WOODS 



A>JD 



WATERS 



SOILS 

 ORES 



Vol. XIV 



NOVEMBER, igo8 



No. 



II 



THE FRAUDULENT HOMESTEADER 



By ALFORD L, THAYER 



L.li>KAR 



EW YOl 



:iOTANIC 



UAKDBf 



PLAY on the heart-strings of a man 

 until you strike the lost chord of 

 his better self : that part of him 

 grown indifferent and callous in the 

 struggle of money making, and he may 

 confess the weakness of his wrongs 

 upon which you attack him. He may 

 tell you the secrets of years, buried 

 within him, and perhaps through tears, 

 may walk entirely out of his old mer- 

 cenary career into a decent, honorable 

 life. 



In making investigations of the fraud- 

 ulent homestead and timber claims 

 within the boundaries of the National 

 Forests in the West, I have in almost 

 every district, discovered two distinct 

 types — the person who deliberately 

 sets about to defraud the Government 

 out of i6o acres of land, and the party 

 who has been the victim of a profes- 

 sional locator, working in the interests 

 .ii- of some large corporation. The Gov- 

 "^ ernment has no room on its public lands 

 ^— for a timber thief ; Uncle Sam has a 

 great heart that forgives the man who 

 has been betrayed by cunning plans of 

 those higher up who are playing the 

 "big timber game." 



I recently called on a shingle weaver, 

 living with his wife and five children in 

 a small house just outside of Everett. 

 I asked him whether he was the same 

 party who was attempting to hold a 

 homestead claim in the Cascade moun- 

 tains, forty miles from that city. He 

 said he was, and was very much aston- 

 ished when I explained to him the regu- 

 lations. Of course he had not complied 

 with the requirements of the homestead 

 law, and offered the usual excuse. 



"Why, hundreds of people in this 

 country have taken up claims back in 

 these mountains, and have never been 

 on the land.'" 



"But." I argued, "because thousands 

 of acres of valuable timber have been 

 illegally acquired in the past, is it a 

 reason for continuing such a plunder- 

 ing system in the future?" 



"No, but I can't see why you pick 

 me out. My boss at the mill and his 

 lawyer said I could work there, and 

 hold this claim down. They ought to 

 know, for they have had experience 

 before in these cases." 



"Have you read the homestead law ?" 

 1 inquired, storing in my memory what 



579 



