has not ac-
quired or attempted to acquire any
coal land for more than five years past.
These alleged coal land frauds
bloom annually. The southern field
was exploited about this time last
year by the newspapers. and the most
awful results were predicted.
The reporters and correspondents OF
the Denver papers change about once
year and a new shift comes ON that
knows little or nothing about the
topography. geography or history of
the state. and they strike q cold trail
| and write up few columns. ninety
eight per cent. Of which Is imag gina
| tion.
One has just bobbed up at Newcas-
tie and writes to a Denver paper that
we closed our coal mine there because
there were so many stores that we
couldn't run company store.
That mine was closed five years
ago. because conditions were such that
mining was too expensive, as we
thought. 1t remained for that CORE
spondent to make new discovery
THE whole story of land frauds. 70
Tar az the Colorado Fuel and Iron Com
pany IL concerned. may be disposed of
by saying that whatever in these re-
/ q iFnf frf. .pf Ia
81 have also seen the statement
about the changes to take place at the
annual meeting, | don't know any
thing about 1t. Ask some other news
paper reporter. II he can't tell you,
| then nobody knows"