The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1906-05-01
A VIGOROUS KICK
UMATILLA sHEEPMEN PROTEST
DIVISION OF RANGE.
File Claims for Recognition Allege
Oregon Een Were W Worsted
in Allttmants.

Fliiy Oregon sht eImin, largely from
Upatilla county, were present at the
meeting called in Walla Walla by the
chief ranger to investigate applica-
iio for range on the Wenaha forest
= serve iiela siuc9 the allotment of tho
range last December, !, oud to protests
made by Umatilla county stock men.
It was made plain by Superintend-
uot Il. B. Shelter that this was iu
10 seus, continuation Of the meet
lug of last Decem Der. This meeting
&r. Shelter stated was not called TO
reconsider the ollotmepts, as the range
was already fully occupied and no
additional stock would be permitted
uDieSs portion already assigned was
withdrawn.
Colonel j. H. Raley, the Pendleton
attorney, was present and presented
the case to the Umatilla stockmen,
who he maintained were not getting
what they were entitled to- He did
not charge bad faith or unfair treat
meDt by the chief ranger or any other
officials. He claimed the stockmen
of Oregon were not getting he rights
in the state to which they were en-
titled and that Washington stockmen
were occupying the range in Oregon
which properly belonged to residents.
He asked for an extension of this meet
ing until next Tuesday to allow time
for the preparation of affidavits set
ting forth the true conditions which he
desired to submit to the chief ranger
He was assured by the superintendent
that no action would be taken at this
time that would prejudice the rights
of bis clients and that bis right to
appeal 10 the department would not
be affected by any action taken by
him or the chief ranger but would
probably be rejected in other words il
anything in tue way of granting ad-
ditional range in this reserve was
doue it would have to come through
the depa ukmeut at Washington.
j. M. Burgess president of the Gun
ningham Land company, submitted
an affidavit stating that while he had
made application at the December
meeting to Craze only 1910 sheep, his
company desired TO feed 1000 head on
the public domain. II stated that
the company owned 10000 acres of
land in Umatilla aud Morrow counties
upon which about 10000 are fed. Mr..
Burgess claims prior rights in the re-
serve from the fact that Charles
Cunningham company, occupying the
range for 15 years, grazing from 1900
to 1000 sheep each year.
j. S. Hoskins protested that because
be bad been limited to 1000 sheep
when lie had applied for range for
$500 ewes and their increase. The
Hoskins of which be is member own
500 acres of land near the reserve and
ranged from 1000 to 1000 sheep on the
reserve for years.
In stating the case Colonel Raley
said that he did not believe that the
reserve officials intended to discrim-
inate, but thought the committee was
to blame in making the allotment as
it did last Decem Der, because they
were ignoTantiof the Wenaha reserve
and had made mistake in classifying
the sheepmen Of Washington and Ore
gon, some of which were placed in
class A which should have been in
class B according to the rules of the
department. In this class men reside
at considerable distance from the re-
serve, but have for several years
grazed their flocks ON the public range.
His chief objection however, was that
10000 Washington sheep had been
given grazing privileges this year,
while similar number of Oregon
sheep had been denied the privilege,
although they had fed for many years
on the range.
superintendent Shelter stated that
the government took no cognizance of
state boundaries in the allotment of
forest reserve range, and he doubted
if the department would make any
distinction if an appeal was taken.
But this will probably be done.
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