The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1909-11-08

deal of the land we had to examine there
are such settlers. There are some who
| are really trying to do something, but
the most of them are persons who do dot
live on the land. X
But in our examinations of the land we
had duty to perform and it was to find
out the facts so that we could swear to
the facts before the Land Office. We
! carefully located the lands we had to
examine from the nearest government
corner. Then we 'horse-shoed" each
forty acres that we had to examine. Mr..
Duncan made soundings with a sounding
pole into the swamps, and Mr.. Walker
took pictures at each place where sound
ings were made. examined the land on
both sides from time to time and ran the
compass. Each of us paced out and
counted our steps. We made sure of
revery feature of everything we had to
do. The lands which we found to be
swamp are very fiat, and covered with
spruce and tamarack and on the ground
there is thick moss. Between the moss
and the hard bottom, which is from one
to five feet deep below, there is musky
substance full of water and usually peaty.
Now there can be no question at all
about the tracts that such land as this
is swamp. A few years ago l cut the
trees off of some of my own moss covered
swamps and it remains swamp today.
nothing would grow and did not expect
that it would. simply tried it because l
heard so much talk about it.
Some people claimed at the trials that
when trees are cut off these lands they
would dry up, but that is not possible
under the conditions, as most of these
swamps are part of much larger swamps,
and of course, the land in question would
not dry up unless the much larger swamp
than the land in question would dry up.
l have done this work in good faith
under your instructions and could not do
otherwise in any particular case than l
have done. felt that Twas performing
a public duty, and that is what I was
there to do. l was not there to help any,
body or to hurt anybody and had no
such desire. ..... 49,
The fact is that these lands are being
sought for because they contain valuable
spruce and tamarack. When the spruce
and tamarack is gone, these alleged
! settlers will be gone. In fact very few of
them are on their land very much now
have sent to you my field notes of all
the lands in respect to which l did not
give testimony. These field notes cover
these lands which we found to be dry
and so reported, and also the lands
which we found to be wet, and about
which there was no contest because the
claimants did not appear.
The northern part of the state needs a
good deal of help, and one of the worst
things we have to contend with is the
! homesteader who lives in Chicago or St.
Paul, Bemidji, or some of the towns in
Koochiching county. This kind of home
steaders are of no use to the country.
They do not aid in its development in
any way. There is no connection between
my work for the state as swamp land
examiner, and what l might say now,
and that is that if northern Minnesota
could get rid of it's homesteaders who do
not live in northern, Minnesota, and get
on its lands class of people who would
live on the land, and if the state would
pay taxes on it's swamp land precisely as
other people Day them, very good re-
suit would follow.
Very truly yours,
Nils A. Otterstad.