Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-16
CONTEST FOR 265,OOO
ACRES OF LAND LOST
SUSANvILLE OFFICE DECIDES
AGAINST YARD
Mineral Land, as Claimed.
Decision Causes Ex-
element

that section, has lost his fight for the
possession of something like 265 600
acres along the Feather river. The
land office at Susanville has handed
down a decision and report which ser
forth that in ninety odd claims there Is
no evidence of mineral. Therefore the
lands that were taken by Yard, large
ly through dummy locators, under the
plea that they were mineral in charac-
ter, cannot be held by him. They are
timber lands.
The decision contains the statement
that the area held by Yard has timber
that is worth $780, 900 and that Yard
was able to offer only three dollars
worth Of gold that was taken there
from. In addition to this the land of
fee decided that Yards Assessment
work on the ninety odd claims was not
valid The greater part of this work
is found to consist of tunnels made by
old prospeetors before Yard took the
land up. Telephone lines and roads that
have been constructed since Yard hled
his claims are held by the decision not
to be lawful assessment work" on
mining claims. The text of the decision
is as follows in part:
"The prospects made by the defend
ant yard as well as those made by
the government prove conclusively that
there is no placer gold in the claims
that would justify the declaration that
the land is mineral in character"
On February 27, 1908, a transcript of
the testimony adduced at the hearing
was forwarded from the Susanville land
office to Washington, together with the
conclusions of the register and receiver
thereto, as follows:
Honorable Commissioner of the Cen
eral Land Office Washington, D. c.:
Dear Sir-In view of the foregoing
and after careful examination and con-
sideration of the voluminous testimony
submitted we sEe of the opinion that
the allegations set out by the protest
are clearly substantiated. Although
it appears that deposits of gold in
small placer formations have been
found upon some of the locations,
the evidence as a whole falls far short
of proving the land to contain any ap-
preciable amount of gold, and 1t does
not appear, therefore, that the land
covered by the locations contain known
valuable deposits sufficient in extent
to render them chiefly valuable for
mining purposes. The allegations set
forth in said protest are sustained and
the said mineral locations are held to
be invalid. Very respectfully
"T. A. ROSEBERRY, Register.
ALFRED H. TAYLOR, Receiver"
The decision has caused much excite
ment in Butte and Plumas counties for
the reason that other large tracts of
land which have been secured under the
claim that they are mineral in char
acter are really covered with good tim
ber and hearings may result similarly
to those that have taken place in re-
gard to the Yard holdings. One of the
bitterest fights in the history of the
state has been waged during a series
of years between L. <. Aubury, state
o1frr rssf Tf1n Gil q mr. iO11=
men and corporations concerning the
grabbing of lands that were non-min-
eral by the use of the placer location
law, and also in connection with lands
that have been mined for years and
which were filed upon with scrip, home
stead prescriptions and under the tim
ber and stone act.
This contest was commenced in 1901
by Aubury. 1t was taken directly to
the president and to two secretaries of
the department of the interior, and
also to two heads of the general land
office at Washington. Repeated in
vestigations have been made by the
special agents of the land office. The
noise of this conflict has been heard all
over the state. Yards friends, in his
behalf, have made a warm fight against
Aubury through the columns of news
papers in the interior, in which the
state mineralogist has been denounced
with all the Vigor possessed by the
Yard faction.
IN the course of the proceedings Au-
bury sent out special investigators on
different occasions to look at the lands
held by Yard, and also those held by
others who have succeeded in the past
few years in acquiring great tracts of
California timber lands by one plan
and great tracts of mineralized lands
by another method.
Voluminous reports have been pre-
pared by Aubury and sent to President
Roosevelt for his personal inspection.
Copies of the same have been filed with
the secretary of the interior and the
commissioner of the general land office
of the United States. The attention
that has been called by Aubury to the
operations of the land grabbers in this
of the state mineralogists personal ef-
forts, in the extension of the govern
ment forest reservations, which, with
drawn from entry, are held safely by
the government, to the extent of many
millions of acres, at least for the time
being. AffidaVits have been secured for
use in great number, these being made
by miners and Others who have been
on the grounds In question and who
know all about them practically.
This mass Of testimony has also been
prepared and forwarded to Washing
ton under the direction or AuDury, so
that all that Aubury had alleged was
shown to be based on the strongest
evidence. When the secretary of the
interior and the commissioner of the
general land office We're recently in
this state Aubury sought them and
made personal statements to both and
referred them to the reports and other
documentary matter that had been
sent to Washington.
n the rrOopp6iOpG tba f0raet carVipa
of the United States has been con-
cerned. In turn that has been at
port that has been drawn, containing
the findings of the Susanvile land Of
flee in regard to the Yard locations is
signed by the register and receiver of
tho land office. This will be forward
ed to the commissioner of the general
land office and also to the secretary Of
the interior. If they approve the find
ings the decision will stand and the
attempts of Yard to get 265, 900 acres
in Butte and Plumas counties viii be
finally ended.
II have acted in the interests of the
miners of California" so said Aubury
yesterday. II have been abused for
this by parties who are trying to grab
the public lands. In other portions Of
the state, notably along the mother
lode, various means have been devised
by land grabbers to get possession Of
great tracts of land where the mineral
character of the lands is unquestioned
Unless something is done the mineral
l1RRR MN PRJJ Made OF Pure Silk III