The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-07-12
WAR OVER LAND
IN BOISE BASIN
One Company Wants Big Tract
for Mining, the Other
for Timbering.
THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS
AT STAKE IN CONTEST
fearing Closes and Govern
ment's Decision Will Be Vital
to Lumber Interests.
Special 10 The Tribune.

Special 10 The Tribune.
BOISE, Ida, July 1.-The question
whether or not many hundreds Of acres
OF land located In the Boise basin anc
claimed by the Barber Lumber company
is more valuable for the timber that J
contains than the mineral IL produces, /!
the important one that the register ant
receiver Of the Boise land Office In this
city and perhaps the general land oinc'
will be called upon to decide. Already
" has been submitted TO the former ir
the contest case OF the Barber Lumber
company VS.. the Centerville Mining q
Milling company.
The hearing that has just closed before
the land office officials here proved con
cusively that hundreds Of thousands o.
dollars are at stake In the issue. for botl
companies are heavily Interested In the
lands Involved. The Barber Lumber
company had laid scrip on and purchnsec
about 30 900 acres OF land in the basir
country. established a big mill north OF
this CITY 10 handle the timber and manu-"
facture IL into lumber and operate eNten-
sivcly. but was blocked In It's plans 2
fcw years ago through the action brought
by the government whereby James L,
Barber and Sumner q. Moon. officers o'
the company and millionaire lumbermen
OF Wisconsin. were indicted for conspir-
acy tn defraud the government out OF the
timber lands and their company made de
fcndaat In a civil suit brought by the
government to force forfeiture OF title to
The CentervilIe Mining G Milling COM
pany Is probably one OF the richest oper-
1:ins in the northwest In order 10 eX-
tract the gold and other mineral values
from the land this company. went into
the Boise basin and fled mineral loca-
tions and staled out claims on the land
that had been "scripped by me barber
Lumber company and proceeded to OPP
crate on large scale. eNpcndinS As high
rs 5000. 900 on the ground through The In
stallatiop of mills, machinery, canals, wa
Ter for mining. etc.
The fact that the Centerville Mining &
Milling conipany's claims were passing
10 patent forced the Barber Lumber com
pany to proceed against the former. con-
testing the claims and bringing squarely
before ,he land office officials the ques-
ton of whether the land was more rau-
able for timocr than for the mineral II
contained.
Hearing in the case occupied two
weeks and resulted in numerous clashes
between counsel
c. Il. Harrison, former chief Of the
Idaho field division Of the general land
oface. recently resigned. was retained as
counsel for the Centervile Mining &
MILLING company. and the allegation was
made during the hearing that Harrison
made Use OF his office FOR the benefit OF
the nlInias company and that he was IN
lis employ as counsel before his resig-
nation from the federal Office: THIS
a. Fraser. counsel for the Barber Lum-
Der company. Who declared that Harrison
had NOT only heen retained as Legal cour-
sci for the mining company but that as
chief OF the field service here lie had
recommended the land involved In
the controversy for patent to the general
land office on the ground that II was
moro valuable for mineral than cor it,
timber
The case is test one and in The event
the land Office officials hold that tho land
is more valuable for mineral than for
timber, mining operations on en extern
sve scale will be started I'm the basin
country. for number OF operators are
said To be awaiting the decision, This
would also hc true with respect TO the
opening Of timber operations in rhe event
the land is held moro valuable for its
timber than for it, minerals.
Tk. fact that the government is con-
testing title 10 a vast area OF the land
VIII limit timber operations until this
question 70 settled. while II will not ma
terially affect mining.