East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1908-05-12
.SQUA7TERS ARE
HEAVY LOSERS
PAY FEES FOR LANDS
THEY WILL NOT GET
Linn County Seems to Have Greatest
Number Of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
LocatOrs Given Fees for Show
Ing Claims to Settlers-NO Priority
Rights to Railroad Land.

Reports from the department Of
justice and interior to the effect that
applicants for the unsold grant lands
of the oregon & California railroad
will have no priority Of right over
other applicants has brought conster-
nation into the hearts Of q host of
claimants who rushed onto these
lands and paid high sums to unscrup-
ulous locators.
In Linn county alone possibly 5O,-
90 acres of these lands have been filed
on and applied for and the tender
made to the railroad company offices
at San Francisco. Fees ranging from
SIS to $50 have been paid for this
privilege, and the parties locating the
seekers after timber lands assured
them that they would have a priority
of right and have the first undisputed
claim to the lands in question should
the government succeed in their eff
forts to declare the lands forfeit.
When the matter was first made
public the rush for these claims was
akin to madness. and parties well
versed in the subject declared that
not one of them could possibly ac-
quire any prior right to the lands in
question.
The madness for timber lands
reached such a height that hundreds
of local parties and from elsewhere
were induced to pay large sums into
the hands Of locators, whose only mo-
tive was gain, with no thought that
the parties so located would ever be
able to realize on the lands in ques-
tion.
A most elaborate program was fol-
lowed and II complying with all pos
sible legal requirements amounts to
anything the claimants for these lands
should receive consideration. The
plan was as follows:
First, the persons desiring to be To-
Gated accepted the cruise Of some To-
Gator, and on being acquainted with
the description of the lands made an
affidavit to the effect that they had
settled on these lands and were actual
anu
This application was filed with the
county recorder and placed on record
together with a statement that the
tender had been made the railroad
company. over 300 of these paper.
have been recorded in the office OF
the county recorder, and according tC
the decision they are not worth the
fee of recording.
In addition to the above many OF
the claims have been duplicated and
even II the applicants should have an
opportunity to purchase endless litiga.
ton would ensue. Many of the par
ties in applying for lands were in
duced to apply for lands in other
counties without any idea of settle
ment or sincerity on the part of the
would be possessor of these railroad
lands. In fact in many instances the
affidavit reads that they are actual
settlers on the land applied for when
the citizens of the state know that
they are engaged in business and have
made no attempt to comply with the
laws relating to residence and settle
ment.
The whole matter is decidedly com.
plicated, and the ruling of the de-
nartment that these are of no conse-
Quence and worthless will bring some
order out of the chaos and save end
less litigation and possible prosecu'
tion for false affidavits made by the
seeking purchaser.