276 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



CAN AMERICAN LAW PREVENT LAND GRAB- 

 BING? 



BY ALFRED F. SEARS, C. E. 



M. Am. Soc. C. E. M. Nat. Soc. C. E. of "Peru, S. A. Cor. M. Geographi- 

 cal Soc., Lima, Peru. 



Does there exist, within the limits of any human 

 brain, the ability to devise 'a law that, being in accord 

 with the principles of the American constitution, will 

 prevent "land grabbing," i. e., the acquisition of more 

 than 160 acres of the public domain by a single owner, 

 one man, or corporation? 



Why, certainly ! Make it criminal for the indi- 

 vidual to be caught with more than the proper amount 

 of acres in his pouch. 



Concerning which, two observations occur. One, 

 the query: Has law been able to prevent crime? Has 

 it even prevented the pursuit of crime as a profession? 

 And second : Such a law cannot be sustained under the 

 American system, which not only permits, but dares not 

 forbid, the commercial exchange of property of any 

 class. Whatever a man wants and can pay for he may 

 buy, provided he can find a seller ; and every man may 

 sell that of which he is lawfully possessed. The most 

 the law can do is to regulate transfer by taxation. 



The United States government, for the encourage- 

 ment of settlement on the unoccupied lands of its terri- 

 tory, has enacted that no one man shall become possessed 

 as an original settler of more than 160 acres of those 

 lands; and yet, in sections of the country, vast areas 

 comprising thousands upon thousands of acres have 

 come under the ownership of a single individual, a man. 

 or corporation, for purposes that positively repel fami- 

 lies and prohibit settlement. In this state of Oregon, 

 18 per cent of all the farms are cultivated by tenants 

 hiring from absentee landlords, owners of the soil and 

 not its settlers. 



I invite notice to a few typical instances of "land 

 grabbing" in legitimate ownership and in control of 

 territory without ownership, in this state; and, what is 

 more remarkable, in a part of the state which has been 

 especially under the gaze of the distinguished Mr. Wil- 

 liamson, who has been so alert to expose the machina- 

 tions of corporations acting under the Carey act, with 

 the intention of appropriating vast sections to the dam- 

 age of his pals, the land pirates of the region, who have, 

 thus far, prevented the settlement of the finest inhabit- 

 able portion of southern Oregon, by its occupancy with 

 enormous herds and flocks. I shall make use of ficti- 

 tious names .in designating the parties to whom refer- 

 ence is made. 



Several years ago John Doe went into the upper 

 valley of the River Des Chutes with a stock of merchan- 

 dise, entered a homestead claim and opened a store to 

 sell his goods. Presently came Richard Roe and 

 Thomas Brown, who entered claims and bought Doe's 

 goods for their daily subsistence upon arid land. All 

 three of these -men had tracts that lay upon both sides of 

 the stream, but "the narrow productive strip failed to 

 support the families of Richard and Thomas who, dis- 

 couraged, having proved up their claims, received their 

 patents and surrendered their estates to John Doe, in 

 settlement of their debts for his goods.. John Doe is 

 today the owner of three homestead tracts along the 

 river, all fenced in with fair houses and a river bank 

 five miles long, on which he is raising a family and a 

 flock of sheep, with a kitchen garden. 



, Who may dispute the right of this "land grabber" ? 



Farther up the valley is another case ; that of two 

 men, father and son, who are the terror of all the re- 

 gion, where, having proved up on two homestead claims, 

 and established a home ranch for their cattle, have with 

 shotguns and all manner of mischievous devices driven 

 off several settlers, who had built fences and cabins, 

 before being put in fear of their lives. As a result, two 

 pirates have a valuable and extensive private cattle range 

 by intimidating men who wished to be settlers, raise 

 crops and families. These two men have undertaken to 

 drive all enterprise from that part of the valley, and 

 had thus far succeeded, until they threatened the lives 

 of an irrigation engineering party engaged in a survey, 

 when the neighborhood magistrate took them, somewhat 

 timidly, in hand. Still, they command all that fine 

 range, which has not cost them a cent, but has been 

 stolen from the sweat of hard and honest labor. What 

 can be done to dislodge them? I say there is no law 

 that can reach them, so far as their past conduct is 

 concerned, for there is no man to prosecute them; the 

 oppressed have left the region ; the neighbors fear them. 



Still another example, for proof of which see Cen- 

 sus Bulletin No. 237. Crook county, with an area of 

 4,963,000 acres, contains a population of only 5,000 

 souls, who live upon 783,485 acres, divided among 576 

 farms, being an average of 1,330 acres to the farm! 

 In all this vast tract of nearly 800,000 acres only 56,- 

 000 are improved and but 14,000 are under irrigation. 



Still one more and a last example of "land grab- 

 bing" in Crook county. Of the 4,000,000 acres not yet 

 absorbed by "settlers," it has been stated that 3,000,000 

 are susceptible of cultivation if irrigated, for which 

 there is abundant means within reach. At the present 

 time all this region is under the feet of a wealthy cor- 

 poration of sheep and cattlemen who occupy the entire 

 territory with their stock, for which it furnishes pas- 

 turage, costing the stockmen not one cent. Now, every 

 citizen recognizes the value of the stock business to the 

 state, but not the right of these men to make use of the 

 public property without making due compensation. 

 They object to leasing and their instrument, William- 

 son, has made it appear to the people that leasing the pub- 

 lic pasture lands, though under provisions that would re- 

 lease them to settlers, would be to deliver them into the 

 hands of a corporation. Which is true enough, but 

 which, in the present instance, means that the men who 

 are now using and will continue to use them as free 

 pasturage, shall pay the country just compensation for 

 what they get, as every man in every other condition of 

 life must do or die. 



These men have had the audacity to advertise to the 

 world their opposition to irrigation by which the terri- 

 tory would be brought into the market and filled up 

 with settlers. They have made this opposition in face 

 of the demand of the farmers, merchants and hotel 

 men of the country, all of whom pray for irrigation. 

 Here, then, are four cases of "land grabbing" existing 

 right under the nose of the Hon. Mr. Williamson, who 

 came to the State Irrigation Congress with the intention 

 of killing the Carey act for Oregon and brought 50 

 claquers to howl and heel him into acceptance. This 

 man was the author of the state law devised to aid 

 irrigation and prevent the inordinate acquisition of land 

 under the Carey act. He has seen the failure of his law 

 as the sheep men have instructed him to see it; he has 

 passed two years in thoughtful mourning and severe 

 meditation on the possibility that a Carey company 

 may appear and introduce the hated settler, and when, 



