Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1910-04-11
STATE Land FRAUDS
SAYS STATE CRUISERS OF TIMBER
LANDS were DISHONEST.
Legislative !nve Stigating Committee
Declares eSiHdminiStration of Land
Office Has Been fraught With
Fraud and tnCompetenCy. Lands
Worth Many Times Price Paid.

OLYMPIA, April s. Charging
that the state of Washington has
been Systematically defrauded for
years and that taxpayers have lost
mollions of dollars by the sale of
state and timber lands for grossly
and ridiculously inadequate prices, -
the special Legislative investiga ting
committee appointed at the 1903
session of the legislature and con-
tinued by the extraordinary session
of the same year, recommends COM
plete revision of the present land
code; an immediate and thorough
cruise of all timber lands owned by
the state; the creation of a land
commission wherein administration
of the land office shall be vested in
three men instead of one; and ap-
pointment by the next legislature of
a committee to take up and COM
plete the work of investigation where
the present committee lays it down
The report, addressed to Gov. Hay
and prepared under date of April 1,
was made public here today.
Bad Mess Reported
The report states that for years
purchasers of state timber lands
have Systematically plundered the
state through the "laxity, incompe-
tency and dishonesty" of employees of
the state land department. Although
the time at the disposal of the COM
mittee was not sufficient, the re-
port says, to reveal all the frauds
perpetrated on the state through it's
land department, nearly 200 cases
have been found in which the state
inspector made erroneous reports of
the amount of timber cruised. The
evidence collected by the committee
will be turned over to the attorney
general with recommendations that
he take prompt steps to recover the
money due the state.
Timber Undervalued
The system used by the timber
barons was simple. Application was
made for tract of land and a state
cruiser was sent to inspect the tim
Der. Upon the report of the cruiser
the land commission appraised the
land. In many cases, says the re-
port, fractional part of the actual
timber was reported and valuable
timber land was sold for a song. The
report covers land sold in Chehalis,
Cowlitz, King, Lewis, Skagit, Pierce,
Snohomish, Thurston, Wahkiakum
and Pacific counties.
Flagrant Discrepancies Charged
Striking instances of incorrect re-
ports made by state cruisers where
valuable timber land was sold at a
price ridiculously out of proportion
to it's value are the following:
Cowlitz county, 600 acres, cruised
by James Med. Israel and c. A. Bill
ings, in 1901-Reported 4,2S6, 900
feet. County cruise shows, $780,
900 feet; committees cruise, a.
$4,000 feet. Sold to F.. G. Barnes
and afterward turned over to the
Silver Lake Railway & Lumber COM
pany.
Less Than Tenth Reported
Cowlitz county, 355 acres, cruised
by E. M. Huntington in 190S-Re-
ported 675,000 feet of timber. Coun-
ty cruise, 100000 feet; committees S
cruise, 3,044.O00 feet. Sold to the
Silver Lake Railway & Lumber COM
pany.
Cowlitz county 100 acres, cruised
by Israel and Billings in 1901-Re-
ported 100000 feet of timber
County cruise, 6,0S5,OO0 feet; COM
mittee's cruise, 14,91S,O00 feet. Sold
to Joseph O'Neill.
Cowlitz county, $50 acres, cruised
by Marsh in 1901-Reported 2,970,-
900 feet of timber. County cruise in
1907 shows 7,3O5,O0 feet of timber
Sold to the Weyerhaeuser Timber
company.
Pierce county, $40 acres, cruised
by Frank Terrace in 19O1-Reported
3,050,-0O0 feet of timber. County
cruise shows 34,326,500 feet of tim
ber. Sold to Charles H. Williams, of
Tacoma, for $2,2S7. The committee
estimates the timber to be worth at
least 100000.