Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-10-23
Reports
of Boards
Are Filed
STATE LAND BOARD AND DESERT
LAND BOARD REPORT SHOWING
WORK DONE BY THEN IN THE
PAST YEAR-A GOOD SHOWING.

Il do not understand why the sixth
biennial report of the desert land
board was given out to the press be-
fore the state board had a chance to
approve it," said Secretary Of State
Olcott this morning. It makes me
sore. have since looked at the re-
pert and there are several things in 1t
of which | do not approve The sec
retary's complaint was because of the
making public late yesterday of the
report before 1t had been examined by
the board as a body. The biennial re-
port Of the state land board, which is
different board from the desert land
beard, was made public this morning,
after having received the full approy-
al of the state board.
The report of the state land office
as submitted by Secretary Brown SOW
ers all transactions Of the board from
October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1912,
1t shows the amount Of money receiv-
ed and receipted for during that time,
as well as the funds to which 1t is
credited. The amount of interest bear
ing funds in the department, the num-
Der of acres of land sold, the total
number of conveyances and the aggre-
gate amount of loans approved and re-
iected are also shown. In addition
statements are made regarding the
amount of school district bonds pur-
chased by the board, the aggregate
value of mortgages discharged and as
signed, the number of acres Of land
embraced on the certificates Of sale
Cancelled, the total amount of moneys
repaid on school and indemnity school
bonds and list of the warrants drawn
by order of the board
No FOreclOsed Farms.
On the date Of issuing the report
there are no foreclosed farms on hand.
The sale of public lands during the
period in acreage, is divided as fol-
lcws
School lands, 9O,6S492, agricultural
college lands, 1898, swamp land,
605S2, tide lands, 640.9S. The amount
received as principal on the sales and
on tracts heretofore sold under GER
tificates of sale amounts to $4S9, ,1S9
Other totals are as follows:
Common school fund, $6,252, ,549.22;
agricultural college fund, $2O1, ,3SS.99;
university fund, $1OS,635.96; swamp
land fund, $1O,5O9SS.
Large Amount Paid Over.
The report shows that the amount
of money received and paid over to the
state treasury in the last two years
has amounted to a total of $547 02S.74.
The amount of lands sold aggregate
$3Z ,O91,2O, The loans approved by the
beard are totaled at S1,S34,94O.62.
School district bonds purchased aggre-
gate a value of $2O,O5O, the mortgages
discharged, 81, ,256, ,9527S, and the mort
cages assigned, S9,5SO.
The report of the desert land board,
which was given out yesterday, shows
that little over 100000 acres of land
in Oregon are now affected by the Ca
rey act. OF this amount a part has
been reclaimed, portion is contracted
for reclamation and portion is with
drawn for investigation. 1t is stated
that If the board succeeds in having
the entire acreage reclaimed S15,000,-
600 worth of land will be added to the
taxable area of the state. 1t is esti-
rated that the land will be valued at
not less than $50 an acre. Another
benefit will be the bringing to the
state of numerous new settlers, 1t is
believed. The report states further
that the state IS entitled to an add,
tional 100000 acres Of vacant land, ac-
cording to the Carey act.
No Boast Of Success.
at must be admitted" states the re-
port, that Oregon's operations under
the Carey act have not as yet been
very successful This is due to an un-
fortunate beginning. This state ac-
cepted the Carey act in 1901, but the
act of acceptance did not give the
state land board sufficient authority
Nearly all Of our present projects
we're initiated between 1901 and 1905
There was no state engineer at that
time to advise the land board relative
to the engineering problems involved
and the parties initiating the projects
did not seem to realize the Importance
Of obtaining complete and reliable in
formation relative TO water supply
duty Of water and cost Of reclamation
The result was that the amount Of
available water was grossly overestl.
mated, or the amount necessary to
reclaim the land underestimate, OF
the cost Of applying the water greatly
uDderestimated