The San Francisco call., 1906-08-12
POSES AS A MINER
To COVER GRAB.
500,00 Acres of Timber
the Richest Placer
That Yard Possesses
FEDERAL INQUIRY


Wv about TO visit this State be-
gin to inquire whether H H.
Yard and others have used the law re-
lating to placer locations to get pos
session Of vast tracts of timber land ir
California, and reflect that the charged
in this direction all proceed from the
State Mineralogist they may be sur
prised to learn that Yard is membel
of the executive committee of the Cali
fornia State Miners Association, an or
ganization that was formed to protect
the interests of mining men.
This may seem all the more strange
to the official investigators when they
hear from the State Mineralogist that
Yard, in common with other operators
in the California field, has Tapped loca.
tions, sometime in his California ca
reer, over those of miners who have
been in quiet possession of mineralized
lands for years, and that the lands are
stlll held by Yard, despite the miners
protests.
A Tregidgo president of the Califor-
MIA Miners Assoeiat tion is authority
for the statement that Yard is an exec
utive committeeman in that body The
official headquarters of the association
in this city have been removed to the
has his Offices. In that, his position is
such that in itself it ought to protect
him against the imputation OF working
against the interests of California
miners. ct that he is so working is
an allegation that the State Mineral
ogist has made repeatedly and has en-
bodied in official reports.
CONTROVERSY WAKES WARM
The situation follows in the train OF
controversy so hot that it has been
the subject of discussion by California
miners and California politicians fol
our years. A human interest story is
sound not obscurely in the details
In 1902 Aubury, the State Mineral
0gist, and the Sacramento Valley De-
velopment Association asked the au-
thorities at Washington to set aside
large tracts of land in certain counties
of California as temporary forest re
serves the ground that timber grab
bers would obtain possession of them
all II this course was not taken. In
course of time the great aggregate OF
| 100000 acres was converted by the
Government into temporary forest re-
serves. Since then a constant struggle
/ has been in progress. one side trying to
get the lands and the other side, repre-
sented by Aubury, striving to keep
them from private ownership by the
few men who in four years have as
sumed possession of more than a half
million acres on placer locations in
Butte and Plumas counties alone.
The struggle first took on an intense
form before the California miners con-
vention four years ago, when a hot
fight occurred in committee over a pre-
amble and resolution that ran in part
as follows:
Whereas, The Secretary of the Inte-
rior, under date of October Is, 1902, is
sued orders Withdrawing from settle
ment, entry sale or other disposal un-
der the public land laws certain lands
within certain designated areas within
the counties of Plumas, Lassen, Shasta
Trinity. Siskiyou and Tehama, and des-
ignated in said order of withdrawal as
Lassen Peak Reservation, klamath
Reservation. Mount Shasta Reservation
respectively, pending an investigation
of the advisability of making said re
serves permanent; and
Whereas, This association has main
tanned a broad position favoring the
conservation and preservation of for
ests and streams, yet II believes that to
permanently establish the proposed
reservations would most seriously af-
feet the future prosperity and indus
trial activity of the said counties
named without any compensating ben
eft, either locally or to the State ct
large, as the creation Of said reserves
would accomplish the object sought
only to a limited extent, if at all. as by
far the greater portion of the water
shed affected does not influence either
agriculture or navigation"
PAVED WAY FOR GRABBERs.
These words, so Aubury contended
hotly before q committee, were intend
ed to make IL easy for Yard, T. B.
Walker. Curtis, Collins and Holbrook,
the Diamond Match Company and
others to get hold of the millions of
acres that were in temporary reserves;
and the averment was made that as
miners. the convention had no interest
in promoting the interests of timber
grabbers, fnasmuch as the miners were
amply protected and free to operate
within the reserves.
There was some talk to the general
intent that fine words butter no par
snips," or something to that effect, re-
ferring to the befogged language of
the preamble, but the resolutions were
came to an open debate on the floor of
the convention. Aubury talked about
a packed committee" and the after
math of the convention was general un-
pleasantness Threats were made by
some persons in interest that Aubury
would be removed from the position of
State Mineralogist, but that has not
been accomplished to date. Governor
Pardee having sustained him.
HAVE OPENED NO MINES.
The whirligig of time has made Yard
and others, since the Federal Gov
ernment persisted in it's course ap-
pear in the role of placer miners"
However, 1t will be alleged before the