Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1907-11-29
No More Contests on Siletz.

rendered by the General Land Office:
A decision was rendered November
l9 by the General Land Office which
will affect about 300 homestead entries,
comprising perhaps 80 900 acres in tn
former Siletz Indian Reservation. The
ruling referred to was made in the case
of Peter A. Finseth, against whose
entry an affidavit of contest was recent
ly fled. The claims have been held up
for the alleged reason that the settlers
did not dwell on the land, as required
by the homestead act.
1t is held that applications to contest
entries in the Siletz will not be allowed
hereafter, as matter Of course, but all
such applications will be referred back
to special agent for investigation and
for his approval or dsapproval. This
means that where an entryman has
complied with the law, in the opinion of
the special agent, he will recommend
that the application to contest be de-
MED. In all such cases the entrymen
will get their patents year or two
earlier than they would if they had
first to defend contest through the
various offices to the Secretary of the
Interior
These claims were all taken years ago
by poor people, mostly single men
They found themselves situated in
dense forest, with only the blazed lines
Of the surveyor to guide them. They
set about to build trails and roads aud
ta erect cabins and make clearings. 1t
would require about three weeks for n
man to ohoD down aud clear up the
brush from one average-szed tree.
Consequently, the settlers had not made
much of showing when the time came
around for them to make Communication
or final proofs. Moreover, they could
not make large clearings without com.
mltling waste against future gener-
ations, for there was no market there
for the lumber at the time, and the
trees chopped down had to be burned
before the small patches cleared could
be cultivated.
y. w. Lafferty, attorney for Finseth,
says the contests we're procured through
locators, and in most instances the con-
testants have not even seen the land,
bnt made their aiiidavits upon in'orma.
tion and belief.
"Should the contestants win against
the original entrymen," said he yester.
day, "and thereby get "A preference
right to tile on the claims them selves,
it does not appear how they could do
any more for the Government in the
way OF reducing this particular locality
to inhabitancy aud cultivation than the
first settler did. They would simply
chop down fsw more trees, an I, being
now apprsed of the rig d rules with
which the de part nent will expect CON.
plance hereafter, they would, perhaps,
stick a little cl )ser to their claims for
the required period than the first set
tier d d. Bat thu result w)lll natur.
ally be the same. The contestants
themselves would leave the claims at
the first opportunity after proving up,
and would either sell them to the lum,
Der manufacturers or sell the timber off
and make dairy and fruit ranches OF the
lands after the timber was removed.
The drift of the decision of the
General Land Office in the Finseth case
is right. 1t does not seem quite right
that the first settlers, who underwent
the greatest hardships and had the
energy to go ont aud take up these
claims when they we're worth only Il
small amount each,. should now have
their claims taken away from them ana
given to individuals to whom the idea
of undergoing these hardships in order
to procure homes for themselves did
not occur till the claims increased t.
the value of several Thousand dollars
each.
"While the opening Of this heavy
forest under a special homestead act
only WAS an extraordinary thing for
Congress to do, it was far better than to
have opened the lands under the gem
eral laws. Under the latter all of these
lands would have been scripped long
ago. Asst is the claims will be patented
to hundreds OF the poor people. With
the advent of'railroads into the vicn.
ity they will be able to sell their timber
at good prices on the stump, and to
then make splendid dairy and fruit
ranches out of the claims"