The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1911-07-27

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be made of $40 acres with frontage
of 100 rods on the northwest shore OF
Controller Bay. entertained some
question about the matter and stated
by objections at a cabinet meeting.
Thereafter, some time in June, had
an interview with Mr.. Richard s.
Ryan, the promoter of the Controller
Railroad and Navigation company, to
whom the secretary of the interior had
stated my objections, which led to
Ryan's sending a communication to
the secretary Of the interior under
date of July Is, 1910. This letter was,
in the secretary's absence, sent by the
department to me at once. consider
ed the whole case in August, 1910,
and directed that the 800 acres, recon-
mended by both departments, be elm
mated as recommended. Nothing was
done, however, in the matter until l
returned to Washington in October,
1910, when formal order, which had
been drawn in the interior department
and was subsequently specifically APP
proved by the secretary of agriculture
and returned to the interior depart
ment, was submitted to me by the
acting secretary of the interior, with
the approval of that department. The
order was as follows:
Under authority of the act of congress
| of June 4, 1897 go Stat, II, at "a and 36),
and on the recommendation of the secre-
| tary of agriculture, it is hereby ordered
that the proclamation of February g.
1909. charging the ChugaCh national for
est be modified to reduce the area of
s+ts4f F+e t+sEsi~ forrest discriminating there
from the following described tract, con-
| tanning approximately 800 acres of land
which has been found, upon examination,
to be not chiefly valuable for national for
est purposes and which is necessary for
terminal purposes and desired by the
Controller Railway & Navigation Co., for
such purposes:
Beginning at a point on Controller bay
which bears south 10 22' west, 1857 feet
from U. s. Location Monument No. S42:
thence north 5,729.5 feet; thence east p
SOL feet: thence south 7.H4.2 feet to a
point on Controller bay; thence following
the meanders of the bay north $50 3V
west 1,46O feet: thence north 100 26' west
500 feet; thence north 40 "a west $50 feet,
to the point of beginning. containing $40
acres, approximately, the same being IN
approximate longitude 1Ho IL west FROM
Greenwich. latitude SOC s. north.
The tract above described is hereby re-
stored to the public domain.
The question finally came before the
cabinet late in October. After a full
discussion of the matter, and after a
consideration of the law, | expressed
dissatisfaction with the order because
it purported on its face to make the
elimination for the benefit of a rail
road company of tract of land which
the company could not secure under
the statute, for it was a tract 800
acres in one body when Only 100
acres could thus be acquired. In the
second place, | preferred to make a
much larger elimination of a tract fac
ing the entire channel, and with suf-
fiCient room for a terminal railway
town. | was willing to dod this be-
cause | found the restrictions in the
law sufficient to prevent the posi-
bility of any monopoly of either the
uplands or the harbor or channel by
the Controller Railroad and Naviga-
ton company or any other person or
company. For lack of time sufficient
to draft a memorandum myself, re-
quested the secretary of the interior.
who, with the secretary of agricul-
ture, after full discussion, had agreed
to my conclusion. to prepare a letter
setting forth the reasons for making
the larger elimination, so that it
might become part of the record The
letter is Of even date with the order.
1t does not set forth the reasons for
the larger order as fully as | did in
discussing it.