The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1913-12-12

and complicated After initiating our
claim by the filing of the list, we
must gather the evidence necessary
to overcome many adverse claims and
other obstacles in the way of final
approval.
The difficulty of selection has in
creased as the available area of set
Element lands has been diminished be
settlement and withdrawal into ma
tional reserves. I recently explained
our plan for securing the title to
more than $4,000 acres of state
lands which have been included in
the national forests. Regardless of
the outcome of this plan, we still
must select upwards of 10000 acres
to complete the grants made by Con-
gress at the time of our admission
to the Union.
Visitors are surprised at the size
of our Offices and Office force. They
have supposed that our work was of
similar nature and volume to that
done by the local United States land
Offices, where three or four officers
and clerks are to be seen. The bust
ness of these offices are widely diff
ferent. The state has no lands to
give away. We are in competition
with every private holder of real es-
tate who is in the market to sell. All
state lands are sold at public auction
to the highest bidder, except in the
cases where preference right is CIV
en- to the upland owner to purchase
the abutting shore lands and the tide
lands. All government lands are dis
posed of to the first applicant, who
files his entry, pays his fee and is not
again heard from until he offers his
final proof. The price of government
lands is arbitrarily fixed by the act
under which the entry is made, re-
CARELESS of the actual value The
price of every subdivision of state
land offered for sale is appraised not
more than 80 days before sale, upon
information obtained by inspection
and a study of local conditions and
market values. The purchaser of
government lands makes only his mi
tial and final payments, while the
payment for state lands may be made
in ten annual instalments, with Ger
tain privileges of extension. There
are six United States land offices in
the state, employing an aggregate Of
flee force as large as ours, or larger,
doing business under a much simpler
system, and dealing with only little
more than one million acres of lands
as against two and a half millions
in our charge.
These two and a half million ac-
res which the state still owns are Just
as good as the lands which have been
sold. The work of the office is in
creasing and will continue to increase
for many years. At present there are
at least fifteen hundred active appli-
cations upon our hands. Necessarily.
the amount of labor is great, and a
large force of employees is required in
order to attend to it. We occupy nine
large rooms, comprising the main
floor Of one entire wing Of the capt.
toll. The Office force, including clerks,
stenographers, craftsmen and book
keepers numbers about twenty. The
number employed in engineering par,
ties in the field varies according to
the work in hand. This is true of
inspectors, who are appointed with
the approval Of the board of state
land commissioners and who are paid
only for the time actually spent in
examining and reporting upon state
lands. About a dozen men are con-
tinually engaged in this work. A
few collectors look after the delin-
quent accounts, under direction Of
the Office.
The commissioner himself is char
ged with q great number of duties
which he cannot delegate to any as
sistant. He il the states agent in
dealing with the governments recla-
nation service, and determines what
waters may be utilized by the gov
eminent for that purpose. He is al
SO the states principal agent in the
operation Of the Carey act and Of the
state land reclamation act, although
no projects are now under way UNI
der these statutes. He must exam
inc, approve or disapprove all plans
for the bridging Of waterways, and
all plans for the vacation or modifl-
cation thereof. He il vested with
quasi-judicial powers in hearing and
determining petitions for the cancel
lation Of deeds of oyster lands. He
must ascertain and certify to the
work done for the benefit Of the
state in the excavation Of the Lake