Truth. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1901-1908, 1907-01-12
the law, obligingly extended for the
cinn

oCCdSloH. we Tedu'
Prior to 1897 access to the public
lands of the United States was limited
to the actual settler, who could go
in and acquire one hundred and sixty
acres Ga quarter section) of land I'M
der the Homestead act. In that year
the vicious Lieu Selection act was
passed. At that time the once enor.
nous timber resources of the middle
west, and more particularly the tim.
Der tracts of Wisconsin, Michigan
Minnesota and the Mississippi river
section, where the Weyerhaeuser com.
panies were operating, had been prac.
tically exhausted. The Weyerhaeuser
people were casting about for other
lands. The south and east offered no
| real relief. True, the great fields of
Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Mon.
tana were practically untouched, but
there was no legal method of reaching
the timber 1t was the property Of
the United States and was reserved
| Tor the actual settler. The govern.
ment could not sell or apportion any
of these lands, and it was a settled
policyIto hold them. They included
millions of acres of the finest timber
In the world. II The average cut an
acre was enormous and much in ex.
cess or any. other known timber tracts
For Years the eyes of the lumbermer
had been on this section and they had
sahemedb without avail suntil the 1897
session Of congress when a way was
found to get into the land '......
I'm the closing hours of the session
of 1897 an item appropriating a small
sum for the preservation of forests
was introduced and passed. Follow
ing tim the bill came the provision.
mif5That in cases in which a tract
covered by an unprotected bona-fidt
claim or by a patent is included withir
the limits Of a public forest reserve
the CsettlerDor owner thereof may, II
he desiFesntoo do so,tUrelinquish the
tract TO the, government, and in lieu
thereof, select a tract of vacant land
open to settlement, not exceeding in
area the tract covered by the claim
Ior patent, and ononfcharge v, shall be
made in these, cases, for the making
of the entry, or record, or issuing the
patent to cover tract selected -i.7'
''"This looked like an innocent propo
sition and it Is possible that the com.
mittee that Endorsed it and the con
ssressJ that passed Gitiwere ignorant of
itsoyicious features 1t was appar
emily ar, act to relieve a poor home.
steader cut off by forest-reservatio
definitions It may be Of interest to
know 81 that the o Observation-Disclosures
clause was fathered by Senator Petit
crew and was, put on as, a rider to
the Sundry Civil bill in the senate
after the bill had come from the
house. 1t was passed with consum-
mate ease! olioPettigrewa subsequently,
led a fightvtoIrepeal the measure, and
said that its intent and, purpose had
been diverted to make it a vehicle
for looting the government of its best
Understands. It may be recorded in
Passing that when congress realized
what abuses were enacted under this
innocent act 10 it was re.
pealed in 1904; but the. damage had
been done. The joker came in this
wise: At different tines and in or
der to aid in the construction of trans
continental railroads congress made
land grants to the roads The North
ern Pacific, the Union PACING the
Southern Pacific, and the Atlantic and
Pacific (now the Santa Fe) were the
a These grants carried
with them millions of acres, taking in
as " they did every alternate section