The Boise citizen. (Boise, Idaho) 1906-1910, 1906-12-28

R~--%~~
caught within the confines of govern
ment forest reserves. As soon as the
law passed, the railroads proceeded
promptly to exchange out these worth
less lands for the finest timber lands the
government owned The total amount
owned within forest reservations by the
land-grant roads was:
Santa Fe 1868 $50
Southern Pacific .... 1900
Northern Pacific ............1,4 ,4O1 600
Smaller grants made total of nearly
100000 acres.
"This process Of exchanging worth
less or denuded lands lying within for
est reserves for valuable lands, heavily
timbered, involved Mount Rainier, the
majestic and snow-caped mountain that
towers over Tacoma. This is perhaps
the most picturesque and superb peak
in America. 1t was included in the
original grant to the Northern Pacific
When the chance to exchange it came
along, the railroad men and their timber
allies were not actuated by any love for
the beautiful. In a mater-of-fact man
ner, with a sordid commercialism char
acteristic of all their operations, they
handed over beautiful Mount Rainier and
took in its place an equal area OF tim
Der land which they could cut into and
turn into dollars.
at was the Northern Pacific that
turned the trick, but it was Weyerhaeu-
ser who was to benefit For the last
thirty years Weyerhaeuser has been
practically the timber agent OF the
Northern Pacific, and also of the Great
Northern. A whole story might be
written about the deals by which the
spoilers, in the guise of the railroads,
secured these valuable lands from the
government. Then sequel might be
written showing the spoliation of the
spoilers. The officers of the Northern
Pacific, working through the Weyer-
haeuser timber companies, sold great
tracts of these rich lands to the Weyer-
haeuser syndicate for a song. Six dol
lars an acre is said to have been the
ruling price. R. L. Mccormick, the
Weyerhaeuser agent in Tacoma, Wash,
admits that that is what the company
paid for 100000 acres of Northern Pa
cihc land lying west of the Cascades. 1t
was one quarter-section out of this lot
that sold for S76,OoO-a profit of 1000
per cent in a few short years.
This shrewd deal, whereby Weyer-
haeuser got the richest timber lands in
the world at practically no cost and
without the slightest danger to anyone,
turned the attention of the syndicate
to the Northwest, and having gobbled
up everything in the Mississippi river
district, the same machinery that had
worked so effectively there was put in
operation in the West For some time
Weyerhaeuser had been buying, trading,
and by other means taking over lands
in the Northwest 1t was in 1900 that
a big splurge was made. All of the
Northern Pacific land west of the Cas-
cades, something over 100000 acres,
was taken at fiat rate of So an acre
According to well informed men deal
ing in lumber on the coast, there is al
ready profit of $20,OOO,0OO in that one
deal Weyerhaeuser opened headquar-
tiers in Tacoma, Wash. Here, as was
the case in the Mississippi river dis
trict, unostentation was the rule. An
ca~fYra1 IN, f1f 1T+f1a -s,I
brick house down town, overlooking the
Sound, and r. L. Mccormick, a partner
of many years standing, and the man
Weyerhaeuser trusts probably more than
anyone else, was sent to the coast to
handle the business Mccormick is a
big, impressive looking man, with weight
and dignity. He is the dynamo of the
Weyerhaeuser machine Suave, cool,
he is the polished politician of
that group of land-grabbing, forest-de-
stroying, dollar-hunters. He poses as a
and public-spirited citizen
He ran for mayor of Tacoma, and, if
current gossip IS true, was beaten be-
cause he was so close to James J. Hill,
of the Great Northern, and Weyerhaeu-
ser. Hartman is said TO have feared
for his interests if Mccormick won in
Tacoma, and at the last hour he went
in and defeated hinS Whether this is
true or not, Mccormick is there in
charge of the Weyerhaeuser interests,
and he is the keenest lumberman in the
West He has been quietly for the last
five years, shaping up the Weyerhaeuser
interests, and today the dominion is as
complete as it has been fer years on
the Mississippi"
The article should be read in full BY
every citizen, who desires knowledge !
Of the ways of graft that for years have
dominated the national legislation. de-
priving the people of their heritage in